A new fish restaurant named Galjoen is on the cards for downtown Cape Town, from two chefs who delight in highlighting SA’s heritage.
“We are very similar and very different at the same time – which makes us a great team.”
On the crest of restaurant high season, Belly of the Beast (BOTB) owners Anouchka Horn and Neil Swart are not easy to pin down. In between cooking a course for annual Eat Out 2022 awards guests (BOTB received two stars) and planning a second restaurant, I finally cornered them during a lunchtime full house.
It began when the trained chefs initially opened a neighbourhood restaurant in the northern suburbs. “We started to see what we didn’t like about the process,” says Swart.
“We started having conversations about a completely different restaurant – one serving only a handful of people, with dishes that we love. Creating an experience that our customers remember and come back for.”
So they did, in August 2018. In a stroke of innovation, their dining fans crowdfunded BOTB in Cape Town’s Harrington Street.
MULTIPLE COURSES
A current BOTB meal could have five or eight courses, plus surprises. Diners pay a set price, and then leave it up to the chef. In a move some would consider bold, this kitchen won’t go overboard in pandering to dietary preferences. Vegetarians and pescatarians certainly, but that’s about it. “We like to make the decisions about what you’ll eat – and want you to taste all of them,” enthuses Swart.
“We’ve found a nice balanced structure to the tasting menu over the last couple of years,” adds Horn. “When we plan a new menu, it normally starts with Neil and I and a good bottle of wine, just sharing ideas of things we would like to eat or have recently experimented with, or accidentally discovered while cooking at home.
“We always keep seasonality in mind, as well as the balance between meat, fish and vegetarian dishes, and how heavy the menu is.” A philosophy of not wasting ingredients means they work in less celebrated cuts and offal, all creatively presented. Menus change every five to six weeks.
Having these systems in place allows their business more flexibility. “With lockdown, I think everyone had a hard look at work/life balance,” says Swart.
“It made it obvious that we need better balance for mental health and sustainability. We trust each other 100 % and realised that we don’t both have to be there always. We’d opened an extra day to bounce back from the financial backlog. Trading six days made it even more important to have time to rest. Anouchka and I now mostly work opposite shifts but meet regularly to discuss menus and business.”
COMING SOON: GALJOEN
Currently, time off is spent planning their new venture Galjoen, located about 500m from BOTB. The upstairs space will have two levels, overlooking East City buildings on one side, Devil’s Peak on the other. Scheduled for a late January opening, this sustainably sourced seafood restaurant will have 28 to 30 covers.
“We chose the name because we are inspired by the tough, resilient nature of our national fish,” says Horn. But isn’t galjoen endangered and red-listed?
“Even though we will not be able to serve galjoen, it’s an opportunity to educate people on sustainability,” she clarifies. “We want to showcase the beautiful local, sustainable seafood South Africa has to offer, and support our amazing fisherman in the process.” Guests will eat a local seafood tasting menu.
“We couldn’t help being drawn to the galjoen,” says Swart. “They are adaptable, being able to change their colour to blend into their environment. And tough, able to swim in rough seas and handle numerous collisions with rocky shores.
“Our thing is to support the local fishing industry. We won’t serve red-listed fish, rather green or orange if it’s sustainably caught. It could also be from Abalobi, who use a different system to define a sustainable catch. We’re just trying not to fly in overseas salmon.”
LOCAL IS LEKKER
Their “support local fish” Galjoen plan is a winner, if the BOTB smoked snoek pâté “snack” course is any indication. Feather-light, delicately smoky, with finely chopped chives, it’s scooped up with a deep-fried sweet potato chip. Braaied corn and smoked jalapeno salsa adds zingy heat.
“One of my favourites coming onto the December/January BOTB menu is our beer-battered hake roti,” says Horn. “It’s served with fresh lettuce, coriander seed mayonnaise, my gran’s ‘kerriebone’, and finished with lemon juice. Such a simple dish, but the flavour combinations just take me back to my childhood.”
At BOTB, the bread course sees a four-year-old starter dough become roosterkoek or baked into bread. My bread slice partnered rich gemsbok and biltong fat tartare. Served alongside, coriander seed mayo, roasted cashews, biltong-pickled onions, biltong dressing and rocket.
A second dip was charred baba ganoush, incorporating mild curry into a Malay chilli crunch with masala-pickled onions. Robust flavours, with Horn and Swart bringing their Afrikaans heritage to the table in a modern way. “This dish, to me, is like having some good biltong and nuts as a snack before a braai,” she smiles.
FAMILY FEASTS
“I come from a ‘boerekos’ family in the northern suburbs. We never had very fancy food, but every family get-together is such a massive food feast.”
Horn credits her grandmother’s recipes for menu items such as sweet mustard sauce and “kerriebone” curried green beans, served with steamed bread. Desserts involve nostalgia too, in sago pudding’s Afrikaans apricot jam and coconut Hertzoggie cookie flavourings.
The “pap en vleis” offering is also ingredient-led, from famous Lowerland organic farm in Prieska. The rietskaap arrives whole, so some diners may get the leg, others the loin or shoulder.
Are tasting menus still popular, in a time where flexibility, choice and less structured food prevails. “Because we serve a set menu – and take reservations only – we all but eliminate wastage,” says Swart, saying that small-scale is their preferred way to operate a restaurant. “People tell us every day that we’ve changed their minds about certain ingredients. I’m not good at making decisions from menus, and a lot of people love that they don’t have to.”
BIG JUMP
Yet opening another small restaurant, while running an existing one, is brave. To help the team along, a few items are for sale to crowdfund Galjoen’s launch. Diners can pre-book seats, buy a voucher, and even sponsor Galjoen bricks or new chairs.
“We are both nervous about a second restaurant, just as we were before opening BOTB. But we’ve learnt a few more things. One of the most important is to have an amazing team; our team is like family,” says Horn.
“We have also learnt not to try to please everybody. Find the thing that you are good at and stick to it.”
Galjoen 99 Harrington Street, Cape Town. Open from late January 2023 for lunch on Wednesday to Saturday, and dinner on Tuesday to Saturday.
Restaurant pre-bookings, vouchers, bricks or chairs at galjoencpt.co.za
Belly of the Beast, 110 Harrington Street, Cape Town. Open for lunch Tuesday to Saturday, and dinner on Monday to Saturday at bellyofthebeast.co.za