A touch of Americana has come to Adelaide in the guise of Jack Ruby. Not the putz who assassinated the guy who assassinated JFK — but a bar that takes it’s cues from the great culture of diner food in the States, from New Orleans to the Midwest, Texas and California.
Venues
Venues
This Saturday night marks the rebirth of the site upon which Melbourne cocktailing institution, Der Raum, once stood. While Der Raum is moving to Munich, Bar Economico is being raised in its place. “The site is too special to me to sell,” said owner, Matt Bax, “so I wanted to give it a new life and it needed to be different to get away from the shadow of Der Raum.”
Why someone hasn’t come up with this sooner is beyond us. Sure you could go out, have a cocktail, nibble on some entrees, get some mains and share a bottle of wine before moving onto the cheese plate — but why bother? Life is short, screw dessert; get me some cheese and booze.
Mike Enright is to open a new bar, called The Barber Shop, on York Street in Sydney’s CBD. Opening in the early July it’s a collaboration between Enright, Julian Train and Chris Mills, and will feature a classic barber shop with a bar out back.
After a few exhausting days visiting distilleries it was a welcome sight to see this bar and enjoy a few tequilas and a cold beer. Many of you reading this know that La Capilla is now as famous as many of their tequilas having recently been awarded one of the top 100 bars in the world by Drinks International magazine. Mind you, our humble Australian magazine’s similar “best bars list” has also heaped high praise on this world renowned dive bar.
They say that three is a trend, right? Well then there’s definitely a street—hip hop thing happening in Sydney right now. First there was Black Penny in Surry Hills and then PLAY Bar, both with an emphasis on hip hop and, well, all things urban. Now Redfern is getting in on the act with new bar, Hustle & Flow. Hip hop is the order of the day here, as the owners Tim and Lisette Duhig are promising to represent the four “r’s” — Rap, RNB, Redfern and Respect.
Owned by 5th generation family member Guillermo Erickson Sauza, the grandson of Javier Sauza who in 1976 sold the Sauza distillery. What wasn’t part of that deal was this 100-year-old disused and run down distillery site just a stone’s throw from their old family distillery
You’ve heard of BYO right? It’s an Australian tradition not seen in much of the rest of the world. Well, here’s a new one: BYF (or at least that’s what we’re calling it). Cobbler is promising patrons that they can bring their own food to the beverage-only venue.
When you step off the street and enter the hot dog joint, you have to find your way through a secret entrance to get to this new bar. No, it’s not PDT in New York and you’re entering via a Coke machine door and not a phone booth, but you get the idea.
Inside the bar is stripped back and designed to look like a disused soda factory; the island bar that centres the room will be familiar to anyone who can remember a night at the old Mars Lounge, which used to occupy the site.
We’re wondering why this hasn’t been done before. As we talk about in this month’s Trend section, food and drink are hand in glove more than ever before. And right on-trend comes Lotus Dumpling Bar, due to be open June.
Amy Spanton takes a look at the bar that has garnered more nominations than any other at this year’s Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards.
Occupying a space that PLAY’s owners believe used to be an opium den in the 1930s. There is a clear emphasis on all things hip hop and what people in the nineties used to call “street culture”. It’s refreshing. To walk past on the street — and this has become a kind of commonplace when it comes to bars, but it’s true — you wouldn’t know it was there. Downstairs in the basement, the old chess supplies store has had it pre-fab walls ripped out to expose the beautiful, raw brickwork.