La Colombe Rises 20 Places to No.35, Takes Africa's Top Spot

La Colombe jumped 20 places to No.35 in The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2026, a ranking that makes the Constantia restaurant the best in Africa. The announcement came on Wednesday, 4 November, at the awards ceremony in Lima, Peru.

The climb returns the Cape Town restaurant to the top 50 after a year on the extended 51–100 list. La Colombe sat at No.55 in 2025. Executive chef James Gaag leads the kitchen. No.35 also makes it the highest-ranked restaurant on the continent.

The recognition carries real weight for a fine-dining operation. Top-50 placement drives international reservations, travel itineraries and press coverage. The source does not disclose check averages, covers or ownership structure. That omission matters. Rankings reward reputation; they say nothing about margins.

How did the rest of Cape Town perform?

All three South African restaurants in the world's top 100 gained ground this year:

• La Colombe — up 20 places to No.35, named The Best Restaurant in Africa
• FYN — up 17 places to No.65
• Salsify at the Roundhouse — up 17 places to No.71

FYN and Salsify moved up when organizers published the extended 51–100 list last month. La Colombe's surge completes a clean sweep for the Mother City.

Cape Town also appeared in a separate announcement at the Lima ceremony. Doris Lam, winner of The 50 Best Restaurants Scholarship 2026, will take a paid culinary internship at Salsify at the Roundhouse, working with chefs Ryan Cole and Nina du Toit. She will also spend time at The Fat Duck in Bray, England, the restaurant led by Heston Blumenthal.

Who topped the global list?

Asador Etxebarri in Atxondo, Spain, took the No.1 position, moving up from second place in 2025. Chef-owner Victor Arguinzoniz built the restaurant's reputation on wood-fire cooking. Bangkok's Gaggan finished second. Copenhagen's Alchemist took third.

The ranking draws on votes from more than 1,100 international restaurant industry experts — chefs, restaurateurs, food writers and culinary specialists — spread across 28 regions. At least a quarter of the voting academy turns over each year.

What are the caveats?

The list has critics. Fine dining dominates the ranking, and questions persist about how accurately it reflects the diversity of global food culture. A panel of 1,100 experts is a narrow sample of the world's eaters. Restaurants that cook at lower price points rarely appear.

The mechanics of the vote also deserve scrutiny. The academy refreshes a quarter of its members annually, which limits entrenched blocs but does not eliminate them. The source does not publish vote counts or regional breakdowns.

For South Africa's restaurant industry, the recognition still counts for something concrete. Three Cape Town restaurants moving up global rankings strengthens the city's pull as a culinary destination and supports the inbound tourism trade that fine-dining rooms depend on. Whether that translates into sustainable economics for the kitchens themselves is a question the rankings never answer.