There’s a new Sydney bar opening next year from the team behind Uncle Ming’s. Called Norsk Dor, the restaurant and bar will sit a couple of floors down at 70 Pitt Street in the Sydney CBD.
“All you can see from the street is a stainless steel door,” said owner, Justin Best. To access the bar customers will descend down some 16-odd steps and two floors, and follow a narrow corridor for about 30 metres before they come upon the bar.
“We spent $6000 on phone boosters because you couldn’t get reception down there — you don’t want people to leave,” said Best.
As the name implies, there will be a Nordic accent to the food which will be a big focus, partly as a result of the change in Sydney’s lockout laws.
“We signed the agreement to lease in September 2013,” said Best, “so it took about a year in council. That was about the time they changed the laws [with the introduction of lockouts], so we had to redo all our plans. We doubled the size of the kitchen, reduced the size of the bar.”
But with an expanded kitchen comes opportunities for bar manager Stephen Byrne.
“Because we have a kitchen, there’s a lot more things I can do now with texture, there’s a lot more things I can do with flavour,” he said.
“I’m really looking for an almost paddock to plate approach, using a lot of fresh herbs, a lot of A lot of twists on classic, and we’re going to be using a rotovap as well,” said Byrne. (For more info on rotovaps, check out the Explainer piece here).
“My favourite drinks on the menu are our work of Martinis — I have our Scandinavian Martini, which is infused with dill and a little fennel and we’re going to serve it with traditional Scandinavian rye with a spread of mustard,” he said.
The cocktail list will number between 50 and 60 drinks, and they’ve also got plans to provide spirits you can’t get elsewhere by blending their own.
“”We’re going to have five vats on the back bar, we’re going to have our own house blended whisky, going to have our own gin, going to vodka, tequila, and then whatever else,” said Byrne.
Expect Norsk Dor to open its doors in early February.