Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards 2025

This year’s Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards were announced on Monday, 31 March. The judging process took place ver eight months, a panel of eight anonymous, independent judges visiting each shortlisted restaurant multiple times – during both peak and off-peak periods.

Eat Out’s star-rating system sees restaurants earning 1, 2 or 3 stars based on their final scores. The criteria cover every aspect of the dining experience, from food quality and technique to service, ambience and value. The coveted 3-star rating is reserved for restaurants scoring over 90 out of 100, while 2-star and 1-star ratings go to those scoring between 80 and 89 and 70 and 79 respectively.

The winners were as follows:

1 star
• Belly of the Beast (City Bowl, Cape Town)
• Cavalli Restaurant (Somerset West)
• Chefs Warehouse at Maison (Franschhoek)
• Chefs Warehouse at Tintswalo Atlantic (Hout Bay, Cape Town)
• Creation Wines Tasting Room (Hemel-en-Aarde Valley)
• Culinary Table (Lanseria)
• Eike (Stellenbosch)
• Ëlgr (City Bowl, Cape Town)
• Farro (Botrivier)
• Galjoen (City Bowl, Cape Town)
• Hōseki (Stellenbosch)
• Kapokbos (Bonnievale)
• Le coin Français (Franschhoek)
• Les Créatifs Restaurant (Bryanston, Johannesburg)
• Marble Restaurant Johannesburg (Rosebank, Johannesburg)
• Meraki by Charlie Lakin (Hillcrest, eThekwini)
• Nevermind (Cape St Francis)
• Orangerie at Le Lude (Franschhoek)
• Post & Pepper (Stellenbosch)
• Restaurant Klein Jan (Tswalu)
• Reverie Social Table (Observatory, Cape Town)
• Rykaart’s Restaurant at Longridge Wine Estate (Stellenbosch)
• Scape at Vrymansfontein (Paarl)
• Spek & Bone (Stellenbosch)
• Table Seven (Salt River, Cape Town)
• The Chefs’ Table (Umhlanga, eThekwini)
• The Red Room by Chefs Warehouse (City Bowl, Cape Town)
• The Table at De Meye (Stellenbosch)
• The Test Kitchen Fledgelings (Woodstock, Cape Town)
• Upper Union (City Bowl, Cape Town)
• Vuur Goose Island (Stellenbosch)
• Zioux (Sandton, Johannesburg)

2 stars
• Beyond (Constantia, Cape Town)
• Chefs Warehouse at Beau Constantia (Constantia, Cape Town)
• Chorus (Somerset West)
• Clara’s Barn (Stellenbosch)
• Epice (Franschhoek)
• Faber at Avondale (Paarl)
• Fermier (Pretoria)
• Foxcroft (Constantia, Cape Town)
• Mertia (Stellenbosch)
• Ouzeri (City Bowl, Cape Town)
• Protégé (Franschhoek)
• Rust en Vrede (Stellenbosch)
• Salon (Woodstock, Cape Town)
• The Jordan Restaurant with Marthinus Ferreira (Stellenbosch)
• The Pot Luck Club Cape Town (Woodstock, Cape Town)
• The Waterside Restaurant (V&A Waterfront, Cape Town)
• Wolfgat (Paternoster)

3 stars
• Dusk (Stellenbosch)
• Fyn (City Bowl, Cape Town)
• La Colombe (Constantia, Cape Town)
• La Petite Colombe (Franschhoek)
• Pier (V&A Waterfront, Cape Town)
• Salsify at the Roundhouse (Camps Bay, Cape Town)
• The LivingRoom at Summerhill Guest Estate (Pinetown, eThekwini)

Special awards

Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant of the Year
Salsify at the Roundhouse

Eat Out Woolworths Financial Services Chef of the Year
Johannes Richter of The LivingRoom at Summerhill Guest Estate

Eat Out Woolworths Green Star Award (previously called the Eat Out Woolworths Sustainability Award)
The LivingRoom at Summerhill Guest Estate

Eat Out Rising Star
Nathan Clarke, executive chef at The Test Kitchen Fledgelings

The remaining special award winners were:
• Eat Out Woolworths Wine Service Award: Michelle Erasmus (La Colombe)
• Eat Out Woolworths Trailblazer Award: Bertus Basson (Eike, Spek & Bone, Chorus, Clara’s Barn)
• Eat Out Woolworths Financial Services Service Excellence Award: Mertia
• Eat Out House of Suntory Lannice Snyman Lifetime Achievement Award: Franck Dangereux (chef owner of The Foodbarn Café & Tapas and founder of La Colombe)
• Eat Out VISI Style Award: Coy
• Eat Out Lexus Best Destination Restaurant: Kapokbos (Bonnievale)
• Eat Out Yoco Best New Restaurant: Cyra
• Eat Out Callebaut Dessert Award: Epice
• Eat Out Patrón Mixology Award: La Petite Colombe
• Eat Out S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna Chefs’ Chef: Ivor Jones (Chef’s Warehouse, Beau Constantia)

Reader our former food columnist Anna Trapido on this year’s Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards here.