Luke Whearty foraging in the forests of the Western Cape where Mediterranean pine trees and indigenous vegetation meet.
The building we’re in was originally an old grain storehouse but has been, variously, a techno club, a reggae joint, and (supposedly) a brothel. Now, in its latest incarnation as OOM, it’s part Scandinavian and Japanese in design, with a giant artwork by Cheyenne Randall of JFK and Jackie O (complete with sleeves and neck tattoos) looking over you. Clean, and uncluttered yet designed for observation and drama, it’s somewhere between a high-end sushi bar, a sauna, a fighting pit, and an intimate theatre.
Foraged ingredients include pelargoniums from the slopes of Table Mountain and buchu, an endemic shrub that carries strong medicinal qualities and is also used as an essential oil.
The seating, which is limited to 20 people (booking essential), is slightly tiered down to the focal point of the bar, where, like an open kitchen, you can view Whearty and his team at work. The bar itself is kitted out more like a high-tech kitchen with contraptions that emit liquid nitrogen, what looks like a sous vide, and other devices that look like they are there for making tinctures and elixirs. There’s no brand-name liquor in sight, just a bottle of homemade banana wine and a few bottles of mystery distillations.
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