FYN: Japanese cuisine with South African flavours
The difference between a good meal and a great meal is hard to quantify. But, context plays a role alongside technique, inventiveness, imagination, playfulness and passion. All of those things live comfortably together at Cape Town’s FYN. The restaurant was voted as the best in Africa, and placed at number 37 in the 2022 World’s 50 Best Restaurants ratings. FYN fuses Japanese precision and presentation with South African produce to deliver an astonishing dining experience in one of the world’s most beautiful settings. In fact, it’s located in the heart of one of the most appealing cities globally.
Proudly South African
The debate around how FYN came in behind five other local restaurants in the 2022 EatOut Woolworths Restaurant Awards when the global competition named it as the best restaurant on the continent, is one for the critics. Ultimately, South Africans can be proud that FYN is acknowledged as one of the best restaurants in the world.
What to expect at FYN
The kitchen at FYN is central to the 60-seater restaurant space, with the team under Executive Chef Ashley Moss quietly going about producing plates of wonder. Of course, the backdrop of Table Mountain beyond the floor-to-ceiling glass adds to the experience. Plush without being cluttered and without a hint of pretense, the space blends African and Japanese elements in the same seamless way the food does.
There’s a concise tasting menu for lunch with pescatarian and plant-based options, a ‘reduced’ dinner menu and the ‘full dinner menu experience’ of around eight courses (with some surprises along the way) and a wine pairing option for all.
Fabulous fusion at FYN
Surprisingly, the fusion of two cultures that you’d imagine would have little in common works to produce a dining experience you simply can’t have anywhere else. The seamless blend is evident across elements major and minor. From Cape Malay curry vinaigrette and yuzu atchar gel coexisting on a plate, to ostrich egg chawanmushi or Outeniqua springbok with hijiki (savoury-peppery seaweed) and Ceres cherries. Naturally, the menu changes regularly and seasonally, but many of the hits – like the springbok – remain, with a few tweaks.
Opting for the wine pairing elevates the meal from great to sublime, with some ingenious matches emphasised by a vintage bent. Somehow, the careful pairing selection unlocks a wondrous additional level to each dish that is truly worth exploring.
It’s a meal worth planning a trip to the Mother City around – and plan, you must. Reservations are in short supply, particularly for premium timeslots – a nod to the deserved global recognition for a place we can call our own.
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