Overview
Fitzroy has welcomed a new haven of 70s disco dazzle, as The Lame Duck arrives to heat things up this summer.
Behind a glittering gold door and up a flight of stairs on the corner of Gertrude and Smith Streets, this newbie's rocking a retro pool room aesthetic with a definite disco edge. Cementing those old-school party vibes, expect a healthy dose of wood panelling, a shrine to the one and only Cher, a working photo booth for late-night happy snaps, and a Billy Bass presiding happily over the room.
A vintage purple pool table snookers all the others in town, and enormous booths — decked out in hot pink palm trees, no less — are primed for group festivities. With a nifty 4am licence, and a couple of hospitality veterans at the helm, it's a place where letting your hair down is most certainly encouraged.
The cocktail offering is embracing the very best of eras past, slinging new-school takes on some of the 70s' best-known daggy drinks. There's the daring Mezcal Sunrise ($18) with pink grapefruit juice, a piña colada-margarita mash-up ($18) and the signature Lame Fluffy Duck ($18) — a gin and Aperol sour.
More retro classics pepper the snacks menu; you'll find yourself stepping back in time with bites like pickled onions, hot dogs and an oozy baked camembert fondue.
Meanwhile, the DJ tunes will be spinning nightly, with residents like JNETT and Capt'n Shergz throwing down a hearty mix of disco, funk and soul jams. Be sure to bring your party shoes — dancing on the tables is a-ok at The Lame Duck. At least for the time being.
Find The Lame Duck at 1/247 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy. It's open 4pm–late Tuesday–Thursday, 3pm-late Friday, and 2pm–late Saturday and Sunday.
Images: Jess Middleton.