Since opening GALJOEN in June 2023, a seafood-focused restaurant on Harrington Street with a strict emphasis on South African ingredients, chef-restaurateurs Anouchka Horn and Neil Swart, who first made their mark on Cape Town’s culinary scene with Belly of the Beast, have launched a new collaborative project, SEEBAMBOES, which translates directly from ‘sea bamboo’, a kelp that’s native to South Africa, grows up to 12m tall, and is a vital part of the Great African Sea forest visible around Cape Town.
West Coast oyster yellow-watermelon-granita-dune-celery
Situated on the mezzanine above GALJOEN, it is an intimate restaurant for which they’ve partnered with Adél Hughes and Liebet Jooste, chef and artist respectively, to develop a tasting menu experience that riffs on gastronomic nostalgia in a contemporary reimagining of what ‘surf and turf’ can be. And what it should be: playful, celebratory, delicious.
Adel-Hughes-Head-Chef-Anouchka-Horn-Owner-Liebet-Jooste-FOH-Manager
Up some stairs inside GALJOEN, diners step into an intimate mezzanine space where food is prepared and cooked close to the tables. Through the large rectangular window, there’s an unexpected view of Table Mountain visible over the chefs’ shoulders. A clean, simple, sophisticated space with the focus absolutely on the food. Comfortable too, and despite the scale of the dining concept, the restaurant itself will be incredibly intimate – 16 diners at a push.
Seebamboes
One of the first things you might eat at SEEBAMBOES will be sea bamboo itself, albeit transformed into a bowl of delicious flavours – think kelp spaghetti with exotic mushrooms and a seaweed broth. Added to that, thinly sliced wagyu brisket, so that when the hot broth is poured over, it all melts.
Korean-BBQ-Ribeye-Bokkom-butter-Chips-Charred-Veg-Slaw-Steamed-in-a-Kelp-Stipe
Ribeye-on-the-bone-Kelp-
They’re digging deep, too, to come up with fairly subtle, sometimes unusual pairings. So you might taste snoek mousse and biltong powder with dune spinach and tomato, or perhaps shoestring fries with bokkom butter.
And, as an accompaniment to a wagyu rib-eye done in a Korean-style barbecue basting, they’ve used a kelp stipe as a vessel in which to cook vegetables on the hot coals.
Smoked-Snoek-Biltong-Dune-spinach-Tomato-Salsa
Other combinations they’re experimenting with emphasise simplicity: lamb chops with peppered seaweed salt cooked over the fire, maybe octopus with roasted ripe tomatoes. And there’s venison tataki with veldkool (dune cabbage), a very simple vegetable that looks like asparagus but grows in the sand and is a native plant.
Unusual wine selection
The other thing that’s to be an adventure at SEEBAMBOES and which comes from the land is the wine.
“We’re opting for a more offbeat wine list”, says Jooste. “We’ll serve plenty of wines that you won’t just find anywhere – and many will be available by the glass.”.
Triple-chocolate-cookie-sandwich-vanilla-pod-ice-cream-caramel-crunch-sea-lettuce
Desserts, too, are a playful take on what might evoke memories of seaside holidays. Elevated ice cream sandwiches will be a sort of signature sweet – think vanilla bean ice cream with a dark chocolate biscuit and some dried, dusted sea lettuce. And a caramel crunch.
Or a simple Eskimo pie, another staple of nostalgic beach holidays, albeit reinvented with a twist.
Lunches will only be available at a later stage. Dinner at R1200 per person: 18:45pm, Tuesday to Saturday.
SEEBAMBOES restaurant is located within GALJOEN, on the mezzanine level, offering a distinctive dining experience on Harrington Street, Cape Town. Bookings open on Friday, 14 February 2025, and the restaurant officially welcomes guests from 7 March 2025. To make a reservation, visit www.seebamboescpt.co.za and follow @seebamboes on Instagram.
- SEEBAMBOES is not wheelchair accessible. It is located on the third floor with no elevator.