Interview by Elijah Attard, Head Chef at Maybe Sammy, reach him @roots_hospitality
Photography by Kimmy Liew
I remember sitting at Sopra talking to Kennedy CK (Bar manager at the time, now Nomad) and when I told him I was heading to Melbourne he immediately opened up notes on his phone and gave me a list of bars he recommended. One of them was Par. By the time I found myself strolling down Brunswick, admittedly a little lost, I found myself sitting one on one in front of Tony Huang himself. When he explained the concept, I was excited. But I was completely in love when he served that first carbonated Persimmon Neo Cocktail. Not being a wine person myself, the idea of merging both worlds was the coolest thing to me. I’m glad I could catch up with Tony and pick his brain a little.
Does that bother you that people say Par isn’t a real bar?
We set out to create an experience that isn’t traditional. Providing more personality and a unique way of presenting drinks – so we’re definitely not bothered by that at all. Our ethos was to transform expectations from day one. If people were coming in with an idea of what to expect, it was immediately going to be thrown out the window.
Were you worried that people wouldn’t get the concept and reject it?
Defnitely. But you don’t get the reward without the risk, right? We are confident in who we are and what we do. So merging how the cocktail tastes with the wine serving format but still being approachable, seemed plausible to us. Fortunately, because our sequence of service allows for us to engage with the guests, we can educate them about what we do and why.
The first time I made a cocktail in a wine format was 2018 for the Patron Perfectionist. I was the winner of the first few rounds for Victoria and Tasmania. More importantly, the judges seemed to enjoy it, which is what got the idea ticking over in my mind.
“I know I got inspired by Orlando Marzo for instance, who was at Lume, serving Martinis in wine glasses or Nick Tesar from Marionette, freezing his produce before letting it sit in the spirit to impart flavour.”
How did the rest of the bar community receive this concept?
Most of the community are very supportive, which can be very rare. The fact that we have gone out and done this for ourselves, was certainly risky. Obviously, not everyone is going to appreciate it, but the support has been more positive than negative. Which is amazing.
Did you ever worry about people replicating your bar experience?
Yeah definitely. I believe we have set a mark for what we have created. If people really want to replicate it, then that’s just flattery for us. And the fact we are so unique, means that it would be quite obvious if people were to copy and paste Par. That would look bad on them.
It’s important to say that we also have taken influences of what we do from people too. I know I got inspired by Orlando Marzo for instance, who was at Lume, serving Martinis in wine glasses or Nick Tesar from Marionette, freezing his produce before letting it sit in the spirit to impart flavour. The important difference is that we make sure to acknowledge those people in the process.
You used to manage the Lui Bar for two years, so odd question – could you see the Par concept working at other venues?
People go to the Lui Bar because it’s very photogenic. The top to bottom windows and beautiful city view makes everyone want to take photos all the time. Being behind the bar meant that what you put out also had to be eye-catching. With that said, I went through a phase of trying a minimalist approach to cocktails and when I’d put their drink down (without a garnish), people would say ‘is that it?’ Wanting their cocktails to be just as extravagant looking. It was a good lesson to learn and it opened my eyes to knowing the time and place.
Do you get guests that just don’t get it?
It’s funny you say that because we had a couple come in recently and straight-up order two Negronis before we gave them our introduction. By the time they’d left, they had two rounds of our Neo cocktails which I feel is a pretty good accomplishment!
What’s your most ‘In the shit’ moment in your bartending career?
Ten years ago I started out at a rooftop hotel cocktail bar. We were desperate for more glassware because of how busy service was. You can imagine in a hotel, how hard it is to convince the owners to buy anything. One weekend we were getting slammed and began to run out of glasses, so we were serving drinks in whatever we could find. Wine and water glasses for cocktails and so on. As someone who is trained to do things the right way, it was pretty demoralising to put up something that just wasn’t right. But I could rest easy knowing the situation wasn’t my fault and we just had to work with it.
I feel your pain. Nothing worse than serving food on the plates that just don’t seem right. Thanks for chatting Tony!