Vuur: Fire and Steak are the stars of the show here

It's such an exciting concept that feels really unique and raw in the best way. The steak is superb. Overall, the food, while great, has some fine-tuning needed to make it feel more like a cohesive experience.

*Bread on the fire and butter waiting - the opening scene*

Vuur was opened in April 2022 by Chef Shaun Scrooby, focusing on cooking with fire. Vuur has been awarded the title of the 87th best steak restaurant in the world (World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants 2025). It's a different fine-dining experience in that it is far more relaxed and personal, with each course telling a story and having a journey with fire. The waiter and sommelier were excellent and knowledgeable as well as accommodating.

We went on a particularly rainy, wintery day, and the cozy interior was very welcoming. There’s something so indulgent about being warm next to a fire, tasting fantastic wine and food, with a view of the stormy outside.

*Signature bone marrow sourdough roll, wagyu salami, strawberry jam and butter with rooibos salt*

Delicious homemade strawberry jam paired with the warm and rich bread felt very South African and like I was eating at an Afrikaans farm stall on the N1 (or whatever road you drive on road trips). The butter was topped with generous amounts of their homemade rooibos salt (made by blitzing up salt and rooibos). It was imperative to eat the salami while very hot from the fire, because I found it coated my mouth and teeth with a fatty layer. Although the men certainly enjoyed the extra meat, I found that combined with the fat in the bread and the butter, the salami was an unnecessary addition.

*Locally caught yellow tail, smoked and grilled, served with charred cabbage*

Loved the sweet, soft and charred rose of cabbage on this plate! The sauce was decadent and tasty and the fish was very interestingly cooked. It had been smoked and then cooked on the fire, which gave a combination of a Smokey flavor and firm texture, coupled with a crispy skin and warmth. It was cold in the centre, and mostly just cooked on the edges, which gave some people a bit of the fish-ick considering it was a large piece, so in my uncultured opinion, I would have enjoyed it more if it was warmer throughout (while still keeping it rare). The fish eggs provided a fresh pop of the sea in your mouth which was really nice.

*Palate cleanser: Rooibos granita and a citrus sorbet*

The palate cleanser was somewhat of a double palate cleanser in that it had both a sorbet and a granita. I would have preferred just the sorbet but it was nice to have another rooibos element in the meal. The granita was very icy, more like a shattered sheet of hard ice rather than flakey pieces of ice, so not that pleasant to eat on a cold rainy day, the sweetness contrasted with the bitterness of the orange sorbet. The sorbet was delicious, smooth and refreshing.

*Strawberry martini with olive oil and flakey salt*

The sommelier whipped us up a cocktail made with their homemade strawberry jam and vodka, topped with flakey salt and olive oil which gave a silky smooth mouth feel. Strong and yummy.

*Venison tartare, served on toasted bread and topped with Huguenot cheese*

This course was a play on a braaibroodjie with biltong. It was a piece of toasted, buttery bread, topped with a game meat tartare and plenty salty, umami, caramelly Huegenot cheese. I enjoyed this, but it was rich.

*Delicious marbled steak served with sweetpotato ribbons and a wild sorrel chimichurri style sauce*

It was very exciting to finally get some steak! This was delicious and melt in your mouth, generous amounts of salt and the crispy sweet potato ribbons went very nicely with the tang of the cooked “chimmichuri” made from a plant indigenous to South Africa. The acidity was welcome as the meat was deliciously not too lean.

*The main event: Served with flakey salt, pickled red onions, grilled vegetables, potatoes and aioli*

See the picture below of the steak before it was put on the fire! We came here for the steak and we finally got it in the last 2 courses and it really was scrummy. Melt in the mouth, marbled, and perfectly rare meat that was flavoursome and just really tasty meat. I love a salty steak and this sure had salt! The vegetables cooked on the fire were served with an aioli and pickled red onions, the onions were needed to cut through the aioli which was delicious eaten with the potatoes served from the fire at the table. We also got to try their homemade sauerkraut!

*Sweet corn waffle, topped with corn and bacon pieces and a corn ice-cream with caramel sauce*

Ok so I understand (to an extent) what they were trying to do. But it didn’t work. It was extremely salty from the roasted corn and the bacon bits, the waffle could have been good but unfortunately also had a pretty salty element and the corn. The corn ice cream was smooth and as an ice cream was nice with the welcome sweetness of the caramel sauce. I would have been so much happier with something else cooked on the fire, an apple in foil, a Malva pudding style waffle made with apricot jam and topped with a cream, butter and sugar sauce. Anything that wasn’t salty and that didn’t lean so heavily to the savoury would have been an improvement.

I mean, is there anything better and more reminiscent of early safari drives than a cup of coffee with a generous glug of Amarula? Enjoyed by the fire, it was the perfect ending.

Overall, individually the courses were good, the quality of the ingredients was high and you could tell that the chefs put effort and time into the dishes and it felt like there was great intention.

Where it fell short was that one really got the sense that they didn’t think it through how everything would go together as a whole meal… a little piece of fatty salami, with a side of jam (the jam was good) and then ending with salty savory waffles with a hint of allium topped with corn ice cream.. I understand what they were trying to do, actually no, that dessert haunts me a little still. What’s wrong with a sweet waffle? Maybe with the homemade jam and the corn ice cream even. Or they could do a play on a banana in the fire or a malva or anything other than a salty bacon-hint of garlic-dessert following a meat and salt heavy set of dishes.

I really liked that the fire was central to the room and each course, it was clear that something’s had been previously par cooked before going into the fire oven. The whole meal/experience made me yearn for a campsite and some traditional South African food like a potjie and red wine, some toasties or proper roosterbrood, and a lamb chop. Followed by an apple thats been filled with butter, cinnamon and sugar, wrapped in foil, and left in the coals to soften and collapse into itself. And a good red wine.

For the price of this meal, I have to say, you could get better food elsewhere for that price. But, if you’re looking for an entirely unique tasting menu experience in Cape Town, with great food, high quality delicious steak then you’re in for a treat.