Sublime Guide to Best Places to Eat in Port Elizabeth

From harbour-side seafood and serious steaks to sushi, Portuguese prawns and elegant fine dining — these are the PE tables worth knowing.

Port Elizabeth — or Gqeberha, as the city is officially known — has always been rather good at keeping its culinary treasures to itself.

Perhaps that is part of the charm.

This is a city where some of the most memorable meals aren’t necessarily accompanied by velvet ropes, impossible reservations or menus requiring a dictionary. PE likes its food much as it likes its people: generous, relaxed and without unnecessary fuss.

But don’t mistake laid-back for ordinary.

From sophisticated special-occasion restaurants to wonderfully uncomplicated seafood beside the harbour, the Friendly City has a surprisingly diverse food scene.

For the Sublime Top 10, we’ve looked beyond hype to the places that offer that irresistible combination of food, atmosphere and a genuine sense of place.

1. MUSE RESTAURANT

The special-occasion table

For a more refined expression of PE dining, Muse deserves a place at the top table.

Creative cooking and thoughtful presentation have made it one of the city’s recognised culinary names — and its reputation extends well beyond Nelson Mandela Bay.

This is where dinner becomes the evening rather than merely something squeezed between other plans.

SUBLIME FOR: Date nights, celebrations and dressing up because you actually feel like it.

2. BACKSTREET GRILL

For people who take steak seriously

There are restaurants that attempt to reinvent steak.

And then there are restaurants that understand the wisest thing to do with excellent meat is cook it properly.

Backstreet Grill has developed a formidable local following, particularly among carnivores. Expect a warm, unfussy atmosphere and the sort of food that makes conversation briefly disappear when the plates arrive.

SUBLIME FOR: Steak night, red-wine evenings and hungry people.

3. SUKI SUSHI & ASIAN CUISINE

PE’s Asian favourite

When the craving moves towards sushi, sticky wings, curries and Asian flavours, Suki is one of the city’s most dependable answers.

It’s lively rather than precious, making it equally suited to dinner with friends and the dangerous suggestion that everyone should simply order several dishes “for the table.”

Several inevitably becomes many.

SUBLIME FOR: Sushi dates, groups and ordering far too much food.

4. DE KELDER

An old-school PE favourite

Some restaurants survive changing fashions because they understand something fundamental: people return to places where they eat well.

De Kelder is one of those PE institutions.

Steak and seafood are the natural territory here, making it a particularly good choice when one half of the table wants something from the ocean and the other wants something considerably more bovine.

SUBLIME FOR: Classic dinners and visitors asking, “Where do locals go?”

5. GINGER THE RESTAURANT

Dinner with a little polish

Situated at The Beach Hotel, Ginger brings a more elegant mood to the beachfront.

Seafood naturally feels at home this close to the Indian Ocean, although the menu stretches comfortably beyond it.

Come when the evening calls for crisp linen, attentive service and a little more ceremony than your average Tuesday-night supper.

SUBLIME FOR: Romantic dinners and special occasions.

6. SHANNA’S PORTUGUESE RESTAURANT

Bring on the prawns

Portuguese food understands pleasure.

Garlic. Lemon. Chilli. Flame. Prawns. Chicken.

There is very little in that sentence we wish to argue with.

Shanna’s has earned a loyal reputation for hearty Portuguese cooking and is precisely the sort of restaurant to visit when restraint has been officially removed from the evening’s agenda.

SUBLIME FOR: Prawns, peri-peri and gloriously messy fingers.

7. TORO SUSHI, TEPPANYAKI & SEAFOOD

Dinner with theatre

Sometimes you want dinner.

Sometimes you want dinner with a little performance.

Toro combines sushi, seafood and teppanyaki, making it one of the more entertaining options in the city and an easy choice for groups where everyone seems to want something different.

SUBLIME FOR: Celebrations, sushi lovers and sociable dinners.

8. CHARLIE’S PIZZA & PASTA

Italian comfort, PE style

There are evenings for gastronomic experimentation.

And there are evenings when carbohydrates are the only sensible answer.

Charlie’s has become a familiar Summerstrand favourite for pizza, pasta and relaxed dining. It isn’t trying to turn pizza into conceptual art — and we appreciate that enormously.

SUBLIME FOR: Family dinners, casual dates and carb emergencies.

9. THIS IS EAT

Seafood without the ceremony

Now we get to one of our favourite kinds of restaurant: the place that doesn’t need to be fancy because what’s on the plate does all the talking.

Close to the harbour, This Is Eat is about fresh seafood, generous portions and an unmistakably coastal PE experience.

Fish. Calamari. Prawns. Chips. Lemon.

Add sea air.

Done.

SUBLIME FOR: Casual seafood lunches and visitors who want to taste the coast rather than simply look at it.

10. CUBATA

Portuguese flavour with cult appeal

Every worthwhile food guide needs at least one place where the advice is essentially:

Don’t overthink it. Just go.

Cubata has long enjoyed the sort of word-of-mouth reputation restaurants cannot manufacture with an advertising budget.

The attraction is straightforward: Portuguese-inspired food, seafood, prawns, meat and big flavours served without unnecessary theatre.

It feels local.

And that is precisely why it belongs here.

SUBLIME FOR: Prawns, casual evenings and discovering a PE institution.

THE SUBLIME VERDICT

The best thing about eating your way through Port Elizabeth is the variety.

One evening can mean beautifully