Johannesburg, South Africa — Food and Dining
Restaurants in Johannesburg, South Africa
Restaurants
Expensive
Bistro 277 on Main
Marc Guebert’s Bistro 277 on Main is by far your best bet for French cuisine in Johannesburg. Its sought-after specialties include Toulouse cassoulet (duck, lamb, sausage and bean casserole), tripe in Calvados, snails, baked camembert and cider and duck and cherry pie. It is expensive but for true Francophiles, it is money well spent. Remember to round off with the signature dessert: a Grand Marnier soufflé.
Cramerview Center, 277 Main Road, Bryanston
Tel: (011) 706 2837,
Website: www.bistro277onmain.co.za
Browns of Rivonia
Occupying a charming old farmhouse in the relatively rural suburb of Rivonia, Browns offers elegant dining, a large patio, a cosy fireplace, a 40,000-bottle cellar and a fromagerie (cheese room) where diners can go to choose their own platter. Recommended are the fresh oysters, the calamari, the roast glazed duck, Eric's prawns, and the ever popular lamb shanks.
21 Wessels Road, Rivonia, Sandton
Tel: (011) 803 7533.
Website: www.browns.co.za
Carnivore
With a dozen types of meat, from chicken legs and lamb with mint sauce to crocodile, eland and zebra, Carnivore, the local version of its Nairobi namesake, aims to sate the appetite of the most ravenous of customers. Waitrons carve meat off converted Masai spears, while patrons sit round a huge, open central fire and scoff to their hearts’ content.
69 Drift Boulevard, Muldersdrift
Tel: (011) 957 2099.
Website: www.rali.co.za
La Belle Terrasse and Loggia
This elegant and unabashedly colonial terrace has one of the city's most beautiful and surprisingly pastoral views. The Sunday brunch offers a cold buffet that includes French oysters, Caspian Sea caviar, queen prawns, charcuterie and a host of terrines and salads. The hot buffet includes eggs Benedict, as well as other lunch specialties, such as roasted spring lamb in a rosemary-scented jus.
The Westcliff Hotel, 67 Jan Smuts Avenue, Westcliff
Tel: (011) 481 6000.
Website: www.westcliff.co.za
Le Canard
This elegant, romantic rendezvous is set in a stately suburbian Georgian homestead with sweeping drapes, antique furniture and Persian rugs. Dishes are typically timeless with duck, veal and seafood dishes that are Le Canard's signature. Try the queen prawn and fruit salad on gingerbread for starters, followed by the drunken chicken, which is flamed at the table in coconut milk seasoned with ginger, juniper and brandy. Top it all with baked cheesecake.
163 Rivonia Road, Morningside, Sandton
Tel: (011) 884 4597.
Website: www.lecanard.co.za
Linger Longer
Set in a fine converted mansion, Linger Longer’s classic décor and romantic feel suits smart to formal dress. Service is skillful and the haute cuisine is top class. As a starter, lobster bisque or foie gras, followed for the main event with either crusted rack of lamb, Atlantic salmon or the duck (an all-time favorite) or one of the tempting specials are recommended, followed by homemade assorted sorbet.
58 Wierda Road, Wierda Valley, Sandton
Tel: (011) 884 0465.
Moyo Melrose Arch
Mimicking the impressive subterranean scale of Jo'burg's famous goldmines, Moyo's eclectic décor of beaten copper ceilings, Ali Baba lanterns, brightly painted columns and mosaic patterned tables set with wicker mats and oil lamps extends down five levels. Expect wondrous dishes such as samaki kavu from Kenya, chicken yassa from Nigeria, venison babootie from South Africa, Mozambican grilled barracuda topped with tomato and basil, and from Morocco, varieties of fragrant tagines.
5 Melrose Square, Melrose Arch, Melrose (off Atholl Oaklands Drive or Corlett Drive)
Tel: (086) 100 6696.
Website: www.moyo.co.za
The Butcher Shop and Grill
For some of the best steaks (pork, ostrich, lamb, beef and game) in town, this is definitely the spot. For starters, the snails, done in garlic, lemon and other ingredients unique to The Butcher Shop, are great, and to end up, there is a straightforward but delicious ice cream in rich chocolate sauce. The menu also offers poultry, schnitzels, and sausage or seafood platter.
Shop 30, Nelson Mandela Square, Sandown, Sandton
Tel: 011 784 8676.
Website: www.thebutchershop.co.za
Vilamoura
Vilamoura has long been considered one of the city's best Portuguese/seafood restaurants. Smart and quite formal, it has a renowned seafood platter that will delight any fish fanatic and is the ideal place to impress important guests (with price tag to match). In addition to seafood, Vilamoura's piri-piri chicken, Portuguese steak and chouriço (Portuguese traditional sausage) are consistently delicious. A Latin American band plays most nights.
Intercontinental Sandton Towers, corner of Fifth and Alice Streets, Sandhurst, Sandton
Tel: (011) 884 0360.
Website: www.vilamoura.co.za
Moderate
Giles
Classic cartoons are much in evidence in the decor of Giles. This is a homely, convivial and unpretentious place, offering cosmopolitan English cuisine. For starters, the Giles' trout salad is recommended, followed by fish and chips served in a newspaper cone, ended off with 'Madam and Eve' chocolate brownies with cream or ice cream. There is also a cosy wooden-panelled traditional British pub for pre-dinner drinks.
9 Grafton Avenue, Craighall Park
Tel: (011) 442 4056.
The Radium Beer Hall
The Radium Beer Hall is the oldest surviving bar and grill in Johannesburg, with a genuinely historic ambience that is just as enticing as food on the menu (including delicious prego rolls and ribs) and as authentic as the foot-tapping live jazz that makes the embossed tin ceiling vibrate. The walls are covered in memorabilia, from photos of pre-war soccer teams and jazzmen to vintage posters and press clippings.
282 Louis Botha Avenue, Orange Grove
Tel: (011) 728 3866.
Website: www.theradium.co.za
Cheap
Chon Hing
Any restaurant that can boast that it has been presenting authentic and delicious Chinese fare for over 40 years must be doing something right. Here hostess Yvonne will sit you down at a gaudy plastic table on rickety schoolroom chairs and serve you the best prawn chow mein (one of over 100 dishes) this side of Beijing. Charming and timeless.
26 Alexander Street (off Commissioner), Ferreirastown
Tel: (011) 834 3206.
Fourno's Bakery
This chain offers best spots for breakfast with a newspaper at a table in the sun. Bakers work throughout the night to provide a bewildering range of delicious breads, pastries, quiches, cakes, samosas, pies and sausage rolls. The farmhouse breakfasts are superb and will keep you going all day, or try toasted rye bread topped with goats' cheese, spinach and poached eggs.
Dunkeld West Center, Jan Smuts Avenue, Dunkeld
Tel: (011) 325 2110.
Website: www.fournos.co.za
Nightlife
Nightlife in Johannesburg is lively and dynamic. From shebeens and pubs to fancy cocktail lounges and clubs, the city has something for everyone. Melville is one of the most popular areas: there are dozens of little bars around Seventh Street. More affluent party animals favor Rosebank, Norwood, Rivonia and Orange Grove, while in the Central Business District, Newtown is a big draw. For listings on nightlife in Johannesburg, visit www.jhblive.com
Bars
Catz Pajamas
In Melville, Catz Pajamas is a 24-hour restaurant and pub housed in an old building with an iron balcony where you can watch the sun come up over breakfast after a night's partying. From insomniacs to fashionistas, it has big appeal.
Main Road
Tel: (011) 726 8596.
Website: www.catzpyjamas.co.za
Cool Runnings
This spot has a reggae theme and hosts weekly live comedy in the Dungeon on a Sunday.
Fourth Avenue
Tel: (011) 482 4786.
Website: www.coolrunnings.co.za
Radium Beer Hall
One of the city's oldest bars. The Radium Beer Hall started life as a tea room in 1929, was converted to a beer hall in 1944 and has never looked back. The long bar is the original bar from the Ferreirastown Hotel from the early mining days. Decorated in vintage posters and press clippings, it has a great ambience.
282 Louis Botha Avenue, Orange Grove
Tel: (011) 728 3866.
Website: www.theradium.co.za
Katzy's
Also in Rosebank in the mall attached to the Park Hyatt, Katzy's is very popular with the northern suburbs affluent residents and offers fat sofas, chunky bricks, soft blues music and a top-of-the-range selection of cigars, cognacs and whiskies. The adjoining Grillhouse restaurant specializing in steaks adds to its allure.
The Firs, Hyatt Shopping Center, Oxford Road
Tel: (011) 880 3945.
Website: www.thegrill.co.za
Melrose Arch
This is a trendy piazza-style complex with a number of fashionable places to eat and drink.Try the stylish bar in the Melrose Arch Hotel with its stylish dark wood bar, leather armchairs and unique modern African décor.
Corlett Drive, Melrose
Website: www.melrosearch.co.za
Clubs
Monsoon Lagoon
When it comes to nightlife in Johannesburg, this is the city's most upmarket club. Monsoon Lagoon offers extravagant décor, high-tech sound equipment and a team of professional dancers who strut their stuff on podiums.
Emperor's Palace Casino in Kempton Park
Tel: (011) 928 1000.
Website: www.monsoonlagoon.co.za
Tokyo Star
Melville has its fair share of trendy nightclubs. Tokyo Star is decorated in Japanese pop culture décor and sushi is available.
Fourth Avenue, Melville
Tel: (072) 478 2592.
Horror Café
In Newtown, the Horror Cafe is decorated with horror movie memorabilia and plays African music including the infectious kwaito at the weekends.
15 Miriam Makeba Street
The Rock
This is one of Soweto's trendiest clubs, which again features kwaito and jazz, a large bar, roof deck and dance floor.
1987 Vundla Street, Rockville
Tel: (011) 986 8182.
Reality
One of the favored venues for raves are Reality which has three dance floors and offers a blend of hip hop, house and drum'n'bass.
248 Jeppe Street
Wildwaters
Big Brother Productions hosts regular H2O parties at Wildwaters, a water theme park in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg.
Website: www.clubzone.co.za
Live Music
The Bassline
The Bassline is one of the most popular jazz and blues venues in Johannesburg, hosting great local live bands.
Newtown Music Hall in Newtown
Website: www.bassline.co.za
The Songwriter's Club
Also in Newtown, The Songwriter's Club hosts up-and-coming musicians including township hip-hop artists.
Carr Street
Website: www.thesongwritersclub.com
Blues Room
Rosebank has the best jazz and blues venue in town, the Blues Room in the Village Walk complex.
Rivonia Road
Tel: (011) 784 5527.
Website: www.bluesroom.co.za
