Sarah Kingdom dines at COY in Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront and discovers an award-winning harbour-side experience, where flavours and seasons meet with quiet confidence.
Tucked away on the quieter side of Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront, COY is easy to miss, something that seems almost deliberate. Cross the little bridge that separates the quay from the restaurant and the hustle, bustle and noise falls away, replaced by the gentle slap of water against the hulls of the yachts bobbing on their moorings and the imposing silhouette of Table Mountain hovering over the harbour. Inside, the atmosphere is hushed and warm, dark wood, curated art, and the soft glow of lamps, making the space feel intimate without feeling constrained.
From the start, the staff set the tone. They knew the menu and the wines intimately, guiding us through the experience without making a performance of it; describing not just the dishes and their ingredients, but also their source. The wine pairings, drawn largely from boutique South African vineyards, feel deliberately chosen to accentuate the food.
The pace is unhurried, in a way that makes you linger, sip your wine, and watch the light shift over the harbour. It’s immediately clear why COY was awarded the 2025 Eat Out VISI Style Award, for its fusion of modern African cuisine and interior design, and was also named New Restaurant of the Year at the 2025 Luxe Restaurant Awards. This is definitely one of South Africa’s most exciting new fine dining destinations.
We opted for The COY Experience, a seven-course tasting journey with a wine pairing – the portion sizes are refined, and the experience rewards those who delight in detail over abundance.
The ‘snacks’ arrived first: maize chips with tahini and roasted shiitake, alongside red lentil with blatjang (a sweet, fruity, and spicy South African chutney) and cashew, each bite small yet a real treat. Next came the Fermented Amadumbe (taro) Sourdough, with Kefir, Konfyt (South African traditional preserved green figs, soaked in lime water to make crisp and slow-cooked in sugar syrup) and Bokkom (salted, air-dried mullet). Delicious.
The hot starters continued the quiet drama. With a choice of beef tartare, mussels or tuna, I opted for the mussels. Cooked with fennel, citrus, pine nuts and Baharat, that distinctive, all-purpose Middle Eastern spice mix of black pepper, paprika, cumin, coriander, cardamom, cloves, and nutmeg. This was accompanied by a glass of Thorne & Daughters ‘Tin Soldier’ Semillon, 2019, a skin-fermented wine made from Semillon gris, which is almost unique to South Africa, and a vestige of a time when Semillon was the grape on which the South African wine industry was built.
The main courses began with a choice between octopus, line fish or chargrilled ox tongue. I opted for the False Bay octopus, with cauliflower, piri piri and millet, accompanied by La Comica, a fruity chenin blanc with electric acidity and a pithy finish, from the Tom Hillock vineyard in Swartland, in South Africa’s Western Cape.
Moving on, choices included duck with macadamia, salted nartjie and black lentils, braaied (BBQ) linefish, and meilie samp (a traditional South African dish made from dried corn kernels that have been pounded and chopped). The nod to traditional South African dishes continued, with a clever take on a traditional malva pudding (similar to an English sticky toffee pudding), a dessert that’s widely believed to have its roots in 17th and 18th century Cape Dutch cuisine.
We rounded out our dinner with a Burnt Banana Crème, with a malty, milk stout taste to it. Perfectly accompanied by a glass of the stunningly intense, bright gold, Paul Wallace “The Nix’ Noble Late Harvest, with its delicious flavours of fresh orange compote, lemon peel, saffron and just a whiff of honey.
COY is not about spectacle. It’s a place that whispers: in the textures, the layering of flavours, the subtlety of service, and the quiet confidence of a kitchen whose dishes have earned every accolade they receive. For an evening when you want to pause, savour, and let the harbour lights and mountain backdrop settle In, COY Is a quietly thrilling destination. this is a dining experience i’d return to, again and again.
Images : JAN-RAS-PHOTOGRAPHY
Tell Me More About Coy
COY, the Scherwyn Pavilion Building, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town
E: reservations@coyrestaurant.com T: (+27) 21 207 3278
“The COY experience” is a seven-course tasting menu that features snacks, a choice of cold starters, hot starters, mains, and dessert. Vegan and vegetarian menus are available upon request.
Cost: £50 / $66, add £32 / $43 for the wine pairing
