Melbourne's Best New Bars Of 2017
Honouring the best new additions to Melbourne's bar scene this year.
Melbourne's Best New Bars Of 2017
Honouring the best new additions to Melbourne's bar scene this year.
There were short-lived rumours that Melbourne's art and hospitality scene had reached peak saturation, but the city quickly put those to bed when its cultural ecosystem grew and flourished once again. It has been a year of innovative new restaurants and bars — bigger and taller than ever before — forward-thinking events and bold spaces, pubs and cafes. And they're not all from the big players — independent ventures are flourishing.
Bars continue to offer immersive, imaginative experiences that take you beyond their drinks lists — giant wheels of raclette, Kill Bill-themed drinks lists — and late into the night, with some now serving inventive bar snacks til 3am.
At Concrete Playground we encourage exploration and showcase innovation in our city every day, so we thought it fitting to reward those most talented vanguards pushing Melbourne to be a better, braver city. And so, these six new bars, opened in 2017, were nominated for Best New Bar in Concrete Playground's Best of 2017 Awards.
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At Tokosan, an offshoot of top Sydney and Dubai fine dining establishment Toko, the focus is on beverages paired with a casual Japanese menu. The interior design boasts neon lighting, a 16-metre-long street art mural, and a DJ. The karaoke room is also of note and bookable for functions of 20 people — so prepare to give your lungs a workout. The pub-style Japanese menu features sticky grilled pork ribs with a jacket potato, Japanese-style chicken burgers and popcorn shrimp with spicy aioli. Ramen and udon noodle soups also make an appearance, as does sushi, and $20 all-you-can-eat temaki (a type of hand-rolled sushi). Tokosan’s cocktail list, named after Kill Bill characters, includes the gin, cucumber and passionfruit O-Ren Ishii, the Boss Tanaka with bourbon, apricot brandy, ginger ale and lemon juice, and the sake-infused Sofie Fatale.
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If you believed the hype, Longsong was on track to being one of the year’s best new bars long before it opened. Once a horse stable, the lofty space that greets you at the top of the stairs is downright impressive. The styling is contemporary, with timber cladding, arty resin-topped tables and a ceiling hung with Chinese lanterns lending just the right amount of funk.
It’s a share-friendly lineup of food, starting with smaller dishes like dry-aged beef tartare with saltbush and a horseradish kick ($19) and grilled calamari with squid ink ($9). Heftier dishes include whole John Dory with peas ($51) and a feast-sized, 700-gram dry-aged beef rib ($84). Alongside all-Victorian lineups of both craft beer and wines by the glass, there’s a handful of classic cocktails, like the French 75 made with sake ($18). There’s no doubt that this one was well worth the wait.
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The Mayfair is a place you can roll into past midnight and happily enjoy ham and brie toasties ($22), handmade sausage rolls ($12) and a rum-infused Jungle Bird cocktail ($21), all served with a side of sophistication. The regular menu reworks familiar bistro flavours, along with a selection of steaks cooked over a wood fire. At the lighter end, there are the essentials: steak tartare ($24) and oysters ($4.50 each), and caviar if you’re keen to drop $90 for 12g. The dining room is all crisp white tablecloths, chandeliers and live jazz, while the adjacent bar area is a sleeker, cosier spot, better suited to those midnight fly-bys. The wine list boasts a considered lineup, travelling across Europe and Australia. All up, consider Mayfair a guaranteed hit of classiness, no matter what time of night you rock through the door.
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Bar Carolina is all sleek lines and warm smiles. The bar and kitchen run down one side of the narrow space and the tables down the right. The waiter will give you the lowdown on the stuzzichini (starters). It might be the Italian accent, but they sound like poetry. It would be rude not to order the vitello tonnato, given that it’s the waiter’s favourite dish. Warm mouthfuls of slow-cooked veal are scattered on the plate with tasty tuna sashimi, providing a lovely mix of temperatures and flavours. And yes, you should also have the zucchini flowers stuffed with soft cod mousse and the crisp pumpkin crochette. The rabbit ragu is delightful. To end the meal, you have to order the tiramisu — because, a) it’s a dome of white chocolate enshrouded in nitrogen smoke and b) you’ll be overcome with jealousy when you see one pass by your table.
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Arlechin is a new bar shaking up Melbourne’s bar scene by offering cocktails and fancy finger food from 5pm until 3am. The bar is halfway up the alley, the door marked by a lone candle in a jar. Push open the black steel doors and walk into a small 40-seater space that looks like it picked up design tips from an Italian confessional or a castle wine cellar on its way to Melbourne. Although the cocktails are often on the sweeter side, they always hit the spot, like the Bee’s Fix ($19), which tastes like a fancier version of eggnog. There’s an extensive list of wines by the bottle, for those looking to confess their sins long into the night. The menu is just what you’d expect from a Grossi bar, traditional meets fun on snack-sized plates. A moreish saffron risoni with bone marrow ($12), a tasty bolognese jaffle ($10) and a twist on a sloppy joe ($6). At only a few months old, Arlechin feels comfortably Melbourne, settled into the town in a way that bodes well for its longevity.
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Juliet is one of those places in Melbourne that have the magical ability to transport you somewhere else. Sort of like Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree, where characters in the story would climb a tree and find themselves in another land, the Juliet stairway has a similar effect. Not only does the food offering change, but the wines by the glass rotate every night depending what bottles the first customers decide to open. The cocktail list includes some interesting ones — like a sangria made with ginger cider and bourbon, and a tequila old fashioned with chocolate and grapefruit bitters — although, in a bar whose walls are lined with wine bottles, you’d be remiss not to go the vino route. And the best part is that you can go just for a wine — or just for cheese, or dinner. Juliet straddles that line between wine bar and restaurant perfectly which makes it a great addition to the CBD.
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