The Cape Town CBD has welcomed a stylish new addition to Bree Street in Tannin, a plush, multi-storey wine bar filled with local labels, tasty plates and inspiring art.
Discovering sought-after South African wines was an incentive for Brit Dominic Wood when he decided to move continents to make a life and a livelihood in Cape Town. But he and wife Lisa also fell hard for the friendly people and relaxed lifestyle.
The couple had run an old Cotswold country inn, operating a restaurant, bar and rooms in an English village. They’d enjoyed a few South African holidays, but three months in Cape Town during Covid persuaded them to gamble on a more permanent experience. “I just fell in love with this country and didn’t want to go home,” explains Dominic Wood. The couple moved to Cape Town in April 2024.
RED, RED … TAPE
Wood planned to open a premium wine bar, but finding a location wasn’t easy. “I was looking at any building in central Cape Town commercially available. I probably saw between 60 and 80 properties.”
Wood finally found a building that had housed an accounting firm. It wasn't zoned for a restaurant, had building challenges and … red tape. “The quickest way, we were told, was to get a business investment visa. You must spend a certain amount on a business and get it open within 12 months, which we did. We couldn’t open as early as we wanted, because we were waiting for other red tape to go through,” he says.
“We went through hundreds of names. Then we said ‘Tannin’ and somebody went, ‘Oh I like that’. It just stuck, so we went with it.”
STYLISH & SOPHISTICATED
Sketch Interior Architects were brought in. “We worked on it together … the first thing we did was bash through all the stud walling and just open the space out.”
To retain elements of the heritage building, it sometimes meant gutting and reusing elsewhere. Spaces are richly elegant, with thoughtful touches. “We wanted to build something that’s here to stay. The driving force behind all the natural tones, using wood everywhere, keeping that warm homely feel.”
The focal point is the light-filled central wall of art that soars towards a glass ceiling. Dom’s wife Lisa took it on when he was “stressing about timelines”. Art was sourced all over South Africa, the collection curated by Claudia Bentel and Roman Handt of W17 Gallery. Some interesting works hang elsewhere in Tannin, too.
SAVOUR SMALL PLATES
The food works well, a comfortably sized menu of small plates or platters, for those after meat, fish and vegetarian. When I joined friends for lunch, we ordered two small plates each and then mixed it up. Enjoying tangy freshness in a beetroot, goats cheese salad; creamy gnocchi with smoky guanciale, accompanied by a glass of white; mussels in a coconut lemongrass broth with a spicy chilli hit; and a tuna dish which delivered deliciously different Asian zing.
There’s a global mix from head chef Blaine Coetzer. His plates are pretty, herby flavours or tangy sauces making it tasty. “We’re trying to keep it fresh and seasonal,” he says.
The desserts are also worth leaving space for. An intensely chocolate dessert is on the menu at Wood’s insistence. Our group tried an unusual pineapple and coconut option (lovely), plus the star, a rounded éclair filled with milk tart, plus vanilla ice cream. Officially the cookie crunch on top was choux au craquelin, but Chef Coetzer’s description was more fun: “Choux with a crack on top”.
Wood says they’ll monitor how guests make use of Tannin, and tweak around it. “We’re finding a lot of people are coming in to have a drink at the bar, going upstairs for some food, and then coming back down to the bar again.” Nothing wrong with that.
ABOUT THE WINE
Tannin is an enticing space, operating on three floors. On entering, a magnificent bar showcases wines, decanters and imported Riedel stemware, with cosy tables for sipping set further back. Dining is on the mid-level, with a glassed-in kitchen.
For wine lovers, taking the stairs to the third floor is the bonus prize. The walk-in cellar offers a super selection of South Africa’s finest labels. The list is about 340 strong with about 8 500 bottles in total. Tannin has off-site cellarage for wines for later release.
Expect the big boys such as Sadie, Savage and Thorne & Daughters, to Alheit, Newton Johnson and Crystallum. (The wine community has been “amazingly” welcoming.)
“We want to keep changing the list, keep it fresh and interesting, 40 by the glass will always be available.” This is top-notch everything: wine preservation systems, wines, Gabriel-Glas stemware as the house glass, with varietal-specific Riedel for serious tastings. Pricewise, we've tried to keep it competitive. So around R85 a glass, all the way up to, well, there is no limit …”
Tannin | 86 Bree St | 010 825 6086 |
Tuesday to Saturday for lunch and dinner; bar snacks and platters from 12h00-21h30.
tannin.co.za; <insta> @tannin_on_bree
IMAGES: Kim Maxwell, Tannin
Other stories you might like:
T is for Tambourine, the Cape Town CBD’s new eatery
Great steaks in Cape Town