The Hot Seat: Galjoen

A new Cape Town inner-city eatery is serving up a sustainable seafood feast, celebrating the bounty of our local seas. From the duo behind the city’s acclaimed Belly of the Beast, Anouchka Horn and Neil Swart, comes the multi-course seafood experience Galjoen.

Helmed by head chef Isca Stoltz, the restaurant is serving up an ever-evolving menu using the best of locally, sustainably and ethically sourced fish and shellfish. Much like at Belly of the Beast, the menu here changes based on the ingredients available on any given day — a particularly impressive undertaking when working with seafood and relying on small-scale suppliers.

Limiting themselves to the borders and shorelines of South Africa, Stoltz and team are working with the likes of fully traceable, ethical seafood suppliers Abalobi and Greenfish, and also forage for sea greens to incorporate into the menu. While not aligned with one particular style of cooking, the menu draws on the chefs’ classic training, the nostalgia of childhood flavours, local favourites, and family recipes.

As the experience will likely differ from one day to the next, the team don’t ever offer up a menu, instead asking diners to trust the kitchen as they take them through the numerous courses. “Our approach is to serve only what is responsibly caught locally. If it’s not from South Africa, it’s not going on the menu… The number of courses will vary depending on what is available, but no one will be going home hungry!” says Swart.

Two things that are likely to be on the menu are oysters and mussels — a great relationship with The Mussel Monger ensures they’re always fresh and on hand. Think plump morsels freshly steamed and served with garlic buchu flatbread, with the mussels cooked in a fresh take on that fragrant old-school white-wine sauce. There’ll also becurried-snoek-pâté buns, with the in-house-smoked fish paste baked into the bread and served with a Kashmiri butter. Likewise, the four-hour braised tjokke — local squid, which offers a tastier and more textured experience than its foreign counterparts — is sure to be a hit, served with an octopus marmite, romesco sauce, gremolata, and nasturtium. You can also expect catches of the day, which will be prepared and served in both hot and cold iterations, such as yellowtail ceviche or pan-fried hake.

When it comes to pairings for this constantly in-flux menu, the team look to small-scale and boutique winemakers and wineries, particularly focusing on wines from the Western Cape coast.

Galjoen is situated on the first floor of an unassuming building on bustling Harrington Street and boasts a stunning double-volume space that combines a harbour’s industrial aesthetic with touches of nostalgia, drawing inspiration from the seafood restaurants of the 1980s.

The interiors by Studio Nan are light, bright, and minimalist, with design highlights including a mural by Adele van Heerden, a wooden ship-hull chandelier by Duchenne Cabinetry, and hanging pendant lights by Amelia Jacobs of Kleipots. Also by Jacobs is the range of custom crockery designed for the restaurant. Inspired by the ocean, these include bowls and plates in the shape of seashells, others inspired by coral, and a “stop-and-think” dish in the shape of half an oil drum, drawing the diner’s attention to the scourge of ocean pollution. This small yet thought-provoking detail is not the only one — there’s definitely an effort by the team to raise awareness of the state of our oceans.

Even the name, Galjoen, has been chosen in the hope of encouraging conversation. The restaurant is named after the national fish of South Africa, which is an endangered species and has been placed on the red list by the South African Sustainable Seafood Initiative. Naturally, it’s not on the menu.

99 Harrington St, Cape Town

www.galjoencpt.co.za

• From the July edition of Wanted, 2023.