It seems there have been quite a few new restaurants opening up all over Jozi lately and one that I have been hearing a lot about is Beast. Beast is located in Weltevreden Park at the Rock Cottage Centre and a couple of weekends ago we headed over to give this place a try for lunch.

Beast

With a name like Beast, you won’t be surprised to hear that this restaurant specializes in grilled and smoked meats. You may be surprised however, that I, a vegetarian, was really looking forward to eating here (I’ll tell you why in a sec).

Beast Menu

The décor of Beast is attractive and welcoming and could be described as an industrial-chic style pub. There is also a nice outside deck if you don’t mind being in the smoking section. Though for this meal we just had a couple of glasses of wine, the cocktail menu looked exciting and they also have some craft beers which I look forward to trying next time.

Décor

Ok so why was I so excited to try this place out? Well, the main reason is that I kept seeing photos on facebook reviews of a lovely Mac & Cheese (25 ZAR) in all its gooey creaminess and I had to get me some. At Beast, it is served as a side dish, and you can have it with or without jalapanos. I was feeling very traditional so I opted out of the jalapenos but next time (and there WILL be a next time) I will give it a try. Just as I had hoped, I loved this dish and there was even enough to share a bit (just a bit) with my Frenchie.

Mac & Cheese

For my main, I decided to go out all out on carb-loading and had the polenta with a mushroom ragout (55 ZAR). This dish was quite tasty with a thick mushroom gravy and the balsamic reduction was a nice touch.

Polenta with Mushroom Ragout

My carnivore chose the 300 gram rump steak (130 ZAR) with a mushroom sauce (20 ZAR). All mains come with a choice of one side so he picked the fries with an additional side of sauteed spinach with pecorino (25 ZAR). He loved the steak and fries, however the spinach was way too salty (too bad as this would have been lovely).

Rump Steak

We were both pretty stuffed after all that but I made the mistake of asking the server what the cheesecake of the day was. His reply of Nutella was all we needed to hear and we decided we could find a bit more room to share a piece (50 ZAR).

Nutella Cheesecake, good thing we shared…

Oh la la… this was absolutely the best.cheesecake.ever. The nutella combined with the creamy, fresh cheesecake was mindblowing and the peanut butter crust sent me over the edge of all reason. We finished every last bite.

Beast

We both really enjoyed our lunch at Beast and I am sure we will return soon to try the jalapeno mac & cheese and more cheesecake. Oh and there were some nachos calling my name too…