Orphanage Cocktail Emporium: A Review

Orphanage Cocktail Emporium opened just a few months ago on what is fast becoming Cape Town’s hippest spot. Humans are social creatures and much like animals to the watering hole, we like to get together and rehydrate.

I am not really a cocktail kind of gal, or at least I wasn't until last night. From the minute Orphanage opened its doors it has been on the lips of every Tom, Dick and Harry, I just had to go and find out what all the fuss was about. If it’s good enough for Gordon Ramsay, it is good enough for me, the infamous British chef spent hours at the bar when he was recently in the mother city sipping his way through the extensive menu of potions and alchemy.

The lighting is low, just as it should be; customers are spilling out onto the pavement, grasping glasses filled with soulful spirits. This is a sophisticated establishment, oozing class with a shot of panache for good measure. The suspender-clad mixologists, lined up behind the bar are no amateurs; they are award winning bartenders, quite literally.

Upstairs is the main bar, with scattered seating, a door at the back leads you downstairs, passed the smoking quarters to the second bar, by the DJ booth, here lies tables used for sit down meals, in particular their weekly supper club soirees, that get packed away when the evening heats up to make room for any debauchery. The vibe is enchanting and the drinks served are seductive and exciting, a far cry from my usual gin and tonic.

We start with the house cocktail, aptly named ‘More Tea Vicar’ served in a little china tea cup but be warned, this is no morning brew. On the silver teaspoon sits a lemon gel, a palate cleanser – of course, to be consumed before the cocktail. The illusion of afternoon tea is playful and unique, adding an indefinable, elusive quality that makes this work night or weekend drink such a special one. 

You want to know what is in the tea-cup? Vanilla infused Ciroc vodka, rooibos syrup, cranberry and lemon, with a sweet foam on top. Unreal. What’s more, R15 of the drink’s cost is donated to the St Francis Children’s home, hence the dubious name. 

There is even a cocktail on the menu containing 22 carat gold leaf, suitably named ‘Great Expectations’. The Orphanage Mojito is not your ordinary mojito, their twisted classics have them using mandarin infused rum and mandarin liqueur for an all together pleasing citrus effect. With over 26 cocktails to choose from, including non-alcoholic options ‘for the viruous’, you should really pull up a chair and order some nibbles.

This drinkery is not about the food but boy is it good; choose from sharing platters or ‘boards of sustenance’, or little plates of food, sharing is caring here and the small portions are deliberate. The truffle chips will change your life as will the hot breaded goats cheese and little lamb buns.

I already want to go back…