Decent and delectable cuisine is synonymous with Oudtshoorn.

Ostrich meat features on almost every menu – organic, healthy and tasty, almost every part of these birds are edible. Fillet steaks with a gooseberry and Amarula sauce, schnitzels, neck in a traditional bredie (stew) velvety liver pate, ostrich heart in a red wine sauce and the stomach served in the same manner as ox tongue. Ostrich burgers, sausage and bobotie are popular, healthy and delicious. You will also find a variety of game dishes and dessert fruits such as pomegranates and figs.

Roosterkoek (griddle cakes) baked on an open fire, served with a savoury filling or cheese, with a variety of home-made preserves, features strongly on breakfast, lunch and dinner menus.

The sweetest, plumpest apricots, hanepoot grapes, peaches, spanspek (cantaloupe) and watermelon grace the streets, shop shelves and buffet tables, in season.

Quality restaurants, run by "food families" and famous chefs, are aplenty and often focus on local produce. Some restaurants have been voted in the top ten countrywide, for a number of years. Oudtshoorn's restaurants and delis offer the best of local produce, intertwined with international staples such as Japanese, Italian, Russian, and French.