Congenital peritoneal encapsulation (CPE) is a rare congenital condition in which the small bowel is surrounded by an accessory peritoneal membrane (Elkhadragy et al. in World J Gastroenterol 25(19):2294, 2019). It is unclear how it develops, and often patients are asymptomatic and diagnosed incidentally intra-operatively or on autopsy findings (Hammad et al. in J Surg Case Rep 12:rjaa601, 2020). We report a rare case of CPE resulting in bowel obstruction in a fit and well-young male in his 20 s. CPE is difficult to diagnose pre-operatively, and due to their only being a few cases reported in the literature, there is no standardised intra-operative approach to manage complications such as bowel obstruction. In this case, we discuss the clinical presentation, unique radiological findings, considered differential diagnoses, and subsequent intraoperative findings and management in this patient.