When you are looking to celebrate a special occasion, few things are more festive than a meal that’s a little more expensive than usual. Whether it’s a high-end chain steakhouse or that cute Italian place a few blocks away, there’s no shortage of fancy restaurants in Cape Town that will be more than happy to supply you with a festive evening of upscale food and good wine in exchange for a hundred bucks or so per person. It is, however, important to remember that there’s expensive, and then there’s super expensive.

Top restaurants in the Mother City have earned their reputation by sourcing the highest-quality ingredients available and turning them into life-changing haute cuisine. To experience these restaurants you will need to make peace with the fact that your bank account is going to take a major hit.

If you ever have the opportunity to dine at one of these restaurants on someone else’s dime, we suggest you take advantage of it because these aren’t just up there with the best restaurants on the planet, they’re also the most expensive in Cape Town.

1. Test Kitchen

5 courses plus wine: R3 200

Featuring in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants is regarded as one of the highest honours for a culinary establishment and the Test Kitchen is no stranger on this list. This year Chef Luke Dale-Roberts and his team won the award for the best restaurant in Africa and secured the 44th spot. If you want to dine at Africa’s finest and manage to secure a reservation, you’re going to pay for the privilege. Several menus are available and they’re all exorbitantly expensive. The menu price for five course starts at R2050 and the iconic wine pairing menu will set you back R3200.

2. La Colombe

11 courses plus wine: R2 490

Executive Chef, James Gaag approaches French cuisine with classical technique and his restaurant La Colombe in Constantia established new standards for fine dining in this country. If you want to dine there, however, it’s going to set you back. The Chef’s Menu costs R1495 per person before wine. Add another R995 if you want to enjoy your 11 courses with a beverage flight.

3. Greenhouse

9 courses plus wine: R2 000

Located inside The Cellars-Hohenort Hotel in Constantia, Chef Farrel Hirsch creates a lunch and dinner tasting menu using high-end meat and seafood along with the highest-quality seasonal produce. Each course is intended to pair perfectly with a different glass of top-notch wine. Should you decide to blow you next paycheck on his incredible creations, plan on dropping R900 per person on lunch (or R1300 with wine). The dinner menu costs R1300 plus R700 if you want it paired with wines.

4. Salsify

7 courses plus wine: R1 850

Within the walls of The Roundhouse, a heritage building in Camps Bay that has assumed many faces over its storied past, Salsify offers a magnificent setting with fine art to complement the fine food. The tasting menu will set you back R1150, plus R700 for wine.

5. Aubergine

7 courses plus wine: R1 750

German Chef Harald Bresselschmidt ushered the Cape Town fine dining scene into a new era with the opening of Aubergine in 1996. It’s certainly one the longest surviving fine dining restaurants in the city and has somewhat of a cult following. The 7-course Degustation Menu will set you back R1215 and with a wine pairing R1750 per person.

6. De Grendel Restaurant

9 courses plus wine: R1 500

If you are looking for a fine dining experience with a view of Table Mountain in the distance, look no farther than the restaurant at De Grendel, a family-owned wine estate situated in the northern suburbs of Cape Town. Showcasing his passion for farm produce, Chef Ian Bergh serves up a 9-course tasting menu that relies on both artisanal ingredients and sourced local produce, resulting in fresh regional dishes that are impressively unique and vast in number. The tasting menu is priced at R1200 per person, excluding wine and comes to R1500 with a pairing.

7. FYN

5 course plus wine: R1 570

Dripping with opulence, FYN is one of the latest arrivals on the Cape Town culinary scene. Situated on the top floor of the iconic Speaker’s Corner on Church Square, chef de patron and his team serves up three menus, including a plant-based and pescetarian. The FYN menu costs R975 per person. Add another R595 for the wine flight.

8. Riverine Rabbit

7 courses plus wine: R1 470

Bringing honesty, family and sustainability to the table, Riverine Rabbit‘s Chef Ash Heeger has created a dining experience unlike any other. The carefully curated seven-course degustation menu clocks in at R895 and you can add a wine pairing for an extra R575.

9. Signal

6 courses plus wine: R1 250

Signal, located inside the Cape Grace offers inventive cuisine in a fine dining atmosphere. The chef’s tasting menu features an array of interesting dishes, which change depending on the ingredients that are in season. The 6-course menu costs R850. If you would like some wine, add R400 to the price per person.

10. Janse & Co

7 courses without wine: R785

Run by Chef Arno Janse van Rensburg, Janse & Co offers imaginative dishes made from local and seasonal ingredients. The building lends itself to have different dining areas in the restaurant, with an entrance area that has a feature street art wall of edible South African flowers. The 7 courses tasting menu costs R785 per person and wine can be ordered separately from the wine list.

Winter Specials

If you can’t afford to mortgage your house against your next dinner reservation, why not check out all the winter specials currently available at some of Cape Town’s best restaurants.