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Day into evening is our favourite time of day, with Joburg’s sunsets throwing shades of golden amber, blush pink, muted coral, and dusky lavender. There’s a sense of calm and quiet as the colours shift and then fade into the velvety blues of approaching dusk.
Tucked into The Houghton Hotel, Cyra, named for a star, is Chef Candice Philip’s latest venture. An award-winning fine dining chef, Philip is a standout in Joburg, and this visit is our third experience of Philips at work. We first met when she opened Grei at Saxon Hotel, Villa and Spa some years ago. She followed that up with a residency at The Peech Hotel that turned their restaurant space Basalt, around, making it a notable dining destination. Today that restaurant is now the The Pot Luck Club at The Peech, a Luke Dale Roberts restaurant. It’s all come full circle as Philip's star rose when she was head chef at Luke Dale Roberts X the Saxon restaurant in 2017.
Her latest accolade is “chef of the Year” at the recent Luxe Awards (2025), where Cyra also picked up “Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year”. This is Joburg, a city that is not always kind to fine dining establishments, with patrons often demanding heaped plates of familiar foods, revealing this place's rough and ready mining town roots. This makes Philip’s standing and continued success mean so much more.
Philip's has a signature style that she has honed over many years. Her plating is delicate and exquisite, a play on colour and texture, with each dish bringing a symphony to the plate, mixing crunchy and silky smooth with rich flavour and pops of tartness or sweetness. It's important to note that since our visit the menu has changed as a new menu is introduced each season. The true joy of fine dining is to be found in this constant invention, and it's a reason to return.
Sommelier Solly Mmethi is also a conductor. We ordered the wine pairing, sharing between the two of us. His knowledge is vast, and his way of imparting it is entirely enjoyable to the listener, regardless of your knowledge of wine. He jokes about being part of Philip’s furniture, having travelled with her from restaurant to restaurant, along with many of the team working at Cyra. His work involves tasting and more tasting, isolating whether to complement flavours in a dish or to heighten contrasts. It starts with many bottles to get it down to the one wine that will pair with a dish. “There are no rules," he says. "At the end of the day, they need to pair well together.”
It’s a wonderful dance, as he mentions that Philip's work is creating the dishes. And while she is working on the menu, the sommelier’s job has already started, thinking through the key ingredients to find the perfect pairings. Much detective-like effort takes place, with careful research and plenty of tasting. Two unique creative approaches at work.
Dinner here is an eight-course experience, starting with an amuse-bouche. Translated from French, it means the equivalent of “mouth amuser” and is the chef’s play on setting the scene. A small bite, it is usually served before the first course.
Photo: Supplied.
The main menu that follows is eight courses of beautifully served dishes. We started with lemon bread served with miso butter. The dishes on the menu are listed by their core ingredients, making them appear simplistic. However, that’s nowhere near the case. First up is a wild mushroom tartare served on a savoury doughnut with parmesan and parsley, and paired with a Silverthorn River Dragon Brut.
The tomato with cucumber, ginger and fennel resembled a glorious little garden in a dish. What sounds like a plain salad is a base of rich and juicy marinated tomatoes and cucumber in a ceviche-style dressing topped with smoked tomato jelly, with texture and crunch provided by a wonton crisp, and the creaminess from an aioli crema. Mmethi paired it with a fermented Chardonnay from Zevenwacht, intending to counter the acidity of the tomato while maintaining the freshness of the dish. A perfect combination to start.
What followed was a dish of spiced ostrich, beetroot, spicy quinoa and duck liver cream. A dish of richness paired with a lighter-style Oak Valley Sounds of Silence Pinot Noir, with notes of sour cherry. It’s always fun to discover the flavours in a wine with some guidance. Mmethi says he started with a wide selection but settled on a wine with soft tannins. “I went for something opposite with this pairing”. It’s up to the sommelier to find the magic.
The beef fillet dish is a showstopper. On the surface, it’s meat and potatoes, but this, we believe, is the highest level to which a dish like this can ascend. The fillet is seared to perfection, the potato pavé delicately layered, compacted, and cubed, all set in a truffle jus. It’s rich and full of flavour, warm and utterly satisfying.
Photo supplied.
The portions are perfectly paced. It’s a stretch to taste the dessert, but it looks too good to miss out on, with its suggested freshness of nectarine, cardamom, coconut and lemon verbena. The coconut is in the sorbet. The experience closes on a high note with a cheese dish unlike any other. It resembles a work of art, and the cheese arrives in dollops of creaminess in a melange of crispy biscuits, with dashes of fruity flavours as a complement.
So much thought and care has gone into each dish – and that’s the hallmark of fine dining. A deceptively simple set of ingredients has been elevated and prepared in ways no home cook could replicate. It’s amazing to think about how much artistry and creativity has gone into making each of the ingredients shine uniquely.
The pace of the evening is warm and unhurried, and the service is personalised. There is a feeling of exclusivity at Cyra, without the stiffness often associated with upscale dining. Tables are spaced generously, allowing for intimate conversations and uninterrupted enjoyment of the culinary theatre unfolding course by course.
At the heart of Cyra is a menu that blends global influences with a modern sensibility. Each dish is a study in balance – visually striking, technically precise, and deeply satisfying. What started at 19:00 ends after 22:00, but we are totally satisfied customers. We take a walk between courses to the wraparound balcony to enjoy the night view over the Houghton Hotel, with its beautifully lit swimming pools and sumptuous manicured expanse across the golf course.
Candice Philip does her rounds as dessert is served, and it’s a treat to have time with the chef. The restaurant opened in October 2024, and as she says, it hit the ground running. As well as presiding over Cyra, Philip is also at the helm of the private dining and selected functions at the hotel. About her team, she says, “I can't do what I do without them.” They have moved as a pack since first working together many years ago, while new members have joined them at Cyra.
Cyra means star, says Philip, and in the January week that we visited, the planets had truly aligned. The wine list is extensive, leaning into South African estates while offering a well-curated selection of international labels. For those looking for something different, the cocktail menu adds a playful, modern twist, featuring ingredients like hibiscus, Rooibos, and lemongrass.
It’s a joy to encounter staff who are so well-versed in the menu and unobtrusively attentive, adding to the sense that every detail has been carefully considered. It’s in the small touches – the perfectly folded napkin, the quiet replacement of cutlery, the chef’s note accompanying the amuse-bouche – that Cyra truly shines.
Full vegetarian and pescetarian menus are also available.
Booking essential. Make a reservation for Cyra here.
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