In a major change, Eat Out 2022 Head Judge Abigail Donnelly has announced her four fellow judges on the panel evaluating our country’s Top restaurants for the November 2022 Eat Out Awards.
The Eat Out Awards will be hosted for the first time in two years. No date or venue details are available to date.
Another new introduction is that the top restaurants will be rated and no longer ranked! The industry’s ‘unsung heroes’ will be recognised too.
The lifting of the Curfew late on 30 December was the best gift that the Restaurant industry has received in the past 21 months. It meant that restaurants could remain open late on New Year’s Eve, and that income was boosted by the longer trading, and better bookings for the evening, one which saw bookings sluggish until the announcement was made. One hopes that it is a good omen for the restaurant industry for the year ahead, coupled with the recent reversal of the travel bans instituted by the UK, the USA and Germany, being our major tourism source markets.
For the first time the number of restaurant openings exceeds restaurant closures.
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At a Gala Event held in Paris on Monday, the new La Liste 1000 for 2022 was announced, with 12 South African Restaurants included in this prestigious list of 1000 top restaurants around the world, one sadly included but no longer operating!
In addition, brand new Restaurant Klein JAN at Tswalu in the Kalahari, owned by Chef Jan-Hendrik van der Westhuizen, received a special Award as World Hidden Gem Restaurant. While his JAN restaurant in Nice has been awarded one Michelin star for the past six years,
it is not included in the La Liste List. The La Liste accolade for Restaurant Klein JAN, and its inclusion in the world’s Top 1000 List, is the first international recognition for any of Chef Jan-Hendrik’s restaurants. Continue reading →
In my ‘career’ as a writer I have been called many things by not so nice persons in the restaurant industry. It has been a wonderful experience to have new descriptors added to the collection describing me: ‘indomitable’, meaning impossible to subdue or defeat, and ‘most experienced restaurant reviewer’, both accolades by the new IconicZA digital magazine in an article in its October issue.
For readers who have not seen the article, and would like to learn more about me, warts and all, I am sharing the content of the article: Continue reading →