2 Best Bars in City Centre, Cape Town

Tetsuo Hasegawa, bartender and owner of this tiny, personally craft cocktail bar in the heart of the city, eschews trends in favor of creating cocktails using imagination and local ingredients. The Tokyo-born mixologist blows minds and taste buds with drinks like his innovative milk-washed, tequila-forward Beat-nik, which contains beetroot, Durban masala, and apple shrub, or his All Night Boogie made with Cape brandy, Shiraz, banana and white miso, and dark chocolate. The drinks, tailored to your tastes, are exquisite, the atmosphere impeccable (only vinyls are played), and there's food available.

Conjuring the atmosphere of a high-pedigree sports bar, this multistory eating-drinking-schmoozing establishment was formerly owned by sports enthusiast Herbert Tothill; it was once a kind of speakeasy that flew in the face of apartheid-era discrimination by welcoming patrons from across the color spectrum. Its new owners have taken inspiration from that era and used the walls and antique cabinets to curate memorabilia, newspaper clippings, and photographs that tell tales of South Africa’s often unsung athletes. Plush leather- and velvet-covered chairs, embossed wallpaper, Persian rugs on herringbone floors, and marble countertops bring a touch of sophistication, as do the canapés and snacks, tapas, and more substantial Greek and Mediterranean dishes. Their cocktails make use of barrel-aged spirits, and they are known to push the edges a bit, so ask the bartenders to see if they can surprise you. They regularly have live music.