While locals have long been happy to sing its praises, Cape Town’s food scene has been gaining traction on the international stage. Among the latest to help certify the city as a dining destination is Amura – the newly opened restaurant at Mount Nelson, a Belmond Hotel.
Helmed by Andalusian chef Ángel León, the establishment is an out-and-out celebration of typically under-appreciated ocean produce – a movement that León first helped to champion at his flagship restaurant, the three-Michelin-starred Aponiente.
Marking León’s first-ever restaurant beyond his native Spain, Amura offers up not just a conversation between land and sea, but also South African and Andalusian culinary cultures.
“To cook in Cape Town is to feel the ocean from another angle, another culture, another heartbeat,” says León. “Here the sea speaks with a different salt, a different light. Amura is born from the desire to celebrate those nuances… We didn’t come to impose; we came to learn.”
Chef
Ángel León was born in Cadiz, Spain – a city where the seafront is at the end of virtually every street – and first learned his love and respect for the ocean from his father. He traveled extensively in Spain and beyond before opening his first restaurant in 2007. Despite being his debut, Aponiente’s success was astronomical: it got its first star in 2010, a second in 2014, and its crowning third in 2024.
Throughout his career, León has been devoted to upholding marine species that are often discarded, misunderstood, or irresponsibly used. As a result of this commitment, he has fondly been referred to as the ‘chef of the sea.’
While León is the name leading the launch of Amura, head chef Guillermo Salazar will be running the kitchen. Equipped with a resume that counts the likes of Eleven Madison Park, Arzak, and Gramercy Tavern, Salazar brings a new level of pedigree to Cape Town’s fine-dining scene.
León’s background is firmly in Spanish cuisine and thankfully he doesn’t veer far from what he knows at Amura. The main difference, naturally, is the produce. A champion of seafood, along with Salazar, León has looked to the vast ocean crashing beyond Cape Town to craft the restaurant’s debut menu.
Under-represented ingredients are given a shot in the limelight: silky risotto has a hit of umami courtesy of vibrant green plankton; catch of the day is served with pickled kelp; and yellowtail tartare is an Aponiente signature adapted for Cape Town guests via Cape citrus.
The drinks list is as equally intertwined with the ocean. Kelp-infused brine makes its way into the signature martini for a saline take on the classic, and bottles of the Bamboesbay Sauvignon Blanc are aged on the sea floor to imbue a sense of marine minerality.
Interiors
Instead of leaning too blatantly into an ‘under-the-sea’ theme, architect Tristan du Plessis has taken a more subtle approach inside Amura’s walls. A warm, almost earthy color palette is used to reference a by-gone era of maritime exploration, with careful use of bronze, rattan, and timber. An element of theater is incorporated into the space via a towering central wine display, backlit for maximum effect, and a dramatic open kitchen.
Related Story
