Peter Weetman & Stefan Marais with Tony Jackman © Andrew Brown

Do you dream of dining at award-winning restaurants? Clinking champaign glasses and knowing the difference between local and imported beef on smell alone? While we can’t help you much with the latter two, the former we have in the bag.

Tony Jackman, playwright, food journalist and author of the fabulous food blog, Sliver.co.za has taken it upon himself to create a series of awards for top notch restaurants. Aptly named the Sliver Silvers, they are unique awards bestowed upon chefs and their restaurants in Cape Town and the Winelands.

As Mr Sliver himself puts it, these awards are once-in- a-life-time stuff, given to restaurants that have consistently exceeded expectations. As opposed to being annual awards divided into fixed categories, the Sliver Silvers are awarded on a restaurant by restaurant basis in ‘categories’ moulded to fit the restaurants’ winning qualities. Their prizes, figuratively speaking, are a kind of high class Noddy Badge, to be worn proudly on their lapels. Literally, they are hand crafted and fired ceramic plates by Mervin Gers Ceramics featuring his iconic koi motifs, to be used any way the restaurant sees fit.

Without further ado, we bring you the inaugural Sliver Silvers award winners:

Peter Tempelhoff (with Gerald van der Walt) of The Greenhouse for ‘his exquisite progressive South African cuisine’

Giorgio Nava of 95 Keerom, for ‘inspired Italian authenticity and Milanese charm’

Sabi Sabharwal of Haiku, for ’striking Asian versatility and consistency’

Luke Dale-Roberts of The Test Kitchen, for ‘wizardry with flavour and texture‘

Henrico Grobbelaar of Azure @ the Twelve Apostles, for ‘his finely engineered cuisine‘

Franck Dangereux of The Foodbarn (Noordhoek), for ‘texture and nuance with Gallic charm’

Peter Weetman of Societi Bistro, for ‘most beloved neighbourhood bistro’

Margot Janse of The Tasting Room @ Le Quartier Francais (Franschoek), for ‘Avant-Garde African cuisine that always surprises’

Bertus Basson of Overture restaurant (Stellenbosch), for ‘seasonal expression and detail’

Go on then, make those dreams come true! Book a table at one of these award-winning restaurants and don’t forget to tell us what you think!