Amura: An Immersive Marine-Dining Experience at the Mount Nelson Hotel

There’s a Belle Epoque grandeur to the vaulted ceilings and cinematic interiors of the Mount Nelson’s newest restaurant… and a salt-tinged ocean breeze blowing through its kitchens. Amura is the Cape Town exploration of sustainable seafood by Spanish chef Ángel León, whose ground-breaking restaurant, Aponiente, earned three Michelin stars and the inaugural Michelin green star for sustainability. “To cook in Cape Town is to feel the ocean from another angle, another culture, another heartbeat,” he says. “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.”

Spain to Cape Town

Headed up by chef Arlind Harizaj (a seasoned executive chef from the Aponiente group), Amura is evolving its own identity, which Ángel describes as a dialogue between Andalusia and the Cape. The beautifully fresh yellowtail with a green escabeche sauce (a signature from Aponiente) is reimagined with Cape citrus and coastal herbs; spicy pickled West Coast mussels come with addictively moreish seaweed-dusted chips. There are Spanish tapas punches of flavour in the Gilda (a skewer of anchovy, olive, smoked fish, sun-dried tomato and pickled pepper); bold chorizo that turns out to be made of yellowtail; and a drift of ocean umami in the electric-green plankton risotto.

First tastes

We couldn’t get enough of the sublime prawn toast with gochujang mayo, the kelp bread with nduja (made from hake tail offcuts), and the flavour bomb of a cuttlefish-ink croquette. A beautiful kingklip served with a sauce of pil-pil marbled with algae was elegance itself; and a shared main of deep-fried chunks of Cape bream that came with lettuce leaves, peri peri, herb mayo and pickled cucumber to wrap your own fish tacos was an umami winner. The à la carte menu encourages you to explore the ocean waves at your own pace, or take a deep-diving marine journey in the sublime Chef’s Journey tasting menu: scallop sashimi, plankton risotto, dry-aged sea bass, mussel caramel, and much more.

Just desserts

The Mount Nelson’s resident pastry chef star, Matthew Paulsen, was given carte blanche to create desserts to complement the marine menu. A beautiful Spanish flan with pistachio and spirulina chantilly was a seductive finish, as was the pineapple crème brûlée with coconut sorbet. Or refresh your palate with sherry compressed melon served with a lime granita.

Wines from the Cape

The well-furnished wine list, displayed in a double-volume wooden library cabinet (complete with library ladder), is another journey. From sumptuous oysters paired with Silverthorn River Dragon cap classique, we moved on to a 2007 Ken Forrester Three Halves, a red blend that challenged the dictum that seafood needs white wines… it paired beautifully with the spicy, punchy and umami flavours of several dishes. Then there’s the innovative cocktail menu… we tasted a zesty orange ‘nogroni’ (alcohol-free) and the kelp martini, shaken with kelp-infused olive brine, a breath of ocean in the glass.

Marine innovation

At Aponiente they have a lab behind the scenes that experiments with new marine ingredients and techniques, sharing their discoveries with the group. At Amura they plan to bring fourth-year marine biology students on board next year to work with the chefs exploring the unique riches of the Cape’s edible ecosystem as they evolve the menu.

Life on the ocean wave

The interiors, by award-winning local interior architect Tristan du Plessis, mirror the moody mystery of the Cape’s kelp forest – a cinematic, immersive space of deep greens, warm timbers and bronze accents under frescoed vaulted ceilings. You could be on an ocean liner from the grand old days, rather than the re-imagined banqueting hall of Cape Town’s most iconic hotel. The intimate sub-aqueous lighting is anchored by the fire of the open kitchen where the magic happens in full view. Or choose a secluded window table looking out over the gardens at lunch time for a sun-drenched leafy outlook.

An immersive and thought-provoking marine-dining experience, drawing from the ocean’s mysterious beauty and rich biodiversity, and with sustainability at its core, Amura is already making serious waves.

Opened December 2025
Opening times Friday – Sunday, 12.30pm – 4pm
Monday – Sunday, 6.30pm – 11pm
Contact restaurantreservations.mnh@belmond.com
Where to find it Mount Nelson, 76 Orange Street, Gardens, Cape Town
Book through DinePlan

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