Tang Sandton named one of the Top 100 Restaurants of the World

It’s turning into a banner year for upmarket South African restaurant brand Tang. In the latest of a series of accolades, Tang Sandton was selected as one of the Top 100 Restaurants of the World at the 2023 Luxury Lifestyle Awards.

The Top 100 list is a global showcase of the world’s best restaurants; those that combine superior service and an elevated culinary experience to create truly exceptional dining destinations across the globe.

For Nicky van der Walt — founder of Miramar Collection, which owns Tang Sandton, Tang V&A Waterfront and Mirabelle Vineyards — this newest award is valuable recognition for the dedicated teams of chefs and hospitality staff that truly define the Tang experience. 

“I’m thrilled for our group executive chef Vixa Kalenga and the staff that work so hard every day,” says Van der Walt. “At Tang, we hold ourselves to exacting standards, and our loyal diners have extremely high expectations of us. This latest international award is testament to the incredible service and world-class cuisine that they deliver at Tang each and every day.”

Since Tang Sandton opened at Nelson Mandela Square in May 2021, it has become a fixture of Johannesburg’s culinary landscape. It's a destination restaurant that epitomises contemporary elegance, where the inspired interiors by acclaimed designer Tristan du Plessis blend effortlessly with the creative cuisine from Kalenga and his team.

The selection of small plates — izakayas — is the perfect introduction to Tang's refined pan-Asian menu, dishing up everything from softshell crab in black pepper soya to Wagyu robatayaki. Each plate is built on delivering elegant complexity, from the linear flavours and primacy of produce in the tuna tataki with onion ponzu and citrus soya, to the perfectly crisp batter of tempura rock shrimp with chilli-infused dipping sauce. 

At Tang, each dish is an elevated interplay of flavour and texture, spice and fragrance, with paired dipping sauces adding ever more layers of complexity.

Kalenga’s depth of kitchen creativity extends to an inspiring choice of wok dishes, prime cuts from the robata grill, and a menu of classic and modern sushi plates. Signature large plates run from salmon teriyaki with wasabi mash to the iconic black cod miso, while the Peking duck, available as half or whole, is a theatrical masterpiece perfect for larger tables. 

“From the beginning, Tang was created as a pan-Asian restaurant. We’re not fusion,” says Kalenga. “Each dish stays true to the country of origin, and in the kitchen we work incredibly hard to honour and respect those time-honoured culinary traditions.” 

It’s evidently an approach that is turning heads with culinary connoisseurs worldwide. Tang Sandton’s ranking in the Top 100 Restaurants of the World 2023 list is the second major international award for Tang this year. In October, Tang V&A Waterfront was hailed as Africa’s Best New Restaurant in the fourth annual World Culinary Awards. 

The World Culinary Awards highlight the most impressive culinary offerings at restaurants, luxury hotels and city destinations across the globe, and were announced in a glamorous ceremony where the world’s heavyweight chefs took to the stage at Atlantis The Royal in Dubai.

And it was a fitting locale for Tang to be honoured: September 2024 will see the opening of Tang’s first international outpost, with the launch of Tang Dubai in the prestigious Palace Downtown.

While introducing an entirely new market of hungry diners to Tang’s signature cuisine, the 400-seater Tang Dubai will dish up remarkable views of both the Burj Khalifa and the iconic Dubai Fountain. 

This article was sponsored by Tang Asian Luxury Restaurant.