By Eat Out
FYN Restaurant has been acclaimed as the world’s most sustainable restaurant after being awarded the prestigious Flor de Caña Sustainable Restaurant Award at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants ceremony held in Valencia, Spain.
The coveted award aims to recognise restaurants that achieve the highest environmental and social responsibility ratings, determined by its audit partner, the Sustainable Restaurant Association.
FYN Restaurant, which opened in late 2018, was placed 37 on last year’s World’s 50 Best Restaurants list and won 2 stars at the Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards last year.
Headed by chef Peter Tempelhoff and his partners, Ashley Moss and Jennifer Hugé, FYN has been commended for its far-reaching philosophy that holds sustainability at the helm
Heralded as an ‘ethical celebration of South African ingredients’ by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, FYN’s cuisine is a fusion of South African ingredients and Japanese cooking techniques with local sourcing at its core.
The kaiseki-style menu, consisting of five waves of courses, pays tribute to the native ingredients found along the Western Cape and is intrinsic to the principles of sustainability employed by the renowned restaurant
All suppliers are carefully selected according to criteria of eco-friendly practices and range from ABALOBI, South Africa’s first community-supported fishery, to the regenerative-principled Meuse Farm for vegetables, Cape Wagyu for free-range, pasture-reared cattle, and responsibly harvested dune spinach, sea lettuce and kelp.
“FYN is about balancing authenticity and innovation. Through our cuisine, we’re straddling the fine line between time-honoured techniques and creating something quite new,” says Peter Tempelhoff.
“We’re paying homage to the past by working with ingredients foraged some 150 000 years ago on the Western Cape coastline and in the fynbos. We’re representing our local ancestry in our menus and talking about culinary ingredients originating from the dawn of mankind. This journey of exploring regional ingredients is one that we’re enjoying and celebrating with the Flor de Caña Sustainable Restaurant Award.”
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, sponsored by S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna, is a globally recognised programme that showcases leading trends and highlights exceptional restaurants from all corners of the Earth.
Every restaurant in the world is eligible unless it is part of the Best of the Best group (restaurants that have made it to number 1 on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list over its 18-year history).