The Cape Winelands have stepped out of the shadow of big brother Cape Town, and is no longer merely a day-trip destination.

Cape Town's locals and visitors are discovering that there is more to the Cape Winelands than wine. Apart from majestic mountains, historic Cape Dutch architecture and a wide range of exhilarating activities for outdoorsy types, the Cape Winelands is also renowned for its cuisine.

Winelands restaurants have been stealing the spotlight at South African restaurant industry awards lately: Terroir restaurant (located close to Spier & the Stellenbosch Golf Course), recently won the award for best restaurant in South Africa at the Eat Out Johnny Walker Restaurant Awards. Winelands restaurants Bread and Wine and Ruebens restaurant in Franschhoek also walked away with awards.

As a result, high flying city folks are jetting off to the countryside to indulge their culinary cravings at restaurants in the winelands of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek.

The team at CapeTownMagazine.com have been doing the same for years: We've been spending a lot more time in the Winelands lately, scouting out some of the best restaurants in the winelands for you to choose from. In the coming months we will expose you to our favourite restaurant finds.

We'll highlight the swankiest culinary hotspots spots like Tokara restaurant, best restaurant Terroir, Reuben's in Franschhoek, 96 Winery Road in Stellenbosch and Le Quartier Francais (rated as one of the top 50 restaurants in the world, 2006, by UK "Restaurant Magazine").

We'll give you the low-down on laid-back culinary havens like Beads restaurant, Fishmonger and Cognito restaurant. And we'll also give you the scoop on restaurants with incredible views like Mana in Devon Valley and Tokara restaurant, just outside Stellenbosch.

Hotel Restaurants, like Moyo and Figaro's restaurants at Spier, Flavours at the Devon Valley Hotel and the Protea Hotel Stellenbosch's. Aristata restaurant will also be featured.

So stay tuned for all these tasty discoveries and more on CapeTownMagazine.com

Molo says: Find out more about the Cape Winelands; find accommodation in Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschoek and read more about our great Winelands travel specials.

And don't forget to subscribe to our monthly newsletter for all the latest Cape Town news, reviews, accommodation specials and events delivered straight to your inbox.

At The Showroom restaurant in Cape Town's stylish De Waterkant, chef and owner Bruce Robertson has masterminded a theatrical dining experience where the food steals the show.

The restaurant (located next to the Bloomsbury luxury car showroom) has caused quite a stir in culinary circles.

Robertson is a former advertising industry art director, who couldn't boil and egg until the age of twenty-eight.

While on a culinary adventure via bicycle from London to Rome, he had an epiphany on a park bench with his (then) partner. They promised each other, there and then, that they were going to quit advertising and venture into the wild world of cooking.

He admits that his parents were a bit sceptical about his sudden decision to change careers and...

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