Best Burgers in Cape Town: Bree St to Woodstock

The best burgers in Cape Town are concentrated in the City Bowl, on Bree Street and Kloof Street, with more around Woodstock, Sea Point’s Main Road and the V&A Waterfront. Most menus split between flame-grilled patties in the South African tradition and newer smash burgers.

South Africans grow up around the braai, cooking over wood or charcoal, so a flame-grilled patty is the local default rather than a selling point. The signature sauce is monkey gland: sweet and tangy, made from fruit chutney, tomato and Worcestershire sauce, and containing no monkey at all. Cape Town also has its own oversized sandwich, the Gatsby, a long roll stuffed with chips and meat that was born on the Cape Flats and is cut into pieces to share.

Burgers in Cape Town: key facts

• Neighbourhoods to explore: the City Bowl (Bree Street, Kloof Street), Woodstock, Sea Point, Observatory and the V&A Waterfront.
• Local sauce: monkey gland, on burgers and steaks across South Africa.
• Local style: flame-grilled beef, inherited from braai culture.
• The Cape Town classic: the Gatsby, chips and meat in a long roll, sold by takeaways on the Cape Flats.
• Currency: prices are in South African rand (ZAR).
• Getting around: the MyCiTi bus links the city centre with the Atlantic seaboard and the Waterfront.

Every guide we publish on Cape Town is dated and lists only venues, addresses, prices and ratings we could verify. Compare South African and world cities in our burger restaurant guides.