The South African food industry gathered at the Baxter Theatre Centre on 23 March for a celebration of culinary excellence. The evening’s defining moment was the announcement of the Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant of the Year 2026, awarded to FYN for its seamless fusion of South African identity with the precision and fine technique.
The recognition formed the centrepiece of an extraordinary night for the FYN Group. Service and Beverage Director Jennifer Hugé accepted the Eat Out Patrón Mixology Award for her work across FYN and Beyond, with both restaurants receiving the accolade. FYN was awarded Three Eat Out Stars, while Beyond was awarded Two.
Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant of the Year
Founded by Chef Peter Tempelhoff, together with Jennifer Hugé and Ashley Moss, FYN opened in 2018 as a platform to explore the depth and diversity of South Africa’s ingredients through a lens of precision and restraint. Drawing from the Cape’s extraordinary biodiversity – from fynbos-covered mountains to wild coastline – the restaurant expresses its landscape through the rigour of Japanese culinary technique.
The multi-course experience, shaped in the kitchen by Tempelhoff and Moss, alongside Bea Malherbe and Lucas Ceasar, moves from lightness and clarity into depth and complexity, underscored by balance and restraint. Each dish reveals layers of technique beneath an appearance of quiet simplicity.
The front-of-house is led by Service and Beverage Director Jennifer Hugé, together with Michaela Alves and Carl Davis, whose service reflects the same precision and warmth that defines the kitchen. Working alongside Jennifer, Rhys Beth plays a key role in executing and evolving the restaurant’s boundary-pushing beverage programme.
“This means a great deal to us,” says Chef Peter Tempelhoff. “FYN has always been a team effort, and this belongs to everyone who has contributed to what it is today – Ashley, Jennifer, Paul, Bea, Lucas, Carl, Micaela, Rhys, and the entire team.
“Ashley, Bea and Lucas have been extraordinary forces in the kitchen, while Jen continues to push the boundaries of what South African service can look like. I’m deeply proud of what we’ve built, and genuinely moved that Eat Out has recognised it in this way.
“We started with a belief that South African ingredients, expressed with Japanese precision, could hold their own anywhere in the world. Eight years in, that belief has only strengthened.”
“The judges said FYN delivered a world-class dining experience defined by precision, creativity and balance,” said Abigail Donnelly, Culinary Director of Eat Out.
The Restaurant of the Year recognition further cements FYN’s international standing. The restaurant has consistently ranked among The World’s 50 Best extended list, received the Flor de Caña Sustainability Award, earned the first three-star Food Made Good rating on the African continent, and is a member of Relais & Châteaux. Further recognition comes from The Best Chef Awards, where Tempelhoff was awarded Three Knives – the first South African chef to receive accolade, placing both the chef and FYN alongside the most highly regarded restaurants globally.
Eat Out Patrón Mixology Award – Jennifer Hugé
The Eat Out Patrón Mixology Award was presented to FYN and Beyond as sister restaurants – a recognition of the breadth and consistency of Service and Beverage Director Jennifer Hugé’s work across both.
As sommelier, mixologist and Service Director for the FYN Group, Jennifer has built distinct programmes at each restaurant, united by a philosophy of place, craft and discovery.
“This award means so much – not just to me, but to every person on the team who has poured themselves into what we’ve built at FYN and Beyond,” she says. “The beverage programme has always been about creating a sense of place and emotion in the glass – about showing guests something they haven’t experienced before, and trusting that if we do it with enough honesty and craft, they’ll feel it.
I’m deeply grateful to Chef Peter and the whole team for the space to experiment, and to keep pushing.”
At FYN, the Experience Pairing – a progression of wine, sake and cocktails – moves in harmony with the menu and introduced the country’s first sake trolley at fine-dining level. The programme also features a pioneering mini cocktail offering, drawing on techniques such as clarification, lacto-fermentation, fat-washing, forced carbonation and mead production to express South African terroir in new formats.
At Beyond, the approach is shaped by the Constantia Valley setting, with herbs and botanicals drawn from the estate’s indigenous garden. Across both restaurants, non-alcoholic pairings are developed with the same rigour as their alcoholic counterparts, using fermentation, koji and house-made tinctures to create drinks that reflect a deep sense of place.
“A night like this reminds you why you push so hard,” Jennifer adds. “FYN being named Restaurant of the Year, alongside this recognition, reflects what happens when an entire team commits to the same vision. We share this with every one of them.”
