If you’ve read these pages over the last year or so you would know that the bar scene in Perth is on a roll, thanks in no small part to the role played by the new crop of small bars that have opened up.
Tag: Perth
Do you like your meats with your brew? The team behind Perth’s Ezra Pound are opening a new bar called Old Faithful, said owner Talmage Andersen.
There’s always a lot of bar activity going on in Perth these days it seems. We brought you the recent news that James Connolly has moved on from Rockpool Bar & Grill Perth to open a new Spanish-themed pop-up bar. We can now confirm that industry veteran Tim Wastell is joining the Rockpool Bar & Grill team.
Experienced Perth bartender James Connolly has moved on from his role at Perth’s Rockpool Bar & Grill, to open a new bar called Enrique’s. ”It’s a Spanish-themed pop-up bar in Mount Lawley,” said Connolly. “And like the bars of Barcelona we will be making the gin and tonic king,” he said.
We’re expecting the opening next week of Bar de Halcyon in Perth, Bartender of the Year competition just 17 days away, and a new bar from the Alfred & Constance team…
Rockpool Bar & Grill’s David Nguyen-Luu is through to the national final of the Angostura Global Cocktail Competition. He took out the WA round of the comp last Monday night at Perth’s Universal Bar. Finishing in second place was Joe Sinagra, and there was a tie for third place between Mechanics Institute’s Ben Tua and Dimitri Rtshiladze.
We’ve been talking about jazz age drinks for years now — but where has been the jazz? New Perth bar, The Laneway Lounge, looks set to rectify all that.
The Butterworth, in the heart of Perth’s CBD and located in Exchange Plaza, has been kicking goals with the food, but it’s the drinks that we’re interested in — and with good reason. The cocktail bar is headed up by Mike de Vos (check out our Introducing section this issue) who is lending the skills he’s used at Luxe and Bobeche while he waits for his own bar to get up off the ground.
Having worked his way around some of Perth’s best bars, this up and coming bartender is about to launch into the world of bar ownership for the very first time. Plans are well underway for his new bar, Choo Choo’s, to swing open the doors, so we though it was the right time to ask him a few questions about where he’s been and what he’s done so far.
This place has been open for a few months now but we thought better late than never. Given it has former Luxe luminary, Joe Sinagra on board for the beverage program it is no surprise that the cocktail list for this little den of deliciousness is of the wide ranging style.
The Perth bar scene is alive and well it seems, with a bit of musical bartender chairs being played. It appears that Luxe bar is ground zero for a lot of this too. Not only is owner Andy Freeman setting up a new bar, called The Varnish (as we reported in October’s Bartender) but other Luxe alumni are making moves too.
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!”