Seebamboes restaurant manager Liebet Jooste, head chef Adél Hughes, owners Anouchka Horn and Neil Swart.
Image: Instagram
Upstairs at Galjoen restaurant, diners can step into an intimate mezzanine space that seats just 16 people, offering an exclusive dining experience where food is prepared in an open kitchen overlooking the tables.
The creative duo of chef-restaurateurs Anouchka Horn and Neil Swart — founders of Belly of the Beast and Galjoen — have launched a new collaborative project, Seebamboes, which offers a contemporary take on a ‘surf and turf’ menu.
Seebamboes — which means ‘sea bamboo’ in Afrikaans — refers to a kelp native to the Cape Town coastline.
Swart and Horn have combined sea- and land-harvested produce in inventive ways with sea bamboo always taking centre stage. Dishes include kelp spaghetti with exotic mushrooms in a seaweed broth, served with thinly sliced wagyu brisket.
Chef Adél Hughes, who leads the kitchen, found her inspiration in Betty’s Bay, where she picked up pieces of dried kelp on the beach. She was drawn to its symbolic connection between sea and land, ocean and shore.
The creativity extends to the cooking methods — for instance, using the stem of the kelp stipe to cook vegetables over hot coals, infusing them with subtle ocean flavours.
Korean BBQ Ribeye, Bokkom butter chips, charred vegetables, slaw steamed in a Kelp.
Image: Instagram
Another standout creation is the venison tataki, served with veldkool (dune cabbage), which resembles asparagus but grows in the sand dunes and is fried in bokkom butter.
Pickled Veldkool, Springbok Tataki, Tomato, Herb oil, Sea lettuce chip at Seebamboes
Image: Instagram
Desserts take a playful approach to nostalgic summer beach holidays. One example is the ice cream sandwich — a rich vanilla bean ice cream nestled between dark chocolate biscuits and sprinkled with dried, dusted sea lettuce.
Restaurant manager Liebet Jooste explains that they are effectively ‘deconstructing’ surf and turf, “elevating everything from the land and from the sea in its own right as well.”
As for the wine list, Jooste says: “We’ll serve plenty of wines that you won’t just find anywhere – and many will be available by the glass. We’re going to showcase wines we’ve personally discovered and feel passionate about. New finds will land on the list, and when one offbeat wine is finished, we’ll follow up with another.”
Sustainability is a key focus at Seebamboes. Swart emphasises: “We’ve set our boundaries as the borders of our country – no imported prawns, salmon, or anything of that sort. We simply don’t believe in bringing in foreign ingredients when we have such an abundance right here.”
The high tables with tall chairs offer spectacular, close-up views of Table Mountain, and with only counter-style seating for 16 diners per service, it’s set to become one of Cape Town’s most sought-after intimate dining experiences.
Lunches will be introduced at a later stage. Dinner is priced at R1,200 per person, starting at 18:45, Tuesday to Saturday.
Seebamboes is located upstairs in Galjoen at 99 Harrington Street, Cape Town.
IOL Lifestyle
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