Everybody has their favourite spots to grab a bite to eat, and the same is true for chefs.

Even if many spend a large part of their dining experience with an eye on the kitchen.

In order to suss out which restaurants hit the chef sweet spot, Inside Guide spoke with 60 of South Africa’s finest chefs, asking them where they eat when they’re not cooking up a storm at home.

The chefs they spoke with include Bertus Basson (of the ‘No Whales Allowed’ fame), Jan Hendrik Van Der Westhuizen, Peter Goffe-Wood, Reuben Riffel and other household names.

There are eight categories, which are as follows:

• For a casual meal
• For a special occasion
• Best new restaurant
• Best restaurant that is an “oldie but a goodie”
• For a guilty pleasure
• For authentic / international cuisine
• The best restaurant overall

The full Inside Guide breakdown includes a winner in each category, followed by a number of runner-ups, but we’ll just skip ahead to the ‘Best Restaurant for a Special Occasion’ winner:

Guess who came in as a runner-up? Only Wolfgat, currently the darling of the South African restaurant scene. Oh well, you can’t win them all.

Chef’s Warehouse also won the ‘Best Restaurant Overall’ category, so that’s a decent double.

If you’re after trying something fresh, the ‘Best New Restaurant’ winner:

To finish, here’s something that won’t put you out of pocket – the ‘Best Restaurant for a Casual Meal’ category winner:

Happy eating.

You can see the full list of chefs, categories, and winners here.