Final food orders in SA: Cape Town and Johannesburg among world’s early-night dining capitals

Cape Town and Johannesburg among the world’s late-night dining capitals

Recent research by Chef’s Pencil has identified Cape Town and Johannesburg as two of the earliest closing cities for late-night dining worldwide.

The study, which analysed data from over 4,400 restaurants across 89 global cities, found that the average last seating time in both South African cities is 9 pm.

This positions them among the earliest in the world for final food orders compared to cities in other regions including Europe, North America, South America, the Middle East, and Asia.

Chef’s Pencil used reservation apps to determine where booking a very late dinner is most accessible.

The analysis covered a broad spectrum of restaurants, focusing on their reservation calendars and noting the last seating times for weekends. The cities were then ranked based on the median value of these times.

The finding aligns with other cities in the region, such as Helsinki, Sydney, and Seoul.

Globally, only Auckland, New Zealand, and Luxembourg close earlier, with the average last seating time in these cities at 20:30.

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Global comparisons: late-night dining capitals

These findings show a clear cultural difference in dining habits compared to other parts of the world, especially in the Middle East and South Asia, where eating late at night is more common.

In Southern Europe, cities like Madrid, Athens, and Barcelona support late dining, with last seating times extending to 23:00.

This is reflective of a broader Mediterranean lifestyle where dinners are typically enjoyed later in the evening.