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.”
Tag: Melbourne
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.
We broke the news in our November issue that celebrated Wellington operator, Christian McCabe, was setting up shop in Melbourne. His new venue, The Town Mouse, opened just before Easter in Carlton, on the old Embrasse site. McCabe has teamed up with his sister, Amber McCabe (Longrain) and Jay Comesky of Melbourne’s St Ali to run the front of house.
Here’s a charitable idea we can get behind: head to new Melbourne bar, Shebeen, buy a beer like Tusker (which is from Kenya) and see the profits from the sale of said beer go to help Kenyan farmers get access to tools, education and insurance so that they can get out of hunger.
Ireland’s top bartender, the Kiwi-born Hayden Lambert, is moving to Melbourne to take on the head bartender role at Matt Bax’s Bar Americano.
Think Lui Bar and you’ll probably think that Skipper Josh has been at it again, or some other brave soul is testing the waters of tiki mania. But if you’re looking at the pictures on this page, you might be wondering if he’s a bit confused.
Perhaps food and drink got too serious there for a while, too self-referential. The experience became less about the company you kept and more about food for food’s sake. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a market for grown up food and drink – pounding back tequilas and tinnies of beer is not for everyone, after all. And it’s to those folks that Cellar Bar, Melbourne is looking. The place is grown up, refreshingly lacking in irony, and is a whole lot of fun.
Living in today’s fast-paced, online world when something is trendy it spreads like the plague. Take the fashion industry, for example, one day an outfit is on the catwalk, it’s copied and sold everywhere, and a few weeks later everyone is wearing it.
The team behind Lily Blacks (nominated for Best Bartender’s Bar at Bartender’s Australian Bar Awards) are wowing Melbourne boozehounds with new bar, Mr. Wow’s Emporium. Exposed brick walls and long wooden tables and a curved bar house a wowing drinks program.
They came. They leased. And they’re in the process of conquering the Melbourne scene. Owen and Paul from the Collection Bar are also doing more that just serving up drinks, with their recently released range of bartender syrups set to hit bars soon.
Having launched in late 2011 MMC is taking a self proclaimed ‘cultural journey’ under the guidance of its head chef, Maurice Esposito.
The team behind the quirky venue are challenging you to enjoy all that the magic of Creole cuisine has to offer. Dishes are all about ‘to share’ and ‘tasting plates’ although there are mains and smaller delights to take your fancy. Creole-style chicken stew, spiced and blackened fish with avocado and a classic cassoulet are all on the menu.
With the closure of the Prahran Hotel in late 2010 it seemed certain that Melbourne would loose another iconic site on the nightlife scene. However with a six month renovation by Techne Architects under the guidance of new owners, the Sand Hill Boys (The Post Office Bar Pizza, Holliava, The Richmond Club Hotel and The Bridge Hotel).