Gilt Lounge is tucked away above Gowings Bar & Dining in the quirky QT Hotel, Sydney. It is luxurious, it is exclusive, but don’t take that as bywords for a lazy bar program – this place has invested seriously in doing drinks and drinks service well.
Venues
Venues
It seems Bob Hawke is having a bit of a renaissance in the eyes of Australian drinkers – first, by christening the Workers in Balmain, and now as a part of the Print Hall venture that took over the The West Australian newspaper’s former headquarters (and including a $2.5m wine program). Bob’s Bar is adorned with the wise words muttered by the man himself: “Any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up to work today is a bum!”
2011 was a cracker year for the Walkers Arms Hotel. They scooped the pool at the South Australian AHA Awards and were given the title of best overall hotel. Yet this revamped and tech-savvy hotel, just a short distance from the Adelaide CBD, has had a long history that runs parallel with the history of South Australia itself.
The team behind Sydney’s successful Grasshopper bar – one of the first small bars to brave the CBD – have opened their second venue with wheels already in motion for a third. Boston as the café cum bar is called is nestled at the base of the Gateway building just a stone’s throw from Circular Quay.
No one that we know of is putting sherry out there in as big a way that these guys are. There is a groundswell of interest building in all things Jerez in the States (bartenders like The Columbia Room’s Derek Brown have been raving about it for a while now) and we’re seeing the local winos talking about it more and more, particularly the Equipos Navazos bottlings which you can find here at Tapavino.
There are two big wine trends that have taken shape over the last few years: one of them is a trend toward natural wines; the other, an increasing interest in orange wines. And there is quite a lot of overlap between the two. Natural wine, loosely defined, is wine that is made with the least intervention possible.
Molecular mixology, modernist mixology – call it what you will, the fad became a trend which has now become a permanent part of a bartender’s repertoire. And at The Rabbit Hole, they’re doubling down on modernist techniques, which form the basis of a lot of their drinks.
The Honourable Julia Gillard MP finally has a local small bar and restaurant in which to drown her polling woes. The Botanist Kirribilli has just opened its doors in the old Milsons restaurant site thanks to owners Ben Carroll and Hamish Watts – the duo behind Bondi Hardware.
Though vinyl records have gone the way of the dodo, Walkmans, and car-phones, there will always be a place for intimate bars where you can get a good drink with good service. It’s not rocket science and Mojo Record Bar doesn’t over-complicate things.
The pre-summer switcheroo is going on in Brisbane too. Never has the drinking been better,…
The old Rambutan site on Oxford Street has come alive again. And, just as in its previous incarnation, good food goes hand in hand with great drinking at Kaya Sydney. “It’s loosely based on an izakaya, which is a Japanese bar that serves good food,” said owner Tim Lackey.
Sydney’s northern CBD is witnessing a bibulous revival right now. Venues like the Morrison, Palmer & Co, and now, Grain Bar, have dragged the north stretch of George Street into the modern drinking world.