Think: the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland. Smell: sweet cherry and apple. See: plush reds and tapestry cushions. Taste: scented teas and aromatic coffees. Breathe: cool, sweet smoke. Feel sexy. Be at Shisha, the newly opened hookah-pipe bar.

Baran Kalay, that extremely affable entrepreneur who opened Mesopatamia Restaurant on the corners of Church and Long Streets in the City, has converted the upstairs storage area once used by Peter Visser into a smoking lounge that oozes sensual addiction. If it were to smoke opium, this would be the kind of place in which to do it. As Baran’s guests, a small group and I were treated to dinner at the restaurant followed by a nargile pipe upstairs in the lounge.

I don’t smoke, as a rule, but really enjoy the occasional cigar or hubbly-bubbly pipe. The offensive smell of tobacco smoke is here replaced with sweet fruity vapours and the chilled water, or, in this case, berry juice through which the smoke is filtered, gives the smoke a light, wispy quality.

I have my own water-pipe at home, which I bought after enjoying it at the Cedar’s restaurant some time ago, but almost never use it - finding the mechanics involved too demanding. Shisha is one of those places where you can lie back and enjoy the full sensation without doing the messy work yourself. Although designed to be shared amongst friends, I enjoyed this particular pipe all to myself. Highly decorated with beaten copper covering the coal with enamel decoration on the blue glass, I inhaled through a long wooden pipe, more like an oboe than a recorder.

Baran is an enthusiastic ambassador for the Kurdish people and, in the course of our conversation, he shared troubling details about the oppressive life in Turkey as a Kurd. Qualified as a pharmacist, his first interaction with South Africans was at a medical conference he attended. His brother come to South Africa first, selling carpets and artifacts while Mesopotamia, today a thriving business, began around sharing food with friends. His enthusiasm is obvious and it rubs off on people in his company.

Eating the Kurdish way, much like mid-Eastern cuisine, is enjoyed communally with mezes, a large array of small, taste sensations, usually enjoyed before a main course.

The pace is languid. Sitting atop cushions on the floor is useful for moving between sitting and supine with little effort, although pins-and-needles is an unwelcome side effect.

A Belly Dancer provides entertainment and the occasional humiliation as she invites hapless diners to join her. The food is very pleasing although it is a cuisine that requires coaching for maximum enjoyment. My advice: eat what they recommend, smoke what they offer and allow yourself to be transported on a flying carpet to an enchanting world.

I paid the price for my excess the following day – when not only was my voice a husky, four semitones lower, but I wheezed and coughed as punishment.

Brian Berkman was the guest of Mesopotamia. 021-424-4464.