honest reviews of the cape's best restaurants
about Cape Foodie
About Cape Foodie
The scoring system
About Cape Foodie
I started Cape Foodie as a hobby, and to offer diners honest restaurant reviews and a transparent scoring system. It is the first site of its kind in the Western Cape, one of the world's most beautiful foodie destinations.
My approach
The scoring system
About Cape Foodie
Cape Foodie aims to assess the Cape's restaurants against a global standard.
No content is produced by AI.
Naturally, the reviews are subjective in that they reflect my opinion, but having eaten my way around quite a bit of the world I have a pretty good sense of what's on offer out there.
Every review on Cape Foodie will be based on a si
Cape Foodie aims to assess the Cape's restaurants against a global standard.
No content is produced by AI.
Naturally, the reviews are subjective in that they reflect my opinion, but having eaten my way around quite a bit of the world I have a pretty good sense of what's on offer out there.
Every review on Cape Foodie will be based on a single visit. Where follow up visits occur, these will result in updated reviews.
I pay for every meal in full.
The scoring system
The scoring system
The scoring system
Cape Foodie assesses the entire experience at a restaurant, not just the food.
Each restaurant is scored out of 20, with half marks allowed. There are 8 points on offer for food, 6 for wine, 4 for service and 2 for setting, decor and ambience.
Each restaurant is tagged. "A Fine Dining" establishment should attract between 16 and 20 point
Cape Foodie assesses the entire experience at a restaurant, not just the food.
Each restaurant is scored out of 20, with half marks allowed. There are 8 points on offer for food, 6 for wine, 4 for service and 2 for setting, decor and ambience.
Each restaurant is tagged. "A Fine Dining" establishment should attract between 16 and 20 points, a "Casual Fine Dining" restaurant between 13 and 16 and a "Casual" eatery at least 10.
A full explanation of the scoring system is available below.
the scoring system
Each restaurant is scored out of 20, with half marks possible. Food accounts for 40% of the score, wine for 30%, service for 20% and the setting, decor and ambiance for 10%. These proportions reflect my preferences. If the quality of a wine list doesn't matter as much to you, pay that score less heed. If setting is critical to you, upweight it when you read the review, and so on.
It is also important to note that every restaurant is scored on the same basis, and all are benchmarked against global standards. A fine dining restaurant should get at least 16 points, a casual fine dining establishment a minimum of 13 and a casual eatery no less than 10. The scores are therefore helpful only in the context of the reviews.
Food
8/8. Extraordinary: Unique and complex, reflecting an original, coherent creative vision and perfect technique across the entire menu. Unforgettable.
7/8. Outstanding: Unique and complex, reflecting striking creativity and perfect technique across much of the menu. Memorable.
6/8. Excellent: Reflecting a clear creative vision and a strong command of technique. Delicious.
5/8. Very good: Reflecting a strong command of technique. Satisfying.
4/8. Good: Well-cooked across the menu, tasty. Enjoyable.
3/8. Average: Hit-and-miss across the menu, bland, flawed. Regrettable.
2/8. Bad: A failure of technique across much of the menu. Unpleasant.
1/8. Terrible: Flawed across the menu, largely inedible. Disgusting.
0/8. Horrific. Inedible. Revolting.
Wine
6/6. A wide selection of top wines from the Western Cape, and wines from a number of other countries and regions, including older vintages. If the restaurant is very specifically about place, then the requirement for an international range falls away, but the region must be comprehensively represented.
5/6. A selection of top wines from the Western Cape or relevant sub-region, including many older vintages.
4/6. A selection of top wines from the Western Cape.
3/6. A selection of good wines from the Western Cape.
2/6. An inadequate selection of wines from the Western Cape.
1/6. Very little wine, none of which is any good.
0/6. No wine list worth the name.
Service
4/4. Warm, knowledgeable, personality, across every detail: faultless.
3/4. Warm, knowledgeable, attentive: excellent.
2/4. Warm, attentive: competent.
1/4. Cold, Indifferent, inattentive: incompetent.
0/4. Rude, absent, dishonest: fire immediately.
Setting, Décor and Ambience
2/2. Striking, interesting, comfortable. An enjoyable ambience.
1/2. Basic, uninteresting, conventional. An ambience that neither adds nor detracts from the overall experience.
0/2. Ugly, dirty, unkempt. An unpleasant ambience.