Since the dates went live, one question has followed Taste of Cape Town everywhere. Ticket holders asked it. So did everyone still deciding. Who is cooking? For months, the answer stayed behind the kitchen door. Today, it walks out.
La Colombe. Chef James Gaag.
Ranked among The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2024 and named The Best Restaurant in Africa, with three stars in the 2025 Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards. Gaag joined as a student in 2010, cooked under Raymond Blanc in Oxford, and came home to Constantia Nek to lead the kitchen. His rule: flavour first, and food must be immediately delicious.
EDGE Africa. Chef Vusi Ndlovu.
The African pantry, cooked over fire, with smoke as the seasoning. Ndlovu won the Africa and Middle East title in the 2018 Young Chef competition and was honoured at The Best Chef Awards in Milan in 2025.
Basson & Co. Chef Bertus Basson.
Basson needs little introduction in South Africa: a television braai judge, an author, and the chef behind Ongetem in Gardens, Chorus at Waterkloof Wine Estate and Spek & Bone off Dorp Street. Green Point will be one of the first places outside Stellenbosch to eat from his newest kitchen.
Upper Union. Chef Amori Burger.
Burger’s cooking comes from her love of hosting friends and family at home, and Upper Union recreates that moment when people relax and connect around good food. Food arrives continuously, wine flows, and nobody rushes to leave. In 2025 Upper Union earned an Eat Out Woolworths One Star and was named Luxe Contemporary Restaurant of the Year, with Burger taking the Culinary Rising Star Award.
Vuur. Chef Shaun Scrooby.
Scrooby spent 17 years as a safari guide before converting an old stable on Remhoogte Wine Estate into a restaurant. The kitchen runs entirely on wood fire, and everything is cooked to order, with the wood chosen as an ingredient for flavour, not just fuel. Since opening in 2022, Vuur has been selected for the World’s 101 Best Steak Restaurants for 2024, 2025 and 2026, and now ranks 52nd, holding the title of best steak restaurant in Africa.
A seat at all five would take five bookings, five evenings and a few long drives between Constantia Nek, Kloof Street, the city centre and two wine farms outside Stellenbosch. On 28 and 29 November, it takes one ticket and one address in Green Point.
“Since we announced the dates, the first thing people ask us isn’t the price or the parking. It’s who is cooking,” said Bonnke Shipalana, Group CEO and Founder of The Allure Group. “We held that answer back until we could give it properly. These five kitchens have built their names one service at a time, and for two days they will be cooking a few steps apart from each other, on one field, for anyone with a ticket.”
The remaining seven restaurants will be announced in the coming weeks, bringing the festival to 12 kitchens.
From 15h00 to 22h00, well known DJs take over and feed your hearing with the freshest beats in the music scene. Under the Feed Every Sense platform, the plates are only half the story.
Tickets start at R450 for the Taste Entry Pass, which gives full festival access to every restaurant, demonstration and pour. Secure your place at tasteofcapetown.com or Quicket. Taste of Cape Town runs from 11h00 to 22h00 on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 November 2026 at Green Point Cricket Club.
