The Cape Town restaurant that is rated as one of the best in the world

La Colombe restaurant in Cape Town, found on top of the Silvermist Wine Estate, has frequented several lists of the world’s best restaurants. 

This includes featuring in the top 50 best restaurants of 2024 by 50 Best Discovery and being awarded Best restaurant in Africa by the World’s 50 Best. 

The selection committee described the restaurant as a “gastronomic voyage in an atmospheric, tree-house setting.”

The restaurant is not new to the scene, having been created in 1996 at the Constantia Uitsig Farm.

French Chef Franck Dangereux first opened the small restaurant and pioneered the concept that would become a culinary empire. 

Dangereux worked with the late Frank Swainston at Constantia Uitsig, stepping in when the head chef was ill.

“It was through working there and meeting the owner at the time, David and Marlene McKay, that the idea was born to open another provençal-style restaurant in the pool room,” Dengereux told the Daily Maverick. 

The small space would become the first La Colombe. Dangereoux opened the restaurant to a small press lunch, where his mother was present.

He cooked the restaurant’s first meal for her. “I literally wanted to cook something delicious as if I were cooking for my mom. And I hadn’t seen her in a long time. That was the sentiment behind that meal,” he said. 

The chef said that the Cape setting reminded him of the south of France, and so the restaurant’s first menu was crafted from simple, Provençal meals. 

Dangereoux ran the restaurant for 10 years; during that time, he was able to hire qualified chefs, and the menu gradually became more of a “fine dining” experience. 

While Dangereoux was chef, the restaurant was voted best in the country six times and rated 27th in the world, a first for South Africa. 

The head chef decided to leave the restaurant in 2006, after he felt the pressure of these many accolades. 

The rise of an empire

He was succeeded by Luke Dale Roberts and Scot Kirton. The two chefs ran the restaurant together for a year, when Dale Roberts left to open the Test Kitchen.

Kirton, at only 27, saw La Colombe become the brand it is today, and saw it become associated with ultra-high-end cuisine served with theatrics for added impact. 

When Kirton took over, with much less experience than the chefs that came before him, the restaurant’s future did not appear bright. 

“Constantia Uitsig was put up for sale and thought this was the end- when it was sold we were told all the restaurants would close permanently,” Kirton told the Daily Maverick.

Kirton called Dangereux to ask if he could continue using the name the original chef invented, and with his permission, moved the restaurant to its current position at Silvermist Wine estate. 

Today, Kirton’s gamble has paid off, and the La Colombe empire has expanded to seven restaurants across the Western Cape. 

The original restaurant is now headed up by Executive Chef James Gaag, who began his career as a student in the La Colombe Kitchen.

The awards have continued to roll in, as it has in decades before. Gaag credits this not to himself, but to his team.

“That’s one of the reasons we continuously do well – we have a team that believes and wants to achieve the same things I do, and help us continuously push in the right direction,” he said. 

The restaurant continues to produce dishes that are international in inspiration and performative in style. 

Gaag said he uses flavours inspired by the world, Mexico, India, Thailand, and Germany, as long as they are delicious. 

La Colombe has a reputation for theatrics, making every dish a work of art on a plate. 

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