BURI

Cape Town has no end of fancy fine-dining restaurants: all starched white tablecloths, hefty wine lists and plates covered with gels, foams and purées where you can spend hours playing ‘spot the food’. 

BURI is not that.

Rather, at this brand-new eatery in the city’s ever-buzzy East City precinct, two of the city’s most energetic chefs have given the humble boerewors roll – hence the name ‘BURI’ – a little lift without getting too fancy.

It’s like that boerie roll you remember from the family camping holiday or the school fête. Only... better.

The backstory

BURI, which opened on Harrington Street in August 2026, is the newest concept from chef-restaurateurs Neil Swart and Anouchka Horn, co-founders of the Belly Restaurant Group.

But while their other restaurants – Belly of the Beast, Galjoen and Seebamboes – are all about smart multi-course menus and long evenings at the table, BURI is more of a hit-and-run kind of spot.

Their premise is simple: make a proper boerewors roll, pay proper attention to every component and resist the temptation to turn it into something unnecessarily fancy... and unrecognisable.

The vibe

Set on up-and-coming Harrington Street, BURI is a walk-in, spur-of-the-moment kind of place, not destination dining that requires a deposit and months of planning. Hungry now? Let’s go get a ‘BURI’, is more the vibe. 

From the BURI-master to the merch on sale, it all feels proudly South African, with a hint of nostalgia. There’s even a photo of chef Neil on a linoleum floor that’s been faithfully replicated throughout the restaurant. Nice touch.

BURI is built for quick lunches or early wait-for-the-traffic dinners, and the 9pm closing time and daily happy hour make it a good option for an informal after-work stop too.

The food

If you’re still not sure what’s on offer, you haven’t been paying attention. Boerie rolls, done right. 

But the menu here is also about more than simply putting boerewors into a roll. The wors is produced by Frankie Fenner Meat Merchants using a recipe especially developed for the restaurant. While Neil wouldn’t tell me what’s in there – fair enough – it has the right balance of meat and fat, spice and herbs… with the requisite kick of clove and coriander. There is also a pork-free version available on request.

The rolls come from artisan bakery Flour Market in Gardens. Flour Market is a project by David Donde, founder of TRUTH.Coffee down the road on Buitenkant, and we know he never cuts corners. The result? A roll that’s soft enough to feel comforting, but with enough structure to hold everything together, so there’s none of that crumbling-apart-in-your-hands that can ruin a good boerie experience.

And the roll has its work cut out for it. Beyond the juicy boerewors, it also needs to hold the fort when onions, smoor and sauces are loaded on top. Speaking of sauces, the Sauce Station is a lekker touch, allowing you to dress your roll as you like: there’s tomato sauce, mustard, chutney, homemade barbecue and peri-peri sauces, as well as the restaurant’s signature Buri sauce. 

So, what should you order?

The opening menu offers four boerewors rolls, priced from R85 to R95. The Classic keeps it simple with braaied onions, while the Farmer adds a rich tomato-and-onion smoor. The O.G. brings garlic mayonnaise, chilli chutney and rocket, while the ever-changing Buri of the Month will be more experimental: think venison wors, sosatie wors and skilpadjie wors. When I went, it was a bushpig knackwurst, which delivered a proper punch of flavour, in a casing with just the right amount of crack.  

Any roll can be levelled up with a portion of the excellent chips, made from real potatoes, for an additional R35. You can also double the boerewors for R50, but that’s only if you’re properly hungry. Onion rings are always a good idea in my book, and here they are excellent: crisp and crunchy on the outside, soft in the middle.

Should you have room for dessert, the choice is simple: mini doughnuts. They come in a six-pack with rather gourmet toppings, ranging from caramelised white chocolate with pecan nuts to dark chocolate with Peppermint Crisp (my favourite).

Time Out tip: Go for the ‘Mixed Tape’, which offers a six-pack with three flavours.

The drinks

The drinks list is short, uncomplicated and keeps things local. There are a few beers, a Devil’s Peak gin and tonic and Brannas Draught – essentially brandy and Coke – all on tap. The house red and white, from Fontein Wyn, are sold by the 250ml carafe (R99) or bottle.

Another tip? Head to BURI during happy hour – daily from 4pm to 6pm – when drinks on tap are half price.

Why go? 

To take care of that boerie-roll craving without having to light the fire yourself. It’s also a great addition to a street that already has its fair share of fancy dining options.

Because while these talented chefs could have turned BURI into a fine-dining space serving a deconstructed, reimagined and fluffed-up version of the boerie roll, they didn’t. It’s not a reinvention of the boerie roll at all; it’s just a refinement.

So a round of applause for keeping it simple: a South African classic, done right from the ground up.