Belly of the Beast Cape Town Review, Eat Out 2 Stars

Belly Of The Beast

110 Harrington St

Cape Town City Centre

Cape Town 8000

South Africa

Belly of the Beast sits quietly in Cape Town's City Bowl, but its reputation travels far louder than the dining room suggests. Run by chefs Anouchka Horn and Neil Swart, both of whom trained in some of Cape Town's more progressive kitchens before striking out on their own, the restaurant has built its identity around a single idea: a daily menu shaped entirely by local produce. That philosophy has earned them consistent recognition, including placements on South Africa's Eat Out Restaurant Awards list, where they have been noted for their ingredient driven approach and stripped back execution.

We arrive on a rainy evening and enter the already bustling 30 seater. The space is casual, almost deliberately so, with a layout that reminds me of a Flinder's lane Melbourne establishment. Tables are tightly set, service is direct and the open kitchen keeps things grounded. There is no attempt to overstate the experience. Instead, the focus is on what arrives at the table and the story behind it - often literally through the cue cards provided with each course explaining provenance and terminology. Which is a godsend for us (Afrikaans is an incredibly difficult language).

Entrance to Belly of the Beast

At ZAR 1200 (~90 SGD) per person, the offering is a daily tasting menu that leans heavily on South African ingredients, interpreted through a lens that borrows freely from global techniques and spice profiles. Our menu for the night:

• Kabous #2

  • Roosterkoek and Brown Bread Crisp

  • Smoked Charcoal Butter

  • Venison Tartare with Biltong Guanciale, Worcestershire Sauce Cured Egg Yolk and Coriander Seed Mayo, Topped with a Burnt Onion Dust

  • Baba Ganoush with Heirloom Tomatoes, Biltong Pickled Onions, Sumac and Tomato Oil

• Local Tuna

  • Local Tuna with Rooi-Noodleslaai, Spanspek, Red Onion and Padron Peppers, Topped with Chilli Oil

• Local Beef

  • Braised Beef Heart with Caramelised Onion, Pickled Mustard Seeds, Asparagus, Netvet and Bordelaise

• Lamskerrie

  • Lamb Methi Curry with Fenugreek Leaf Pommes Anna, Roaster Carrots, Baby Spinach and Basmati Foam

  • Yoghurt with a Kale, Pumpskin Seed and Cashew Nut Furikake

  • Served with Roti

• Belnori

  • St Francis of Ashisi Cheese From Belnori

  • Served with Honey, Juniper and Truffle Butter, Smoked Pecan Nuts and Kilimanjaro Cheese

  • Wholewheat Croute

• Peaches and Moskonfyt

  • Roasted Peaches with Caramelised Ideal Milk foam with Shortbread Crumb

  • Moskonfyt and Aniseed Ice Cream topped with Bee Pollen

The meal begins with Kabous Roosterkoek, a house developed bread program that has been part of the restaurant since its early days. Cooked on a braai and paired with smoked charcoal butter infused using Rooikrans wood, it sets the tone: deeply local, slightly rustic and anchored in fire and smoke.

From there, the menu builds in intensity. The venison tartare, paired with biltong guanciale from Frankie Fenner Meat Merchant, leans into South Africa's preserved meat traditions while layering in richness through cured egg yolk and coriander seed mayo. It is topped with burnt onion dust, adding bitterness to balance the fat. This was one of the more composed dishes, though already edging toward the restaurant's tendency to push seasoning.

Where Belly of the Beast is most compelling is in how consistently it references local food culture. The local tuna is served with Rooi-Noodleslaai, an Afrikaans cold noodle salad typically served at braais. The braised beef heart, sourced from the Overberg region and wrapped in netvet (Caul fat) is paired with Bordelaise and Pickled Mustard Seeds. It is a dish that bridges French technique with South African sourcing. In general through the meal, we thought that although the execution was technically sound, the seasoning was heavily assertive. By the end of the meal, the cumulative weight of salt and spice becomes noticeable. Especially for us, slightly jetlagged and finding it hard to stay engaged as the courses progressed.

A reset comes just in time with the Belnori cheese course, easily the stand out of the night. Belnori is an award winning cheesery from Bapsfontein, just outside Pretoria, supplying the St Francis of Ashisi, a mould ripened cheese made from 50 % goat and 50 % Jersey milk, layered with ash. It is paired with honey, juniper, truffle butter and smoked pecans, alongside Kilimanjaro cheese, a semi hard curd washed cheese made from 100 % goat's milk and aged up to 4 months, also coming from Belnori. This course achieves what much of the menu aims for - a balance where local produce, technique, flavours and restraint aligns cleanly.

Dessert leans back into Afrikaans tradition with roasted peaches, Ideal milk foam and Moskonfyt (grape must syrup) served with an aniseed ice cream. It is fitting close, tying the meal back to its core idea of regional storytelling through ingredients.

Booking

Reservations for Belly of the Beast opens on the 1st of each month for the following month at 10 am South African Time. If the 1st falls on a Sunday, the reservation window will open on the Monday at 10 am. At the current point of writing, the earliest available 2 seater on a Saturday night is one month out, so definitely book in advance.

Accessibility

Take an Uber when in South Africa (:

The Damage

At 1200 ZAR for a tasting menu, the value is high.

Would We Recommend?

Maybe. Belly of the Beast is a clear expression of Cape Town's ingredient driven dining scene and there is real intent behind every dish. The commitment to local sourcing and storytelling is consistent and the menu is cohesive in concept and the value is high. Service throughout is efficient and informative and the cue cards demonstrate the thoughtful touch, given how unfamiliar many international diners would be to Afrikaans. At this point, you might be wondering, it sounds like a resounding yes, but why the maybe? We thought the execution felt uneven, particularly in terms of handling of seasoning, which often overshadows the produce it aims to highlight. For us, the seasoning was too heavy handed on most of the dishes to be a resounding yes. It is certainly worth visiting for a grounded, distinctly South African tasting experience, but expectations should be calibrated.