The Western Cape winners of the 2015 Best Everyday Eateries were announced last night, and many are horrified by most of the ten eateries on the Western Cape list, there being no consistency with previous Best Of restaurant awards!
Eat Out seems to like making changes to its Awards on a regular basis, this year the Best Of awards getting a new umbrella name of Best Everyday Eateries (a stand-alone category which was awarded to Chef’s Warehouse and Canteen last year so that Chef Liam Tomlin could get a prize!). Not only did the name change, but the five categories doubled to ten, with five new categories introduced. Given Eat Out‘s paranoia about not being seen to be national enough, with the heavy weighting to Cape Town and Winelands restaurants on its Top 10 Restaurant list, it decided to introduce the ten categories in each province, giving the potential of 90 Best Everyday Eateries winners across the country. The fourth change was to allow restaurant eaters to evaluate the best Everyday Eateries, Eat Out chose the restaurants with the best ratings received out of a score of 5 between 1 October 2014 to 30 September this year. They do state (vaguely) that they did not award restaurants if there were not enough votes either in a particular category, or for a particular restaurant. Eat Out gave itself the right to categorise the restaurants on its website to fit its 10 categories, it stated upfront! The fifth change was the removal of these Awards from the Eat Out Top 10 Restaurant Awards Gala Lunch to be held on 15 November, having regional award events for the Best Everyday Eateries, in Cape Town last night for the Western and Eastern Cape, and for Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and Mpumalanga on Wednesday evening. No information has been provided if and when any Best Of Awards will go to restaurants in the Northern Cape, Free State, Limpopo, and North West. Only the two Best Of Award events were announced initially, which means that Eat Out was never planning to award restaurants in the remaining four provinces!!
The 2015 Best Everyday Eateries awards are the following for the five provinces:
Best Coffee Shop
Tribe 112, Cape Town, Western Cape
Afro-Boer, Pretoria, Gauteng
Food Fundi, Nelspruit, Mpumalanga
Best African Eatery
Addis in Cape Ethiopian Restaurant, Cape Town, Western Cape
La Terasse Rooftop Café and Deli, Pretoria, Gauteng
Best Bistro
Karoux, McGregor, Western Cape
Bridge Street Brewery, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape
Boston Bistro, Pretoria, Gauteng
Boiler Room Café, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal
Best Italian Eatery
Il Leone Mastrantonio, Cape Town, Western Cape
Café del Sol, Johannesburg, Gauteng
Best Asian Eatery
Thing Tjing Torii, Cape Town, Western Cape
Fushin Sushi, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape
The Great Eastern Food Bar, Johannesburg, Gauteng
Nam Jai Sushi and Thai Restaurant, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal
Best Steakhouse
Pirates Steakhouse & Pub Plumstead, Cape Town, Western Cape
The Local Grill Parktown North, Johannesburg, Gauteng
Best Burger Eatery
Inside & You’re Out, Cape Town, Western Cape
Beefcakes, Illovo, Johannesburg, Gauteng
Best Indian Eatery
Maharajah South Indian Restaurant, Cape Town, Western Cape
Geet Indian Restaurant, Pretoria, Gauteng
Jeera Suncoast Towers Hotel, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal
Best Seafood Eatery
The Deckhouse Crab Shack and BBQ, Cape Town, Western Cape
Best Country-Style Eatery
Fresh at Paul Cluver, Elgin, Western Cape
Oaklands Country Manor, near Van Reenen, KwaZulu-Natal
Analyzing the Best EveryDay Eatery awards, one concludes:
- Only the Western Cape has a winner in each of the ten categories, and Gauteng follows with eight. KwaZulu-Natal only garnered four awards.
- Gauteng did not have a Best Seafood Eatery, nor a Best Country Style Eatery
- KwaZulu-Natal has no Best Burger, Italian, Steakhouse, African, and Best Seafood Eateries, nor Coffee Shop, an absolute surprise, possibly reflecting that the Eat Out website and rating of restaurants has little relevance in this province. A recent visit to the province revealed how many Italian restaurants there are in Durban, and it is a surprise that the customers of such restaurants in the province could not support them enough to get any Italian restaurant a Best Of award! It would appear that the Facebook page ‘Durban Restaurants – The Good, The Bad, and The nastyyyy…’, with 47000 members, may be a more important forum for Durbanites to record their feedback about the local restaurants.
- On the Western Cape list, some restaurants are unknown, Karoux having a good reputation, as does Il Leone amongst its fans. I personally have given up on Tribe in the BMW Motorrad on Buitengracht Street, with poor service, food rarely available, and the owner having no interest in acting on customer feedback. While I am not necessarily a fan of Truth, it at least is an internationally recognized coffee shop! The Deckhouse has received many negative reviews since its very recent opening on the ‘Cape Town Restaurants’ Facebook page. The joke of all is Pirates as Best Steakhouse, described by a chef as ‘I grew up around the corner , saw more cockroaches and rats come out of that kitchen than good steak’!
- Not one Stellenbosch eatery made the list, the town being the Gourmet Capital of our country
- Out of a total of 90 potential Best Everyday Eatery Awards (9 provinces, 10 categories), only 25 have been awarded! There is no information provided as to the verification of the Awards results by an independent company.
- Weird is that many of the restaurants winning the Best Everyday Eatery Awards only have about five reviews on Eat Out – hardly a basis for evaluation in a fair manner or off a credible base!
- Karoux may equally have been categorized as Best Country Style, and certainly does not call itself a Bistro on its website!
We look forward to receiving feedback from our readers about the Eat Out Best Everyday Eatery Awards. We trust that Eat Out will reevaluate these awards, and will go back to the past system, as the current list has no credibility at all!
What an accolade for Opulent Living and its Chefs who Share events, for Eat Out copying its choice of venue (Mercedes-Benz showroom Century City) and using its MC Lentswe Bhengu!
Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.whalecottage.com/blog Tel 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@WhaleCottage Facebook: click here
This is crazy! Pirates in Plumstead for best steakhouse?! And the Deckhouse for best seafood?? The deckhouse has only been open for such a short time! The awards have lost all credibility in my opinion!
Many agree with you Alison! Complete disbelief! Another Eat Out fail!
Very strange awards, but Karoux in McGregor deserves recognition. Fabulous food, beautifully presented, wonderful service. Always look forward to eating here when I visit.
I certainly need to head there Lisa.