Cape Town has no shortage of incredible restaurants – and the latest 50 Best Restaurants 2026 rankings have given foodies another reason to celebrate the Mother City’s world-class dining scene!\u00a0After weeks of anticipation, Constantia’s acclaimed La Colombe has made a spectacular return to the world’s top 50 restaurants, landing at\u00a0No.35 this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For La Colombe and its team under executive chef James Gaag, it’s a particularly sweet victory, as the new ranking, up 20 places from No. 55 in 2025, sees it return to the top 50 after a year on the extended 51\u2013100 list.<\/p>\n
READ:\u00a0The 10 most expensive restaurants in Cape Town<\/p>\n
The inclusion in the Best 50 restaurants also means La Colombe has been crowned\u00a0The Best Restaurant in Africa, making it the highest-ranked restaurant on the continent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The announcement was made on Wednesday, 4 November, at the prestigious awards ceremony in Lima, Peru, where some of the world’s leading chefs and restaurateurs gathered to celebrate the best in global gastronomy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cape Town’s fine-dining scene is on the rise<\/p>\n
La Colombe’s achievement completes an impressive showing for Cape Town in this year’s rankings. Last month, two other Mother City restaurants celebrated significant gains when the extended 51\u2013100 list was announced. \u00a0<\/p>\n
FYN climbed 17 places to No.65, while\u00a0Salsify at the Roundhouse rose to No.71, also gaining 17 places.\u00a0That means all three South African restaurants featured in the world’s top 100 have climbed the rankings this year, with La Colombe leading the charge.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
READ:\u00a0Cape Town restaurants soar in World’s Best Restaurants rankings<\/p>\n
La Colombe<\/p>\n
\n2025 ranking: No.55\u00a0
\n2026 ranking: No.35
<\/p>\n
FYN\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n2025 ranking: No.82
\n2026 ranking: No.65
<\/p>\n
Salsify at the Roundhouse\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n2025 ranking: No.88
\n2026 ranking: No.71
<\/p>\n
More good news for Salsify<\/p>\n
Cape Town also featured in another announcement at the awards ceremony.\u00a0Doris Lam, winner of The 50 Best Restaurants Scholarship 2026, will undertake a paid culinary internship at\u00a0Salsify at the Roundhouse, working with chefs Ryan Cole and Nina du Toit.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n
She will also spend time at The Fat Duck in Bray, England, the legendary restaurant led by Heston Blumenthal.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
It’s another nod to the growing international influence of South Africa’s fine-dining scene. And\u00a0with three Cape Town restaurants moving up the global rankings, there’s plenty to toast in the Mother City.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Who took the world’s top spot?<\/p>\n
This year’s biggest honour went to\u00a0Asador Etxebarri in Atxondo, Spain, which was named The World’s Best Restaurant 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The restaurant, renowned for chef-owner Victor Arguinzoniz’s mastery of wood-fire cooking, climbed from second place in 2025 to claim the top spot. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Bangkok’s Gaggan followed at No.2, while Copenhagen’s Alchemist took third place. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The annual ranking is compiled from votes cast by more than 1,100 international restaurant industry experts, including chefs, restaurateurs, food writers and culinary specialists.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nAsador Etxebarri, Atxondo
\nGaggan, Bangkok
\nAlchemist, Copenhagen
\nQuintonil, Mexico City
\nWing, Hong Kong
\nThe Chairman, Hong Kong
\nKjolle, Lima
\nKadeau, Copenhagen
\nDiverxo, Madrid
\nPl\u00e9nitude, Paris
\nAtomix, New York
\nSorn, Bangkok
\nM\u00e9rito, Lima
\nS\u00fchring, Bangkok
\nOdette, Singapore
\nTuju, S\u00e3o Paulo
\nMingles, Seoul
\nNusara, Bangkok
\nJan, Munich
\nPiazza Duomo, Alba
<\/p>\n
How are the World’s best restaurants chosen?<\/p>\n
Who gets to decide which restaurants are the best in the World? More than 1,100 international food experts, as it turns out. The\u00a0World’s 50 Best Restaurants rankings\u00a0are\u00a0determined by votes\u00a0from chefs, restaurateurs, food writers and culinary specialists across 28 regions, with at least a quarter of the voting Academy refreshed annually.<\/p>\n
But the influential rankings aren’t without their critics. With fine dining dominating the list, questions remain about how accurately it reflects the diversity of global food culture. Still, for South Africa’s restaurant industry, the recognition is a significant achievement and another boost to its growing international reputation.<\/p>\n
Read the full rankings at\u00a0The 50 Best Restaurants.<\/p>\n
Sign up to Time Out Cape Town’s free newsletter\u00a0for expert recommendations on new things to do, see, eat and drink in the Mother City. You can also follow Time Out Cape Town on\u00a0Facebook,\u00a0Instagram and\u00a0TikTok!<\/p>\n
TIME OUT CAPE TOWN RECOMMENDS:<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udccd\u00a0The best things to do in Cape Town<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfe8\u00a0The best hotels in Cape Town<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udf7d\u00a0The best restaurants in Cape Town<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udecf\ufe0f\u00a0Where to stay in Cape Town<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udce2\u00a0Latest news from Cape Town<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cape Town has no shortage of incredible restaurants – and the latest 50 Best Restaurants 2026 rankings have given foodies another reason to celebrate the Mother City’s world-class dining scene!\u00a0After weeks of anticipation, Constantia’s acclaimed La Colombe has made a spectacular return to the world’s top 50 restaurants, landing at\u00a0No.35 this year.\u00a0 For La Colombe<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[292,2348,4301,4299,4302,4300,293,68],"class_list":["post-79102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-louisiana","tag-categories-restaurants","tag-louisiana","tag-louisiana-dining","tag-louisiana-food","tag-louisiana-grocery-stores","tag-louisiana-restaurants","tag-news-eating","tag-restaurants"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117565988793032087","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}