The first thing I hear is the whisper of steel on ice. Tetsuo Hasegawa bends low over a block the size of my fist, blade gliding as crystalline curls scatter across the counter. It’s less a bartender’s motion than an artist’s stroke. Precise, patient and intentional. When he sets the glass before me, the ice is perfectly tailored, a sculpture in miniature, waiting to hold its story.

I’ve come to recognise this ritual. Anthm has become a touchstone for me in Cape Town, its pull as natural as the glorious late-afternoon light that lingers across the bar, holding space for the parts of myself I only seem to meet here. One night it’s a quick drink before dinner, another it stretches into hours of conversation with locals, carried along by the gentle crackle of vinyl somewhere in the background. Each visit offers refined insights: a cocktail I haven’t tried, a pairing I wouldn’t normally choose, and, in the end, another glimpse into Tetsuo’s evolving world.

Hasegawa’s journey began in Tokyo, where art school sharpened his eye for balance and proportion. New York followed, two decades of bartending and exhibiting art in the Lower East Side. By the time he left, he’d staged more than 30 shows and run his own bar. Cape Town is now the third act in his journey.