Tiny Tiki Bar offers a beach-style escape from Jozi's chilly winters

Wrapped in a thick coat, draped in a fake flowery garland and sipping a cocktail in a beach-style bar on a wintry lunchtime in Melville, Joburg, felt incongruous …  

One of the city's oldest suburbs is undergoing (another?) facelift and the Anti-Social Club and Tiny Tiki Bar on a busy corner are a continuation of the recent gentrification of the area. The thing about Melville is, love or loathe it, it's irrepressible, it bounces back like a cheeky child that never fails to surprise, both good and bad.

"Tiki" means one of two things: it's a reference to wood or stone carvings typical of the South Pacific islands or a place that imitates a South Pacific bar. Think beach, loud flowery shirts, gauche brightly coloured decorations, pretty suntanned boys and girls and rum, lots of it.

"I've wanted to create a Trader Dick's [a famous tiki bar that opened in the US in 1956, and where Marilyn Monroe is said to have been a regular] since I was 19 years old," said Alex Szabo, one of three partners in Tiny Tiki.

"At Trader Dick's the owner's secrets were his biggest drawcard - surprise rum-based cocktails made with secret flavour and syrup combinations."

Tiki cocktails are traditionally served in brightly coloured Tiki mugs, which you'll find here too, a collection of just 30, Szabo's pride and joy.

Here cocktail mixes aren't state secrets, rather enticing descriptions on a menu - Mai Tai (a combination of light and dark rum), Zombie, Dark & Stormy, Bahama Mama and Rum Swizzle - but if you prefer a surprise, the team of young and enthusiastic bartenders-in-training are up to the challenge and dying to add their signature.

What to eat? In the adjoining eatery, the Anti-Social part that's very social, you can nibble on typical bar items - chicken wings and other snack-type food. The ribs were really good and not covered in THAT marinade.

If that leaves you cold, try the all-day Brinner - a breakfast plate featuring their famous bacon, which is damn good, two sunnyside-ups, a stack of sweet pancakes and a blueberry confit.

They've been open for a month and word is they've been persuaded to add a selection of vegetarian items to the menu.

• Visitantisocialmelville.co.za/tiny-tiki-bar