Pleasure Club
Pleasure Club is the Odd Culture Group's hedonistic underground live music and cocktail bar, open until 4am below King Street.
Overview
High-concept cocktails, leather booths and a distinctly horny vibe are the modus operandi at play in Pleasure Club. You'll find the bar-meets-live music venue and performance space down a long flight of stairs on Wilson Street in Newtown.
The vibe of Pleasure Club is an anything-can-happen horny hedonism. A glowing purple eye greets you at the street-level entrance, hinting at the layers of violet hues contained within. Otherworldly decor and stage design are tone-setters for the entertainment program, which is be a true mixed bag of live music, performance art and audience interaction (including what the venue refers to as Dark Service around the 11pm mark).
But this is a bar first and foremost and the drinks list is pretty unreal.
For the venue's launch, Creative Beverage Lead Sam Kirk collaborated with booze whisperer Matt Whiley (of Re) on a cocktail series dubbed 'Nostalgia Machine' which included a number called the 'Cheese TV' a Coco Pops-infused version of an old fashioned that throws you back to your days of watching morning cartoons.
Other more radical creations on the menu include the Chicken Parm, a real one-of-a-kind experience made with vodka, comte cheese, bacon, tomato and chicken salt. We liken it to a chilled alcohol-laced cheese and chicken soup. Do with that information what you will.
The drinks are accompanied by a simple menu of good hot dogs that pair surprisingly well with the cocktails.
Sydney has jumped on the 'dog train, taking inspiration from other sausage-loving cities like Copenhagen and Berlin. Loaded dogs have been popping up at increasingly cool and high end locations whether it's Love, Tilly Devine's Scandi snacks or Rockpool's happy hour chorizo dog.
Pleasure Club's late-night snacks are just as impressive, loading up LP's franks on potato buns with fries, mustard and sauerkraut.
But it's generally just a standout spot to grab a drink and hang out. While the signature cocktails may be a little out of your comfort zone, there's a huge wall of spirits and a team of bartenders more than happy to whip up a perfect negroni or amaretto sour. And, there's a pool table in the corner so you can hit the felt with an impressive bev in hand.
Sydney could definitely do with more cocktail bars with pool tables.
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