Botanicals | Bitters | Shrubs | Liqueurs

Time is eaten by the cat

- Baba Cele

Our barmen travelled the country in search of indigenous botanicals to create a library of local flavours. The infusions you see on the shelves are the result of months of research and experimentation. These are then carefully blended together to make various bitters.

The bitters are used in our cocktails to add subtle flavour, but we have also created a few simple bitters drinks to showcase the botanicals. These are served with soda and simple syrup, and optional local spirit.

Please see the blackboard or ask your waiter for our current selection.

Bitters

Fruity drinking vinegars topped with soda.

Refreshing, sweet and tart.

Shrubs go back hundreds of years, and were originally made to preserve fruit in the days before refrigeration.

Fruit is mixed with vinegar and sugar and allowed ferment for a few days, creating a delicious cordial.

We serve this with soda and optional local spirit.

Please see the blackboard or ask your waiter for our seasonal selection.

Shrubs

Hope on Hopkins Esparanza TequilaGrapefruit & Spekboom BittersGrapefruit juicePomegranate juiceHomemade GrenadineImphepho

The Great Karoo

R80

Spekboom (Portulacaria afra)

Speciality Drinks | Inspired by Regional Botanicals

Smokey, tart and dry

Whistler Dark RumTropical ShrubTropical BittersMuscavado SyrupLime JuiceMango Masala SpicePineapple, Cassia BarkWild Mint

The Kwazulu Coast

R75

Wild Mint (Mentha longifolia)

Tropical and sweet

KWV 5 Year BrandyHoenderbos FoamHoenderbos SyrupSpicy BittersOrange JuiceLime JuiceSparkling Water

The Cederberg

R65

Hoenderbos (Pelargonium scabrum)

Fresh and crisp

Amari Atlantic Ocean GinWest Coast BittersLemon JuiceEgg White Kelp Salt

The West Coast

R85

Sour Fig (Carpobrotus edulis)

Sour and fresh

White Glass Bottle

Remhoogte Chenin Stellenbosch 50 180Cape Rock Asylum Vredendal 55 210

Red

Hartenberg Cab/Shiraz Stellenbosch 55 200Thirst Gammay Noir Stellenbosch 70 260

Rosé

Gabrielskloof Rosebud Rosé Bot River 55 200

Sparkling Wine

Saltare MCC Stellenbosch 80 340

Wine

Look What Your Neighbours Are Making

On Tap

Striped Horse Lager 45Botanical Beer (by Hog House) 55

Bottle

Birkenhead Honey Blonde 500ml 62Hog House (Warthog) IPA 45Ukhamba Saison 48

Beer

Whisky

Bains Mountain Whisky 35Three Ships Bourbon Cask 30Three Ships 5 Year 30Three Ships 10 Year 60

Gin

KWV Dry 30Geometric 40A Mari 40Hope on Hopkins Salt River 40Six Dogs Karoo 40

Tequila

Leonista Blanco 45Leonista Reposado 45Hope on Hopkins Esperanza 45

Rum

Tapanga Gold 35Inverroche Small Batch 7yr 55Whistler African Spice 30Whistler African Dark 30

Brandy

Joseph Barry XO 70Joseph Barry VSOP 45Die Mas Kalahari Truffle 35KWV 5 year 30Grundheim Boegoebranderwyn 25

Spirits

Vodka

Aeon 45Pienaar and Sons Waskis 35

Other

Field of Dreams Absinthe 50Grundheim Boegoeblits 25Spirit of Rooibos 35Wilderer Fynbos Herb Bitter 35Caperitif 25

Proudly Selling Local Craft

Common Name Scientific NameAfrican Sage / Blousalie Salvia africana-caeruleaAfrican Wormwood Artemisia afraAgtdaegeneesbos Lobostemon fruticosusBitterbossie Chironia bacciferaCancer Bush Sutherlandia frutescensCape Mistletoe Viscum capenseConfetti Bush Coleonema albumDevils Claw Harpagophytum procumbensDune sage / Strandsalie Salvia africana-luteaHoenderbos Pelargonium scabrumHoney Bush Cyclopia genistoidesImphepho / Kooigoed Helichrysum petiolare / odoratissimumKattekruie / Cat Herb Ballota AfricanaLemon-scented Pelargonium Pelargonium crispumLong-leaf Buchu Agathosma crenulataPleisterbos / Agtdaegeneesbos Hermannia cuneifoliaRenosterbos Elytropappus rhinocerotisRooibos Aspalathus linearisRooiwortel Pelargonium tristeRound Leaf Buchu Agathosma betulinaSandolien / Sand Olive Dodonaea viscosa Jacq var. angustifoliaSlangbos Seriphium plumosumSour Fig Carpobrotus edulisSpekboom Portulacaria afraWild Dagga Leonotis leonurusWild Mint Mentha longifoliaWild Olive Olea europaea L. subsp. africanaWild Rosemary / Kapokbos Eriocephalus africanusLemon-Scented Buchu Agathosma CrenulataGarlic Buchu Agathosma Apiculata

For the Botany Geeks | Index of Useful Indigenous Botanicals Used so Far

Acknowledgements | To the generous people who help us learn

Lindy Dlamini (Gogo Masechaba) – Traditional Healer – Cape TownDr Sonia Couto – Phytotherapist – Cape TownDr Sue Milton-Dean – Plant Ecologist – Prince AlbertMaraih Issacs – Local Expert – Prince AlbertBrian Abraham – Horticulturalist – Silverglen Reserve, Chatsworth, KZNDon Baijnath – Field Ranger – Silverglen Reserve, Chatsworth, KZNMkhuluwe Cele – Traditional Healer, pioneering inyanga and conservationist – Umlazi, KZNDr Wayne Vos – Botanist and Naturalist – GrahamstownNeville van Schalkwyk – Bossiedoktor – Cape TownLevi Shadley – Bossiedoktor – Cape TownPhakamani Xhaba - Horticulturalist – Kirstenbosch Botanical GardensLucas Swart – Local Expert – Markuskraal, CitrusdalRoushanna Gray – Local Expert – ScarboroughYvette Anderson – Owner 'Cederkloof Botanical Retreat' – Citrusdal

The world is too much with us; late and soon,Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;Little we see in Nature that is ours;We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;The winds that will be howling at all hours,And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,For this, for everything, we are out of tune;It moves us not.—Great God! I’d rather beA pagan suckled in a creed outworn;So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

The World is Too Much With UsWilliam Wordsworth