What about a juicy, crisp and cold glass of Fin Wines from the tap? Do you like your Martini with a hint of parmesan? Do you only take your cocktails if they’ve been poured by those trained under the guidance of cocktail pioneers Michael and Zara Madrusan? Or maybe you’re of the opinion that a glass of Victoria’s finest simply must be enjoyed sky-high in downtown Melbourne? Whatever your flavour, the city’s latest and greatest are making a strong case for great drinking over summer and beyond.
Here’s where to find them, and what you might like to order when you’re there:
Three Horses
Caretaker’s Cottage has been the biggest noise in cocktail bars in Australia in years. And the chief criticism you hear levelled against it is this: it’s very popular, and it’s not very big, so landing a seat can be hard. Which made the news that founders Rob Libecans, Ryan Noreiks and Matt Stirling were opening a second bar, barely 40 seconds’ walk away, all the more welcome. Put all that aside, though, and Three Horses stands on its own merit. You don’t need to know anything of its parent bar’s international reputation to get the sense as soon as you walk through the door, that this place is run by people who know what they’re doing, and people who want to show you a good time. Sherry is a key touchpoint – kudos to Three Horses for taking something formerly as sexy to mainstream drinkers as a church fete and giving it genuine phwoar-factor. Start with a fino-flavoured Martini and let things unfold from there.
106 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne
LB’s Record Bar
Pull up to my bumper baby: Michael and Zara Madrusan, the minds behind such essential Australian bars as The Everleigh (RIP) and Heartbreaker, have changed up the vibes and the music in their collaboration with Sydney hospitality group Merivale’s first Melbourne opening, but the drinks are as impressive as ever, whether it’s the rose-tinted goofiness of a Strawberry Daiquiri or the icy seduction of the house Margarita, grasshopper salt and all. Find it at LB’s Record Bar.
12 Meyers Pl, Melbourne
Gerald’s Bar
You can breathe a sigh of relief. The idea of taking the tiny perfect, Fabergé egg of a neighbourhood boozer that was the original Gerald’s and transplanting it to a much bigger site (albeit just a couple of blocks away) in the old Enoteca Sileno building seemed fraught with peril. But here’s a rare instance where your thinking should be “what could possibly go right?”. The new site is everything you liked about the old Gerald’s – personality galore, winningly idiosyncratic service, superb décor, great tunes – but with way more space and a new layer of food. Former La Cachette chef Matt Podbury has joined longtime Gerald’s chef Pete Savage in the (huge) kitchen with a view to offering a more restaurant-style experience in the dining room. That’s still in the works, but for now Gerald’s 2.0 is a truly glorious place to drink and snack. The Scotch quail egg with Cumberland sauce is a certified banger. As Gerald Diffey’s upholsterer puts it, it’s Winston Churchill meets Paul Weller in all the right ways.
920 Lygon St, Carlton North
Tiny Bar
What might be Melbourne’s smallest bar might also lay claim to Brunswick East’s best bar snack: abalone cooked in its shell with a sauce made with its liver. And this pint-sized boozer goes big on drinks, too, with the Pippo, a chinotto spiked with whisky, holding the top spot on the menu since day one. Don’t miss it.
221D Blyth St, Brunswick East
Cordelia
The drinks list and menu change with the tides at Cordelia, a seafood-forward wine bar in Carlton from the team behind Don’s. And as at Don’s, the classics are executed with precision, with three headliners that can be taken three ways: the Martini, Manhattan and Negroni.
The Negroni with Love – a big and bold concoction of dry gin, Saison blackcurrant-leaf amaro and Yzaguirre Blanco – has quickly become one of middle Rathdowne Street’s hottest drinks. Order up on an extremely large and off-menu fish sandwich and you’ve got yourself a party.
180 Rathdowne St, Carlton
Daphne
Did somebody say Monday Martini club? Etta’s Hannah Green does it again with her second venue Daphne, which she describes best as a “restaurateur’s answer to a pub” that also happens to be a go-to for well-made cocktails and sherry.
52 Lygon St, Brunswick East
Da Bepi
Nonna knows best, or in the case of new wine bar Da Bepi, her recipes do. At Sydney Road’s new late-night local, it’s about family favourite lasagne, fried mozzarella and plenty of cicchetti alongside a winning local-leaning drinks list. It’s last drinks at around 3am on weekends, leaving just enough time to work your way through a whopping selection of amari and liqueurs and fortifieds once you’ve conquered all that cicchetti.
391 Sydney Rd, Brunswick
Moondrop
It’s the new bar in the old Everleigh site from the team behind Carlton North’s Sleepy’s. Flavours of the East reign supreme at this new cocktail hideout, with a spicy spin on the Japanese Slipper – the Sichuan Slipper – leading the line-up. There’s also a special from co-owner Steve Chan, the Chanhattan, a smoky Chinese black tea-infused number that he reckons is the drink to order if you’re only having one.
Level 1, 150-156 Gertrude St, Fitzroy
Hands Down
Hands down, this Fitzroy bar is one of this year’s most exciting new openings. Why? The team behind it collectively share creds from your favourite drinks institutions, Above Board, Bar Liberty and Pearl Diver, and because the drinks are delicious. Expect Continental cocktails including a Pastis Swizzle, plus a refined riff on the Kalimotxo that steps up this backpacker classic with a fine local cola and a sparkling lambrusco from much further afield.
139-141 Greeves St, Fitzroy
Melitta Next Door
Keenly priced and keenly delicious cocktails. Beers served from an ice-packed Esky. Seriously tasty snacks from Italian chef Lorena Corso. It’s everything you’d hope from a more casual counterpart to cocktail haunt Bar Bellamy, and plenty more besides. A must.
160 Rathdowne St, Carlton
Bar Selecta
It’s Highball heaven at Hawthorn’s new and only 10-seat listening bar, Bar Selecta. Co-owner Michael Tan says “it’s intimate enough to hold hands with the DJ” if that’s your vibe, otherwise, find yourself some standing room and peruse their extensive Japanese whisky collection as you dream up your next spirit and soda combo.
Rear, 717 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn
Ruzia’s
Ruzia’s owner Ravi Presser had spent decades working in Melbourne’s hospitality industry, so when a prime position opened up on Balaclava Road, he knew it was time to take on a venue of his own. Named after his Polish-Jewish grandmother, Ruzia’s is all about generous cooking, genuine hospitality and plenty of Polish vodka. The wine list, meanwhile, is less Eastern European and more local – and the best part? You can take bottles away with you, even after you’ve opened them over dinner.
215 Balaclava Rd, Caulfield
Peaches
The more mature, after-hours sibling of hit café-milk bar hybrid Skinny’s brings the same no-holds-barred energy to High Street, except with booze, bar snacks and lower lighting. Good-time wines are the name of the game at Peaches: there’s Fin Wines’ Juicy Boi on tap, big-hitting lo-fi names including MDI on pour, plus a rotating list exploring labels more left-of-field from around Victoria. A short, sharp and hella smart cocktail list with Martinis as dirty as you like them rounds out the rest of what’s going in the glass.
901 High St, Thornbury
Suze
Back in March, Suze brought a quiet, calm and confident fury to Fitzroy North, and owners Giulia Giorgetti (Marion) and chef Steve Harry (Auterra, Napier Quarter) are showing no signs of slowing down with their stellar corner spot. Suze fits the bill of what a wine bar should be, and with a list that runs from Macedon Ranges to the far corners of France, you can’t go wrong. Sherry comes into the fold here, too, with the Sherry Collins of particular interest to summer sessioners who’ve managed to lock down a sunny seat out front.
6 Newry St, Fitzroy North
Times New Roman
The bang-for-buck banger Good Times Pasta opened a sibling venue earlier this year, and it’s just as unfussy as its Fitzroy North counterpart. It’s called Times New Roman, a bit less of a pasta bar and a bit more of a wine bar with plenty of glasses going for $10 to $15, carafes of the good stuff for just a touch more plus two types of punches to pair up with those snack plates – which start at the $6 mark.
66 Lygon St, Brunswick East
Cleo
After a short pause, Hyde Melbourne Place’s rooftop returns, and it packs one helluva milk-punch Espresso Martini. And the new spin on one of Melbourne’s most ubiquitous cocktails is just one small part of a massive reinvention: local wines take centre stage with excellent producers including Avani and Lethbridge on pour, the menu goes Mediterranean with an ex-Cutler and Society chef at the helm, and the refit is better described as a reimagining from the ground up.
Hyde Melbourne Place, Level 12, 130 Russell St, Melbourne CBD
Nobody’s Baby
This spot named after a Nick Cave song brings a new take to the concept of a bar in South Yarra (and Melbourne, for that matter), and not least because of its parmesan-spiked Martini. You’ve got some of the city’s top eateries taking residence in its kitchen – including stints from Very Good Falafel and Rocco’s Bologna Discoteca – you’ve got a Tommy’s Margarita remixed with Chartreuse, and you’ve got a big Victorian wine list that goes even bigger on the by-the-glass concept.
Nobody’s Baby, 19-21 Toorak Rd, South Yarra
Head this way for more great new openings in Melbourne and Victoria.