The capital city has some great hidden gems in the hotel world, but some are put on the map or even outshined by their food offering. Here’s our pick.

Diep in die Berg (Wapadrand)

Diep in die Berg has long been known as a lovely accommodation and wedding venue tucked against a leafy hillside in Pretoria, but their newly renovated modern and stylish restaurant is a destination in itself. The extensive breakfast menu has South African flavours like a braaibroodjie breakfast or jaffels with hickory ham, rocket, mozzarella, tomato jam, red onion and mushroom. Similar local flavours are found throughout the main menu, such as on the padkos tapas board that features chilli bites and bacon-wrapped cheese grillers. If you’re bringing the kids, you’ll be happy to hear that a complimentary child-minding service is available.

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Something to SMILE 😁 about … It's Weekend and BURGER 🍔 Fridays is Back!!! ✔ Gourmet Burger 🍔 100% Pure Beef 200g Patty ✔ ONLY R100 per burger ✔ Great Value for Money! BURGER MENU: 🍔 EL DIABLO brioche bun 200g beef patty guacamole cucumber pickle lettuce tomato jam harissa mayonnaise cheddar 🍔 SURF & TURF brioche bun 200g beef patty prawn salad bacon lettuce tomato avo 🍔 CHICKEN BURGER brioche bun 2x crispy fried chicken breast slaw aged cheddar peppadew jalapeno sauce RESTAURANT TIMES: 🕘 Fridays from 12h00 – 20h00 RESERVE YOUR SEAT: ☎ 012 807 4630 ☎ 083 550 9226 (Emergency Number) 📩 restaurant@diepindieberg.com 🌍 www.diepindiebergrestaurant.co.za T’s & C’s apply. #GourmetBurger #EldiabloBurger #SurfandTurfBurger #ChickenBurger #Burgers #BurgerFriday #Restaurant #PretoriaRestaurant #Fridays #BestRestaurant #Tripadvisor #Zomato #DiningOut #DiepInDieBergRestaurant #DiepInDieBerg

A post shared by Diep In die Berg | Restaurant (@diepindiebergrestaurant) on Aug 20, 2020 at 2:34am PDT

Manhattan Hotel (Pretoria Central)

This spot in the city offers a bar and a full restaurant, both of which are open every day of the week. The Bronx Bar is intimate but cosily furnished in a quintessential hotel-bar style, with a live band providing tunes most nights of the week. Stop here for a drink before or after dinner at the Rockefeller restaurant. Here you’ll find over a hundred dishes in the set price buffet, including stir-fry, carvery and seafood sections. You can also choose from a modest á la carte menu that has a little bit of everything, such as salads, toasted sandwiches and steak. There are buffet specials on weekends and a pensioners’ discount on weekdays.

The Orient (Elandsfontein)

This hotel and its famous restaurant are synonymous with fine dining around the capital. Award-winning chef Chantel Dartnall is known for her gourmet creations and greeting her guests in a beautifully elegant setting. Menus are regularly updated, with the current one drawing inspiration from the elegance of Japanese cherry blossoms. Highlights include Purdon Wagyu Angus beef, braised tongue and caramelised sweetbreads, as well as a dish of confit local pigeon, foie gras and passion fruit. Menus are set and can be enjoyed with an enthusiast’s or connoisseur’s wine pairing or a non-alcoholic pairing option.

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“Some Birds Don’t Fly” I I am sure that Mother Nature must have a sense of humor – especially if you consider the evolution of the species. Are we not fortunate to be able to see that around us, here in the Cradle of Humankind, where we can discover first hand how human beings were molded by the eons of time? As a young child, in the evenings before our summer holidays, I was always so excited that I could not sleep. It was still dark the next morning when we started our journey through the sleeping suburbs, to take the road through the cornfields of the Free State and meet the rising sun on the plains of the Great Karoo. Every year stopping under the same Blue-gum trees at the same picnic spot next to the road, to have our breakfast from the basket packed by my mother the previous evening. Condense-milk tea, with sarmies, frikkadelle and hard-boiled eggs – feeding the ostriches through the fence, wondering how it came about that this exotic, strange animal came to be. We now know that cataclysmic events and raging fires turned the primeval skies dark, filled with burning sparks and ash – forcing these birds to become landlocked animals, and ourselves to seek new shelters in far away lands. Changing our environment, our habits and our diets from mainly raw vegetarian food to harnessing that fire and becoming omnivorous, digesting more fibrous animal products, contributing to the development of our larger brains – becoming humans and thus, assuring the survival of our species. With this dish, I will guide you through three preparations, showcasing our food evolution… Featuring 3 preparations of Ostrich. #thebestchef #restaurantmosaicatorient #artofplating @caviarinspirate @thebestchefawards @dylan_swart @laliste1000 #thebestchefawards #greatplates

A post shared by Restaurant Mosaic @ The Orient (@restaurantmosaicattheorient) on Sep 19, 2020 at 2:50am PDT

Royal Elephant (Centurion)

This beautiful hotel boasts two spots. The Zagora Grill Room embodies the hotel’s focus on Moroccan and North African luxury, with a fusion of African- and Mediterranean-inspired cuisine. You’ll want to choose from the variety of meats, including chicken and seafood, which will be BBQ-basted, grilled and served with sides such as coriander-and-peppadew mash. There’s a Sunday lunch buffet and you can choose to dine outside around the pool under the stars rather than inside if you like. Next door to the restaurant and out on the patio is the Oasis Resident’s bar. Enjoy something special from their cognac trolley or the Royal Gin Box, which allows you to build your own drink.