AMURA by Ángel León at Mount Nelson, A Belmond Hotel, Cape Town, has been open mere months and it’s already gathering prestigious awards. Last month it was featured on Time’s list of the World’s Greatest Places; shortly after that it was honoured at this year’s Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards with the VISI Style Award and Best New Restaurant. The only reason it didn’t get stars in this go-round is because it opened outside the judging period.
The restaurant also received New Restaurant of the Year and the Style Award at the LUXE Restaurant Awards.
With this in mind, I arranged to go for lunch as soon as possible. It truly is a spectacular experience. As timing would have it, the menu was on the cusp of being changed, but the creativity will no doubt remain. It’s joyful when things you have never encountered are set out for your tasting pleasure. For example, I had not eaten plankton before. In a risotto, it’s very green, which I realise now is obvious. The “charcuterie” — tuna pastrami, yellowtail chorizo, sea bass salami, hake nduja — with seaweed-infused bread, was an exciting start to the meal. A trio of oysters with kelp mignonette, spring onion whey, and green gazpacho, followed and the yellowtail sashimi with green herb escabeche and pickled cucumbers…utterly dreamy.
So yes, this is a seafood restaurant. Don’t come looking for steak, or even something vegetarian. Amura marks the first restaurant outside Spain by the internationally acclaimed León, widely known as the “Chef of the Sea”. His Andalusian restaurants – Aponiente (three Michelin stars) and Alevante (two Michelin stars) – have earned global recognition for pioneering marine cuisine. Cape Town is the perfect location for this, with the bounty of our own oceans represented on the tasting menu and à la carte. We didn’t have cocktails, just a glass of Newton Johnson Albariño because the Spanish varietal seemed appropriate, but those we saw heading to other tables looked exquisite.
The big announcement today is are two-night four-hands dinners at the end of the month, with Wolfgat’s Kobus van der Merwe. “Shaped by a shared reverence for the ocean and the landscapes that define it,” it takes place on 26 and 27 April 2026, bringing together the marine-driven philosophy of León with Van der Merwe’s hyper-local strandveld cuisine, interpreted at Amura by head chef Arlind Harizaj.
“Blending culinary craft and cultural storytelling, the collaboration reflects Amura’s ongoing exploration of how coastal environments inform flavour, technique and memory. The six-course tasting menu, served with a curated wine pairing, brings León’s pioneering marine philosophy into dialogue with the distinct sensibility and rich ingredients of the Cape.”
Says Van der Merwe: “I’ve followed Ángel’s work at Aponiente for years. Meeting him and his brother Carlos over lunch at Wolfgat in Paternoster in 2025, I knew a friendship had formed. The upcoming collaboration with Arlind and the Amura team is the natural result of that.
“I’m excited for these two distinct Atlantic coastlines to meet on the same plate — local Weskus ingredients merging with flavours from Cádiz and beyond.
“This is exactly the kind of exchange I live for.”
- Price: R2,650 per person, including wine pairing
- Seatings: 7pm (15 guests), 7.30pm (10 guests), 8pm (10 guests)
- Capacity: 35 guests per evening
- Reservations are now open and can be booked via DinePlan.
