Having opened in the first week of August 2026 at 99 Harrington Street, Buri is the latest concept from Neil Swart and Anouchka Horn, the business partners behind Belly Restaurant Group (BRG), the Cape Town group known for restaurants including Belly of the Beast, Galjoen and Seebamboes.
Image by Claire Gunn
Rather than reinventing the boerie roll beyond recognition, Buri is taking the familiar South African favourite and applying the group's food-focused approach to ingredients, preparation and hospitality.
From braai staple to dedicated food concept
The boerewors roll is about as uncomplicated as South African food gets: a soft white roll, a piece of boerewors, fried onions or smoor and a generous squeeze of sauce.
It is also deeply tied to local food culture, from school fêtes and rugby days to Saturday braais, roadside stops and market mornings.
Buri's proposition is to take that familiarity and build an entire casual dining concept around it.
The restaurant's soft white bun has been developed specifically for Buri, while its boerewors is based on a bespoke recipe created exclusively for the restaurant by Frankie Fenner Meat Merchants.
"We wanted to have a bit of fun with that," says Swart. "The bun has been made especially for us, the boerewors has been made specifically for Buri, and the idea is to make something easy, generous and full of flavour."
3 ways to do the boerie
The opening menu features three signature Buri rolls.
The Classic keeps things straightforward, pairing boerewors with fried onions. The Farmer takes a more traditional route with smoor, while The O.G adds garlic mayo, chilli chutney and rocket for a more contemporary take.
There is also a sauce station, allowing customers to customise their rolls with tomato sauce, mustard and chutney, alongside homemade BBQ, peri-peri and Buri's signature sauce.
The menu is designed to evolve too. Once a month, the team will introduce a Buri of the Month, giving the kitchen an opportunity to experiment with toppings, sauces and different sausage varieties.
Future options could include bushpig knackwurst, venison wors, sosatie wors and even skilpadjie wors.
Image by Claire Gunn
Keeping the experience casual
The concept extends beyond the roll itself.
Buri Loaded Fries combine fries with garlic mayo, chilli chutney, rocket and pieces of boerewors, while the dessert menu features soft mini doughnuts with rotating toppings such as caramelised white chocolate and pecan, milk chocolate with hazelnut and Maldon salt, and a Peppermint Crisp-inspired combination.
The drinks offering takes a similarly playful approach through Buri's Adults Soda Fountain, featuring brandy and Coke, gin and tonic, beer and cider on tap.
The intention is less about creating a formal restaurant experience and more about making the boerie roll the centre of an accessible, high-energy food stop.
"There is something great about a really good roll," says Horn. "It is quick, generous and satisfying. With Buri, we wanted to keep that sense of ease, but still bring in the BRG way of doing things, good ingredients, proper thought and a bit of personality."
A new direction for BRG
For BRG, Buri represents a departure from its more restaurant-led concepts while retaining the group's focus on distinctive food and hospitality.
The location in Cape Town's East City also places the concept within one of the city's increasingly active food and lifestyle precincts.
The proposition is deliberately broad: lunch breaks, quick walk-ins, after-work drinks, afternoon cravings and casual meals all form part of the target occasion.
"Everyone has a boerie roll memory," says Swart. "It is one of those things that is so simple, but when it is done properly, it is brilliant."
With a familiar South African staple at its centre, Buri's challenge — and opportunity — is to show that the humble boerie roll can be more than a braai-side favourite. In the hands of a restaurant group known for considered food concepts, it could become its own Cape Town dining destination.
Buri is open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 9pm, with happy hour from 4pm to 6pm, when everything on tap is half price.
