Food and drink in the Winelands

Franschhoek and the "Gourmet Capital" label

Franschhoek likes to call itself South Africa's gourmet capital. That is marketing. The tourism body Franschhoek Wine Valley uses "Gourmet Capital of South Africa", and South African Tourism calls the town the country's "food and wine capital". Neither is an official title, and English Wikipedia does not use the label at all.

What you can count tells a different story. In the Eat Out Awards 2026, Stellenbosch has twelve rated restaurants and Franschhoek five, with two in Paarl and one in Bonnievale. Stellenbosch is, admittedly, several times larger.

Eat Out Awards 2026: who holds stars in the district

The Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards were presented on 23 March 2026 at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town, with FYN in Cape Town named Restaurant of the Year. Mertia in Stellenbosch is the only restaurant in the district with three stars in 2026. The list below comes from eatplaydrink.capetown, because the original list on Eat Out could not be accessed.

• Three stars: Mertia (Stellenbosch).
• Two stars in Stellenbosch: Dusk, Good to Gather, Hōseki at Delaire Graff, Post & Pepper, Rust en Vrede, The Jordan Restaurant with Marthinus Ferreira, The Table at De Meye, Vuur Goose Island.
• Two stars in Franschhoek: Epice, Protégé. In Paarl: FABER at Avondale.
• One star: Eike, Melfort and Spek & Bone in Stellenbosch; Chefs Warehouse at Maison, Le Coin Français and Orangerie at Le Lude in Franschhoek; The Bistro at Brookdale Estate in Paarl; Kapokbos at Weltevrede in Bonnievale.

Special awards went to The Table at De Meye as Best Destination Restaurant and to Dusk, which received the Urban Green Star. BLOEM in Elgin and Creation in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley are also on the list, but both lie outside the district.

And one gap. La Petite Colombe in Franschhoek still held three stars in 2025; in 2026 it does not appear on the list. We could not find out why: a closure, a move or a mistake in the list are all possible. Dusk, also a three-star restaurant in 2025, now has two.

Eating on the wine estates

On Helshoogte Pass between Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, two estates run more than one kitchen each. Delaire Graff has the Delaire Graff Restaurant, the Japanese Hōseki and the Italian Lorenzo's. Next door at Tokara, a restaurant has been cooking since October 2001, today under chef Carolize Coetzee, alongside a deli where children are welcome. At Spier on the Eerste River there are the Veld and Garden Room restaurants, Vadas Smokehouse & Bakery and picnics. Not at Kanonkop. The estate says plainly that it has neither a restaurant nor pairings.

Near Groot Drakenstein, close to the junction of the R45 and R310, sit two big operations. Boschendal offers picnics on the werf, the Retreat restaurant, Arum, a deli and a farm shop with a butchery. At Babylonstoren you eat at Babel, the Greenhouse or the Old Bakery; adults pay R190 just to enter the farm (as of September 2026).

In Franschhoek itself, plenty of estates serve food. La Motte has L'Ami Family Brasserie, Restaurant JAN Franschhoek and a bakery. It takes no cash. At Grande Provence, The Oak does fine dining next to a bistro, with picnics from September to April. Leopard's Leap serves rotisserie lunches under the banner "South African Table", Wednesday to Sunday. Haute Cabrière and Rickety Bridge each have their own restaurant.

Around Paarl you eat at the Goatshed on Fairview, where the tasting pairs six wines with six cheeses from the estate's own dairy for R95 (as of September 2026). Laborie has two restaurants, Stoep and Suzanne. In Wellington, Diemersfontein runs ASH. FABER at Avondale, with two Eat Out stars, closed for winter from 22 June to 22 July 2026; expect breaks like that elsewhere in winter too.

Beyond the mountains things get quieter. In Tulbagh, Rijk's has a restaurant for lunch and dinner, and booking is recommended; Saronsberg, by contrast, has neither a restaurant nor picnics. In Breedekloof, Opstal Eat at Opstal opens daily from 9am to 5pm with the kitchen closing at 3.30pm, and Du Toitskloof Wines has the Ou Meul Bakery (as of September 2026).

Around Robertson there is wood-fired pizza and burgers at Christina's Bistro on Van Loveren, a deli at Excelsior and picnics from the deli at Viljoensdrift, where bringing your own food is not allowed. Kapokbos at Weltevrede is the only restaurant in the Langeberg with an Eat Out star.

Our tipAlways book on the estates, and well ahead for Babel or FABER. Check which days the kitchen is open. Leopard's Leap, for example, only cooks from Wednesday to Sunday.

What ends up on the table: braai, bobotie, melktert, koeksisters

A braai is more a habit than a dish. The word comes from the Afrikaans "braaivleis", grilled meat. On the grid go boerewors, the farmer's sausage, sosaties, which are marinated skewers, plus chops and steaks, with pap, a stiff maize porridge, on the side. 24 September, Heritage Day, has also been celebrated as National Braai Day since an initiative launched in 2005, with Desmond Tutu as its patron.

Bobotie is spiced beef or lamb mince with curry and raisins, baked under a topping of egg and milk. The name probably comes from the Malay "boemboe". It has been cooked at the Cape since the 17th century and was shaped by the Cape Malay community. It is not an official national dish, however often you read that.

For dessert there is melktert: shortcrust pastry filled with a custard of milk, flour, sugar and eggs, with cinnamon on top. More milk than a pastel de nata. Sweeter still are koeksisters, plaited dough that is deep-fried and plunged straight into ice-cold syrup. The Cape Malay version, the koesister, is a ball of dough rolled in desiccated coconut.

For the road there is biltong, air-dried meat, and droëwors, dried sausage.

Tipping and the bill

In restaurants a tip of 10 to 15 per cent is usual, 15 to 20 for very good service. Large groups sometimes find a service charge already on the bill, so check before you add more. You can enter the tip on the card machine. Staff prefer cash.