Sip, Snack and Savour: These Sydney Bars Are Pairing Haku Vodka Martinis with Rice-Inspired Bites
This winter, discover elegant Haku Vodka martinis paired with inventive snacks that celebrate Japanese rice craftsmanship.
Sip, Snack and Savour: These Sydney Bars Are Pairing Haku Vodka Martinis with Rice-Inspired Bites
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This winter, discover elegant Haku Vodka martinis paired with inventive snacks that celebrate Japanese rice craftsmanship.
Made in Japan using hakumai — 100 percent Japanese polished short-grain white rice — and filtered through bamboo charcoal, Haku Vodka is as refined as vodka gets. Hakumai is prized for its purity and subtle flavour, and it's what gives Haku Vodka its smooth and subtly sweet profile and clean finish. It's a spirit that rewards slow sipping and thoughtful pairing — an ideal base, in other words, for a martini.
This July and August, a handpicked selection of Sydney bars and restaurants are spotlighting the Japanese vodka with limited-time creative martini serves and paired snacks to match. From waterfront icons to buzzy newcomers, here's where to experience Haku Vodka in its most elegant form.
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When it comes to rooftop views in Sydney, few do it better than the InterContinental’s Aster Bar — where else, after all, can you sip a cocktail while you soak in perfectly framed 270-degree views of Sydney Harbour and the Royal Botanic Garden?
Sip in style this winter with a Hakumai Martini, a beautifully layered mix of Haku Vodka, black rice, banana, lemongrass and Mancino Secco. It’s a rich and complex serve, with the earthy and herbaceous flavours cleverly offset with a paired snack of Sydney-caught tuna crudo and kimchi mayo on a sesame cracker.
Image: Declan Blackall.
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Perched on prime cliff frontage at Bondi’s southern end, Icebergs Dining Room and Bar delivers five-star luxe for both your eyes and mouth. And while we’re never in short supply of reasons to venture to one of Sydney’s most legendary venues, this winter we’ll be enjoying those views with an Oceano Martini, a bright mix of Haku Vodka, dry French vermouth, lychee, plum, kombu and karkalla.
Pair it with a puffed rice cracker topped with bluefin tuna tartare and a kick of fermented chilli that brings out the earthy and umami undertones of the cocktail, sit back, and take in those sweeping, multimillion-dollar views.
Image: Declan Blackall.
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Bold energy and big flavours are the name of the game at Island Radio, House Made Hospitality’s 140-seat hawker-inspired eating house and noodle bar at Wunderlich Lane. The bustling venue has breathed new life into Redfern’s heritage-listed Bank of NSW building, with an eye-popping mix of daring colour, jungle foliage and a whole lot of moonlight.
Head in this winter to try the limited-time Haku-tini, an intriguing combination of Haku Vodka, dry vermouth, Japanese rice, osmanthus, pandan and a pandan oil garnish, paired with a garlic rice cracker for extra bite.
Image: Jiwon Kim.
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Whoever said tapas could only be paired with wine or beer? Open late and secreted away underneath Palazzo Salatto on Kent Street, Letra House is maybe one of Sydney’s truest odes to Spain’s many underground tapas bars — but it’s also not afraid to colour outside the lines every now and then.
Case in point: the pairing of a Hakumai Martini, a beautifully balanced serve featuring Haku Vodka, junmai sake, dry madeira, toasted rice and sesame, with crispy rice topped with mussel escabeche and pickled garlic, which reads like the Spanish-Japanese dirty martini we never knew we needed. This winter, the Letra House team is also shaking up a Konbini-tini, a mix of Haku Vodka, junmai sake, umeshu and furikake.
Image: Declan Blackall.
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The classic Sydney wine bar gets a Japanese rethink at Moku, an intimate two-storey venue set in a heritage sandstone space on Crown Street where Head Chef Ha Chuen Wai pairs delicate Japanese flavours with native Australian ingredients in a way that feels thoughtful rather than forced.
This east-meets-west spirit comes through in dishes and drinks alike, such as in the junmai-daijingo-spiked Hakumai Martini elevated with cucumber and yuzu oil, served with golden potato gems topped with hojicha-smoked cream, pepperberry and tonburi. For those after something a little more straightforward, the bar is also shaking up clean, crisp Haku Vodka martinis this winter, showcasing the spirit’s smooth, subtly sweet profile.
Image: Jiwon Kim.
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One part glam, one part retro and one part mixologist’s fantasy, The Roosevelt has long been one of the eastern suburbs’ most in-demand cocktail destinations. This buzzy Macleay Street bar celebrates American 1950s cocktail culture, with a drinks list that toes the line between inventive and nostalgic.
For its Haku Vodka collab, the team is presenting into two martini variations. The first — a Haku Vodka dirty martini spiked with rice and seaweed — is paired with a soy-glazed tofu and seaweed-stuffed rice puff, its umami notes echoing the vodka’s rice base. The second is a cleaner classic: Haku Vodka stirred with Dolin Dry Vermouth and finished with a lemon twist.
Image: Declan Blackall.
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For nearly two decades, Toko has been at the forefront of Sydney’s contemporary Japanese dining scene. The sleek subterranean space underneath George Street hums with energy, thanks to its dramatic lighting, spacious booths and the gentle sizzle of the robata grill.
It’s the perfect setting, then, for an elegant martini. This winter, the bar is shaking up a Hakumai Tini: Lady Guava, a bright, punchy number featuring Haku Vodka, yuzu sake and guava. Any sweetness is cleverly offset with a paired snack of tartare on an umami-laden nori rice cracker, but the classic Haku Vodka martini with a lemon twist is also a nice way to round things out.
Image: Jiwon Kim.
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Opened by Maybe Sammy alum Wen Wang, Bar Sumi blends the traditions of Taiwanese and Japanese bartending with refined, intuitive hospitality in a charcoal-and-black-washed 20-seat venue hidden behind a Haymarket escalator.
It’s quietly made a name for itself with precision cocktails and a confident dedication to craft rooted in the classics — so it should come as no surprise, then, that this spot knows its way around a martini. This winter, it’ll be showcasing a triple-header of Haku Vodka-based versions. Headlining the series is the SUMI Hakutini, a Japanese riff that adds junmai ginjo sake to the mix and served alongside puffed crispy rice topped with caviar. Rounding out the lineup: a Haku Vodka dirty martini and a clean, briny gibson.
Image: Declan Blackall.
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Tucked inside Sussex Street’s Japanese hospitality precinct Prefecture 48 — which channels the cultural and creative breadth of Japan’s 47 prefectures — is Whisky Thief, a sophisticated ode to the amber dram. It’s not colourblind, though — the bar’s creative cocktail program celebrates Japanese spirits and flavours of all hues.
And true to the playful energy displayed across each of Prefecture 48’s venues, this winter, Whisky Thief wants you to choose your own adventure with its limited-time Omakase Martini. This expertly balanced mix of Haku Vodka, Fukuchiyo Shuzo Nabeshima sake (which is brewed with what’s referred to in sake circles as ‘the king of sake rice’), Lillet Blanc and puffed rice is finished with your choice of bitters, with yuzu, umami, hinoki or sakura all available. Whichever you select, your martini will be paired with beef tartare topped with confit yolk emulsion and hazelnut and served with — what else — a rice cracker.
Image: Declan Blackall.
These Haku Vodka Martinis and paired snacks will be available throughout July and August. For more information about Haku Vodka, head to the website.
Top image: Declan Blackall.
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