Every time we go home to Cape Town there are three things we cannot wait for. Number one is of course seeing friends and family. Number two is generally the sunshine as it is the ideal destination to escape the British winter. But, for me, number three is the restaurant scene.

I always try to seek out somewhere a little different to take my wife to. Be it different in terms of its cooking style, ingredients or ambience, I am not fussy, but it has to have a little bit of X factor.

Belly of the beast was the choice for December 2022’s trip. I am not going to lie; I was a weird mixture of excited and sceptical as the reviews were out of this world. On TripAdvisor, Google and reviews by acclaimed critics, nobody had a bad word to say. And it is not a cheap place, not even when converting into GBP. Oh, and did I mention there is also no menu? So, you are at the mercy of the chef, not one for anyone overly fussy unless you are open to having your current opinions changed (as lucky for me my wife was with tomatoes, which actually didn’t end up featuring). 

The restaurant itself is tiny, with around 12 covers and reservations open around a month in advance so set your calendar reminders (no, just me?). This really adds to the ambience though as you get incredible service with both drinks and food. They offer wine pairing which we of course took and was one of the best we have done, even offering choices when it came to desserts depending on if you are a dessert or fortified wine drinker.

Now onto the food. As I said, you get what you get, and even then, when you enter the restaurant all you can actually see is a board with 4 words written on it. In our case, it was KABOS, LOCAL FISH, PAP, CHOCOLATE. Surprise it is then. Let’s dig in.

As with these places, there aren’t actually 4 courses, there are more, so come hungry! 

First up, Wildebeast tataki with smoked onion mayo, ponzu and rice crackers. This is in my top 5 meals eaten at a restaurant to date. The meat was so tender and thinly sliced that it fell apart under your fork. The ponzu was mouth-wateringly well-balanced but overpowered nothing. And the rice crackers were light as air. It really worked.

Then we had some incredible bread to mop up two sharer plates. Smooth and rich chicken pate, cut with apricot relish and smoked pecans (which we fought over because they were so good). Then we also had a new fish for me, Snoek. This is a local fish to Cape Town and widely eaten in people’s homes, but has fallen out of favour in restaurants so it was wonderful to see. Here it is whipped into a parfait with lightly pickled masala onions and curry oil. Again. Wow.

The next course was the most ‘run of the mill’ for me, but I think that is largely because we are spoilt in the UK for authentic Mexican ingredients and restaurants. Don’t get me wrong, it was still very tasty, just needed a little salt for my palate. Here we have a Hake taco (also a local South African catch, love that about this place) with curried green bean salsa.

Now the ‘main’. Another new one for me though I have heard a lot about it. Here we have slow-roasted and bursting with flavour (and not as fatty as others I have had in the past) lamb belly, tomato relish, chimichurri and crispy onions. This is masterfully placed on a layer of Pap. Pap is again an African staple. It is a lot like polenta which everyone who has had will know, can be the blandest thing on earth. Treated well though, it is the perfect base for something like this. And boy, did they treat it well. Utterly Moorish.

Now onto dessert. The par my wife’s eyes light up as she has a much sweeter tooth than me. I can count on one hand the puddings I have had that have been ‘worth the calories’ and here, is one. Tonka bean cream, coffee jelly, choc crémeux, hazelnut crumb, soy caramel and tonka bean ice cream. Read that again. It was sweet, salty, umami, malty. It was soft, chewy, crunchy. Just everything. 

As if that wasn’t enough, as we were paying the bill along came the chef (always a nice touch) to have a brief chat about the menu and deliver a petit fours, even though we had ordered no hot drink, wine all the way. Well, we were on holiday. Nevertheless, here is the final tale of the beast. A chewy white chocolate and rice crispies cookie served with a nostalgic strawberry Nesquik foam to dip. It was a little too sweet for me considering the mastery of the main dessert, but it was playful and lit up everyone in the dining room. So, for that alone, well done.

If you are in Cape Town and have a bit of spending money in your pocket, I cannot recommend this place enough. From concept to execution, they are nailing it. I cannot recall the last place I read about that managed to pull off a menu that changes daily and is developed according to what the chefs can grow or source from sustainable farming suppliers. They allow nothing to go to waste and the whole animal is used in combination with local seasonal ingredients. It is a concept we all need to embrace as the wasteful nature of Michelin kitchens has long since put me off visiting and a restaurant like this shows it also isn’t necessary. Feast your bellies. 

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