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Written by The Tasting Room at Le Quartier Francais in Franschhoek and The Test Kitchen in Cape Town cruise into the Worlds Top 100 Restaurants for 2012
The Tasting Room (@lequaf) is no stranger to such high accolades, it has featured strongly as one of the worlds best restaurants for the past six years, dropping out of the Top 100 on only one occasion in 2007.
This year it has been ranked 57th in the world.
Part upmarket auberge, part award-winning restaurant complex, Le Quartier Français nestles in a corner of the Cape winelands. Dutch-born chef Margot Janse’s nine-course African-inspired Surprise Menu, paired with local wines, takes diners on a gourmet safari, highlighting southern African flavours, many of which are sourced from Le Quartier’s gardens. Others, such as Kalahari salt, hail from Namibia. Janse’s aim is to be 100% African in all her produce – she’s 80% there.
The Test Kitchen (@TestKitchenCT) in Cape Town has stormed the party, after being in existence for only two years, coming in at number at number 74. Owned by British born Luke Dale-Roberts, (@ldrchef) it’s renowned for giving standard items little twists like the “beef fillet with milk stout risotto and black pepper café au lait”.
Speaking to the Daily Maverick, Dale-Roberts sighed when asked to define his style of cooking. “I suppose it’s modern global cuisine, but mainly it’s what I’m busy thinking of at that particular time. It can’t really be put in a box.”
Dale-Roberts is no stranger to global acclaim for his food. Prior to opening the Test Kitchen he was the executive Chef at La Colombe which under his stewardship was ranked number 12 in the world in 2010 along with being voted the Best Restaurant in South Africa. It is no coincidence that since Dale-Roberts left, La Colombe its fortunes in the global rankings have dropped considerably and it has left the Top 100.
All three restaurants featured in the Eat Out South African 2011 Top 10 Awards last year, with The Tasting Room coming in at number two, The Test Kitchen at three and La Colombe at number ten.
The question then has to be asked, what happened to The Greenhouse which was voted South Africa’s Best Restaurant for 2011.
The big winner of the night was Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark which has taken the top spot for three years in a row.
Rene Redzepi’s (@ReneRedzepiNoma) menu is described as being innovative, inventive and ground-breaking.
Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck dropped out of the Top 10 to number 13 but he need not have worried as his brand new restaurant, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, stormed the charts as a new entry at number 9 in the world.
Rene Redzepi of Noma has taken the tired old concept of the amuse bouche and turned it into a dazzling array of one-bite starters that are alone worth the air fare to Denmark.
For the Top 10 go to The Top Ten Best Restaurants in the whole world!
Organised by Restaurant magazine and sponsored by San Pellegrino, The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list is an annual snapshot of the opinions and experiences of over 800 international restaurant industry experts comprising of chefs, journalists, restaurateurs and food experts.
What constitutes “best” is left to the judgement of those well-travelled gourmets.
The results are a simple computation of votes. and while the organizers admit that it can never be definitive, they do believe it is a honourable survey of current tastes and a credible indicator of the best places to eat around the globe.
