Rudi Liebenberg – Mzansi Life & Style by Mishkah Roman-Cassiem

Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen, John Norris-Rogers & Siv Pillay

The top restaurants in South Africa were announced at the 2022 Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards on Sunday 20 November at GrandWest in Cape Town. The industry was celebrated in a spectacular display of gourmet food, creative drinks and top-notch entertainment, which had over 700 guests, including some of SA’s favourite celebrities, on their feet.

The new star rating system results were announced, with restaurants being awarded either one, two or three stars. To be included on the shortlist, each restaurant had to achieve a minimum rating of 70 points out of 100. This was based on several factors, including the quality of their offering – from the décor, ambience and service to the wine list, ingredients used and quality of the food. One star was awarded to those restaurants who scored 70 – 80, two stars to those scoring 80 – 90, and three stars to those scoring 90+, with Restaurant of the Year awarded to the establishment with the highest score.

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I was recently invited to review “The Redneck Pizza” at the Col’Cacchio in Nicolway, which forms part of this year’s Celebrity Chef Series. Now, I have to admit that I am a huge Col’Cacchio fan, and have been since I was introduced to the brand back in 1999 / 2000, when I lived in Cape Town. The fact that they use fresh ingredients for their pizzas and not the “melted cheese” variety is what makes this brand stand out from the rest of the pizza crowd. Talking about standing out, the atmosphere at most, if not all Col’Cacchio branches that I’ve been to, is one of good service with a smile and that personal touch. This was the case when my husband and I were welcomed to the Nicolway branch of Col’Cacchio by Manager Victor Rottcher, whom we spoke to at length about the service industry in South Africa as well as restaurant and hotel experiences – the good, the bad and the ugly.

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