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Belly of the Beast

Contemporary South African
RRR+

Attributes

  • Romantic
  • Gourmet Guide Plated
  • Reviewers' Choice 2022 - Top 20
  • Reviewers' Choice 2023 - Top 20

Chef's Anouchka Horn and Neil Swart.
We offer a tasting menu for lunch and dinner in our 26 seater restaurant.
There are no menu options or set amount of courses. All you do is show up and trust us to satisfy with our seasonal fair. We source from local sustainable producers and use every part of the animal.
You can expect some dishes that might test some boundaries, but we always balance our menu so that everyone will enjoy the experience.
The 26 seats make for a very personal dining experience, as we do everything from cooking to serving our food.
Belly of the beast works on online reservations only. a 50?posit is required to secure your booking.

Lunch: 12:30pm
Wednesday to Saturday
R450 per person
Dinner: 18:45
Tuesday to Saturday
R550 per person

Terms and conditions:
Arrival time:
Lunch starts at 12:30.
Dinner starts at 18:45. We serve pre-dinner drinks from 18:30
We serve all tables together so please be on time.
Being late may result in missing out on the first course.
Cancellations:
Please note that all cancellations made within 24 hours of your reservation will result in the loss of the deposit.
(We are not enforcing this policy at this stage of the Covid-19 pandemic)
Allergies/Dietary restrictions:
We do cater for some dietary requirements and allergies but can only accommodate them with at least 24h notice.
With our small team cooking a multi course menu we can unfortunately not cater for the following as it will entail us cooking a whole new menu. Vegan, onion, garlic, alcohol, black pepper and eggs
We do not cater for any dislikes and we would like you to place your trust in us.
We welcome Vegetarians and pescatarians
Wine list:
We have curated a great selection of wines from local winemakers and also serve an optional wine pairing with dinner.
Corkage:
We ask that you consider buying wine from us, if you do have a special bottle you would like to bring we charge a R100 corkage fee with a limit of one 750ml bottle per table.
Gratuity:
a 12% gratuity is added to every table that will be split by the whole team.
Children:
We can only accommodate children above the age of 12, that will eat the tasting menu.
Covid-19 regulations:
Each guest will have to sign in electronically and accept our Covid-19 regulations prior to arrival. A link will be sent in the reminder the day before your reservation.
Click here to see our Covid-19 regulations.

Gourmet Guide Description

If you love the element of surprise, then this is the restaurant for you. Chef duo Anouchka Horn and Neil Swart offer a tasting menu for lunch and dinner in their 30-seater restaurant in the hip street called Harrington. Further down the street they recently opened their sister restaurant, Galjoen.

It’s undictated by the diner, rather by seasonality and sustainability. Let go and devour every aspect of the meal – the fact that there are no menu options nor a set number of courses – just show up, hungry. Only allergies are catered for, not whims, as these chefs want to cook what they love, responsibly sourced, nose-to-tail – and what will pair well with the wines.
The menu changes, but a good example of what they cook is the venison tartare with smoked jala and corn chips – a great show of sweet, salty and spicy. Dishes, and the menu, are perfectly balanced. The bread course is a surf and turf. It’s roosterkoek and mielie bread served with Saldahna Bay mussels, a coconut atchar and corn veloute. The homemade venison Bovril butter is exactly what you would expect from this pair.

“Neil and I have always loved having lots of things with our breads, in the beginning we only served one thing, now it’s a bread feast. It needs to be shared and to be fun. The sashimi-style fish, often yellowtail, tuna or silver fish, whatever is available, is served with a bokkom XO sauce (normally made with dried shrimp) – but bokkom for local vibe.”

Here food brings joy to the chefs, and the diners, who appreciate their integrity and that of the ingredients.

Reviews (2338)

4.9 out of 5.0
Based on the past 12 months
Food 4.9
Value 4.8
Service 4.9
Ambience 4.8
  • Melandrie B. Dined: 3 days ago
    4.5
    Food 5.0
    Value 4.0
    Service 5.0
    Ambience 4.0
  • Aileen S. Dined: 3 days ago
    5
    Food 5.0
    Value 5.0
    Service 5.0
    Ambience 5.0

    Reviewed on: Sat 11 May 24
    Top class meal and top class service.

  • Fred W. Dined: 3 days ago
    5
    Food 5.0
    Value 5.0
    Service 5.0
    Ambience 5.0

    Reviewed on: Sat 11 May 24
    Neil,Anushka and the team are the best in the business!We had a wonderful time sampling the pairing menu.The staff are extremely well trained and the food out of this world.Well done!Our favourite restaurant in Cape Town.

  • Robert E. Dined: 4 days ago
    4.5
    Food 5.0
    Value 4.0
    Service 5.0
    Ambience 4.0
  • Domenico F. Dined: 5 days ago
    5
    Food 5.0
    Value 5.0
    Service 5.0
    Ambience 5.0

    Reviewed on: Thu 09 May 24
    On the heavy side with way too much sugar and butter, but we loved our experience nevertheless

  • Nikolas C. Dined: 6 days ago
    5
    Food 5.0
    Value 5.0
    Service 5.0
    Ambience 5.0

    Reviewed on: Wed 08 May 24
    I love it. I love it. I love it. Layed back fine dinning. Amazing team. Food is exactly how it should be when you pay for a meal...a reminder that it is worth and vital going into restaurant every now and and then to experience something what mama or wifey doesn't cook out home...love that the grand finally after lunch ends with a cookie...also I realized that you don't need a big selection of desserts...one can be enough when it is delicious and naughty and memorable experience for the taste buts. It is certainly possible to contribute to making the world a better place whit a restaurant like belly of the beast. Well done you all...

  • Sophia T. Dined: 1 week ago
    5
    Food 5.0
    Value 5.0
    Service 5.0
    Ambience 5.0

    Reviewed on: Tue 07 May 24
    Had one of our best evenings in capetown at Belly of the Beast! The service was so lovely and the food was excellent! I can really recommend coming here!

  • Heather S. Dined: 1 week ago
    4.8
    Food 5.0
    Value 4.0
    Service 5.0
    Ambience 5.0

    Reviewed on: Sun 05 May 24
    A real taste sensation

  • Steve E. Dined: 1 week ago
    4.8
    Food 5.0
    Value 5.0
    Service 4.0
    Ambience 5.0

    Reviewed on: Sun 05 May 24
    Overall great, wine knowledge from the waitress wasn’t great but food was excellent

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Opening Hours

  • Monday 12h00 - 14h00
  • Tuesday 12h00 - 14h00, 18h45 - 23h00
  • Wednesday 12h00 - 14h00, 18h45 - 23h00
  • Thursday 12h00 - 14h00, 18h45 - 23h00
  • Friday 12h00 - 14h00, 18h45 - 23h00
  • Saturday 12h00 - 14h00, 18h45 - 23h00
  • Sunday CLOSED