Indochine Interior. Photo: Supplied
Restaurants around the world can now enter the 2023 World Luxury Restaurant Awards. Previous winners from South Africa include Salsify at the Roundhouse in Cape Town, Indochine in Stellenbosch, A’la Turka Restaurant in Pretoria and Hacklewood Hill Country House Restaurant in Gqebera.
More than 85 awards are given across multiple cuisines and restaurant types. They also include the World Luxury Restaurants, World Luxury Spas and World Luxury Hotel Awards. The nominees are voted for by the public; more 250 000 voters participate every year.
The awards are presented on a global, continent, regional and country basis, with one restaurant receiving the Global Restaurant of the Year.
The World Luxury Restaurant Awards set themselves apart from other food awards because they go into places unknown to most, giving flowers to each country’s top and lesser known favourites.
Each entrant can participate in three categories; specific kinds of cuisines, country-influenced cuisine and a special type of restaurant or bar. These winners are selected per category by country, region, continent and globally.
At the 2022 World Luxury Restaurants Awards, 13 out of 300 restaurants are from South Africa, bringing home awards such as contemporary cuisine, romantic ambience and luxury boutique hotel restaurant.
The mix of Michelin Star restaurants, local treasures and gourmand favourites evens out the self-imposed pedestals. The nominated restaurants within each cuisine are judged according to a three-prong criteria: interior design, good quality food and excellent service reviews.
World Luxury Hotel and Spa Awards
At the 2022 World Luxury Awards, 12 spas in South Africa proved world class, and 39 hotels took home awards, including the AM Lodge in Hoedspruit, a four-times Global Award Winner.
The World Luxury Spa Awards present more than 100 awards from Best Relaxation Lounge to specific tastes such as Luxury Thalassotherapy Spa, (using elements from the ocean). Spas pay a once-off annual registration fee of R9 000 to enter the regional, continental and global categories.
One standout winner is the Delaire Graff Spa in Stellenbosch, which exclusively uses world-renowned Dr Barbara Sturm products. It took home South Africa’s top Hideaway Spa Award. In Hermanus, the 2022 winner of the Regional Luxury Boutique Hotel Award, Auberge Burgundy Boutique Hotel, gives the illusion of a weekend away in the glamorous south of France.
Registration for the World Luxury Hotel, Spa, and Restaurant Awards are open online before voting opens to the public later this year.