Hungry but can’t manage to put pants on and go outside in search of tonight’s dinner? That’s where Joburg’s best delivery restaurants come in – you can get anything from decadently experimental pizza to top-rate burgers and sushi delivered to your door without having to pause your TV binge or workflow. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to summon your stretchy pants! Tip well.
Hot tip
Local restaurants and small businesses need our support right now. When possible, we advise ordering directly from these restaurants by using their own delivery service when available, since food delivery apps can charge them up to 30% in fees, creating lower profit margins. In our personal experience, our food has also arrived much faster and hotter when we’ve ordered via their own delivery services.
Coalition
For life-changing slices
There are few pleasures greater than authentic Neapolitan pizza – except, that is, the ease and convenience of authentic Neapolitan pizza delivery. Thanks to the delivery gods, you can get piping-hot pizza from Coalition at the push of a literal button. At the original location, they continue to coax the bubbling dough out of the oven. The classic margherita, topped simply with silky mozzarella, crushed tomato and fresh basil, is so light, you can’t help but order another. Only one bite will convince you that this pizza is the ideal marriage of crusty and chewy. The Holtini is also worth trying for delivery tonight: The recipe includes copious amounts of coppa ham, thyme, mushroom, Italian parsley and creamy mozzarella melted in cubes upon a rich bed of savoury tomato sauce spread to the edge of the crust. It’s about as close to a transcendental experience as you can get. Our top tip? Unleash your creative side and create your very own Coalition pizza in the comfort of your own home with one of their DIY pizza kits, which include all ingredients and simple instructions. It’s the perfect activity for the whole family!
Place your order: Phone 010 900 4987 or order via UberEats (to order your pizza as a DIY kit on UberEats, simply write ‘DIY’ in the ‘add a note’ box before placing your order)
Delivery fee: R20 within a 5km radius of the restaurant and R5 per kilometre thereafter if you order direct
2 Bolton Road, Parkwood
Facebook: @coalitionneapolitanpizza
Twitter: @coalition_pizza
Instagram: @coalitionpizza
The Foundry
For the best buns
Sure, we all love our plant-based Beyond Burgers and fried chicken sandwiches, but sometimes nothing replaces a classic, beefy burger. You might want to grab a few extra serviettes before you devour a burger from The Foundry because flippin’ ‘eck, these burgers are good. It’s the Burger Royale that we keep coming back for: A 250g juicy, roughly chopped beef patty comes perfectly cooked and properly seasoned with delicious seared edges. Toppings run from matured cheddar and mozzarella to streaky bacon and crispy onions rings. The buns, meanwhile, are soft and bouncy. Just add a side of hand-cut chips and you have the makings of an all-time great meal! It might be a mouthful to say, but The Foundry also makes a better mushroom ravioli than any of Joburg’s Italian restaurants we’ve tried. Filled with mushroom, feta and spring onion, served in a sage, truffle and brown butter sauce with toasted pine nuts, there’s a reason it’s long been a favourite on the menu.
Place your order: WhatsApp 063 137 1938 or order via UberEats or Mr D Food
Delivery fee: Free for Parktown North and Parkhurst residents or R25 within 5km radius of the restaurant if you order direct
Parktown Quarter, 3rd Avenue, Parktown North
Facebook: @foundryjozi
Instagram: @foundryjozi
Big Bad Wolf
For budget sushi
Love sushi but worried about getting a raw deal? Budget sushi doesn’t always mean the quality is compromised. At Big Bad Wolf, a decent serving starts from as cheap as R68 for eight salmon California rolls or R62 for six prawn fashion sandwiches. At prices this reasonable, best start loosening your belt for an unforgettable sushi feast at home! Each little package is packed with super-fresh ingredients and handed over to the delivery driver the instant it’s ready, the nori wrapping still crisp. Our favourites? The intriguing Samurai rolls filled with tempura veggies, wrapped in salmon and tuna and topped with mayo, or the well-shaped Blue Dragon – avocado maki rolls topped with prawn tempura bathed in sweet chilli mayo. Otherwise, try the briny-fresh salmon sashimi or the impeccable salmon roses at just R62 for two pieces of sashimi or R108 for six roses. That’s a win in sushi territory! The menu also offers other solid budget-friendly eats and artisan pizzas.
Place your order: Phone 082 710 0159 or order via UberEats and Mr D Food
Delivery fee: Free within a 10km radius of the restaurant if you order direct
Cedar Square Shopping Centre, Willow Avenue, Fourways
Facebook: @bigbadwolfpizza
Instagram: @bigbadwolfpizza
Brik Café
For clean eats
There’s more to healthy food than just chicken breast and a mountain of mesclun. When it comes to eating clean, variety is key – and that’s where Brik Café excels. The next time you find yourself staring at your boring #workfromhome desk salad, think about all their other healthy food options instead. Everything is consciously curated, locally sourced and proactively cooked – from the chickpea pancakes filled with orange marmalade, fresh orange and almond frangipane, to the coconut oil fried egg served with spinach stems and burnt butter hollandaise. We recommend tucking into the grass-fed burger, which is well-loved for its umami basting and fresh toppings. Its main highlight: The corn ketchup, that’s made in-house to yield a silky texture. For a guilt-free cheat meal, try the vegan fried fish and chips made with banana blossom nori, sweet potato, aquafaba tartar and leaves. It’s tender and perfectly crisp, and the banana blossoms make for a spot-on texture.
Place your order: Phone 066 573 6697 or order via UberEats and Mr D Food
Delivery fee: Free within a 1km radius of the restaurant if you order direct
16 Baker Street, Rosebank
Facebook: @brikcaferosebank
Instagram: @brik_cafe
Ribs & Burgers
For racks that are seriously smokin’
A universe away from your average plate of down-and-dirty hipster ribs, Ribs & Burgers is an absolute blinder with instant Instagram appeal. Serving up this awesome meaty treat in a variety of forms, you can choose from beef, lamb and pork ribs as well as burgers, steaks, wraps and salads. Our top pick is the Mighty Pork Baby Back Ribs: Smoky, sweet and succulent, these slow-cooked and then flame-grilled masterpieces are some of the punchiest around. We’re pretty sure these are the best pork ribs in Joburg! This juicy joint also makes the best things you’ll find between two buns, like the Mighty Bacon and Cheddar Burger made with a perfect 200g patty topped with aged cheddar, pickles, Spanish onion, mustard and BBQ, lovingly finished with pink sauce. Colour? Yes. Texture? Wow. Flavour? You bet! But a burger without a drink is like Batman without Robin: Still amazing, but not the unstoppable pair they could be. So, give your sweet tooth a treat and slurp up a salted caramel shake on the side.
Place your order: Go to www.ribsandburgers.com/za or order via UberEats and Mr D Food
Delivery fee: Free for orders over R150 within a 5km radius of each restaurant if you order direct
The MARC, 129 Rivonia Road, Sandton
Nicolway, corner of William Nicol Drive &, Wedgewood Link, Bryanston
Facebook: @ribsandburgersza
Instagram: @ribsandburgersza
La Boqueria
For cuisine from the Iberian Peninsula
Searching for some enticing Spanish food? You don’t have to go far (or to Spain) – from paella to tapas, La Boqueria does it right and neatly sidesteps the usual clichés in favour of less familiar ideas. Our recommendation is to order a line-up of rustic small plates and eat like a Spanish family. The tapas are all-round flawless, from the stunning wood-fired Spanish goat’s cheese with rustic tomato salsa, green olive pesto and crusty market bread, to the utterly dreamy albondigas AKA traditional Spanish meatballs – our version of comfort food. The hot-fried olives are as trippy as tapas get: Green Manzanilla olives are stuffed with salt-cured lemon rind and fresh pimento, then panko crusted and shallow fried and served with caper parsley aioli. The kitchen also knocks out big pans of paella for sharing, like the smoked pork neck paella filled with white wine, fennel, roasted onion, corn, edamame, black beans, saffron bomba rice and crispy sage, which serves two to four.
Place your order: Go to www.laboqueria.co.za/deliveries or order via UberEats
Delivery fee: R25 for orders over R200 within a 5km radius of the restaurant if you order direct
17 3rd Avenue, Parktown North
Facebook: @laboqueriajozi
Twitter: @laboqueriajozi
Instagram: @laboqueriajozi
Café 28
For the perfect pie
The owners of this contemporary café are masters of their trade who make mouth-watering imaginative pizzas, pastas and burgers. The Neapolitan pizzas with their blistered crust and creative toppings take centre stage: Café 28 has replicated the perfect alchemy struck between locally ground flour, regional mozzarella and tomatoes grown on neighbouring Vesuvius in the food-obsessed city of Naples. The basic Burrata – strewn with fior di latte mozzarella and basil, with a ball of burrata in the centre – is a de facto vehicle for a vivid and deeply flavourful tomato sauce. When the burrata is cut, the interior spills out, revealing soft, stringy curd and fresh cream. If you’re a lover of anything that’s straight-up creamy, this pizza is so what you want! The Indiavolata al Provolone is another standout, which comes topped with provolone piccante, spicy salami, olives and basil – a balmy Tuscan afternoon in pizza form.
Place your order: Phone 011 083 7873 or order via UberEats
Delivery fee: R20 within a 5km to 10km radius or R25 within a 10km to 15 radius of the restaurant if you order direct
54 Wierda Road E, Wierda Valley, Sandton
Facebook: @cafe28sandton
Instagram: @cafe_28_inanda
Bloom Coffee
For absolutely killer coffee
On the hunt for a perfectly executed flat white or espresso? Your daily grind just got a little easier! Bloom Coffee brews up some terrific stuff, so go ahead – get crafty with your no-whip, no-foam, triple-shot, sugar-free, extra-hot custom order. The hot drinks menu comprises of a macchiato, cortado, Americano, cappuccino, caffe latte, mocha, piccolo and hot chocolate, while cold drinks include an iced American, latte and mocha. This cool café also makes magnificent, glistening pastries – think soft, light and tender scones that are delicious slathered in butter with a dollop of strawberry jam, or simply decadent pain au chocolat with ultra-thin layers, buttery crispness, melted chocolate and a dusting of powdered sugar. The airy plain croissant with an inside that’s just as good as the outside has stolen our hearts with its regal balance of good quality butter and sublime flavour. For just R50, you can get any single shot coffee with a pastry – now that’s an excellent deal!
Place your order: WhatsApp 079 319 5385
Delivery fee: Free within a 2km radius of the café
34 4th Avenue, Parkhurst
Facebook: @bloomcoffeeza
Twitter: @bloomcoffeeza
Instagram: @bloomcoffeeza
Try something different
- The carbonara pizza from The Foundry: The toppings on this Pizza Bianco (meaning no tomato sauce or cheese) are creative without being strange – roasted garlic, crispy bacon, baked egg, pecorino shavings, fresh basil and black pepper aioli. If you’ve never experienced a pizza with an egg, we beg you to try it. When the yolk breaks, it transforms into a luscious sauce that makes the pizza that much more decadent. The egg is the ‘it’ factor that makes this pizza truly special. Would it be too trite for us to call it heaven on a crust?
- The ricotta and spinach gnudi from Brik Café: Gnudi are essentially the light and cloud-like kin to gnocchi. The ricotta and spinach gnudi from Brike Café are described as ‘ricotta dumplings’. The featherlight clouds of fluffy, fresh ricotta are light, ethereally airy and incredibly moreish, served with a rich and simple burnt butter. The dish is also made with green mole – a bright green sauce made from pumpkin seeds and green chile with a strong earthy, nutty taste.
- The ribs and chicken wings from La Boqueria: While pizzas and burgers both go down easy alongside a cold beer, the undisputed king of munchies is certainly the ribs and chicken wings from La Boqueria, served with corn on the cob. The sweet and spicy pork ribs are so impossibly melt-in-your-mouth tender, one bite will quiet even the pickiest of barbecue hard-liners. The smoky chicken wings are a crowd-pleaser – they’re crispy, rich, juicy and kissed by coal flames.
- The calamarata pasta from Café 28: Calamarata pasta is a traditional Neapolitan pasta shape, which inherited its name for its shape that resembles calamari rings. This type of pasta absorbs all kinds of condiments, making it the perfect companion for the simple but amazingly delicious tomato sauce in this dish. The pasta is cooked al dente and then tossed with fresh calamari rings cooked in the tomato sauce before it’s finished off with fresh, aromatic chopped parsley.
Caffeine & Cashmere 