Mootee Bar opened in 2018 in Sandton, behind an unmarked door inside the Marble Restaurant building. It is one of the few Johannesburg bars that takes the speakeasy frame seriously — reservation by application only, password rotates weekly, phones face-down. What makes the bar work is not the staging but what is behind it: two separate menus, one printed and visible to everyone, one only mentioned to guests the bar staff have decided are paying attention. The right Mootee visit eventually involves both.
Mootee's argument is that a speakeasy can have actual secrets — not just decorative ones — and that the bar deserves the trust of its guests for a couple of drinks before it shows the deeper part of the operation. Reservations through the bar's website. Open Wednesday through Saturday from 7pm to 1am.