The Eau de Vie Team Is Opening an Opulent New 30s-Style Cocktail and Champagne Bar in the CBD

Champagne, cognac and caviar. This is what Melburnians can expect from an incredibly opulent new cocktail bar that's headed for the CBD next year named Nick & Nora's.

How do we know it will be opulent? Well, the bar is brainchild of the Speakeasy Group — the owners of cocktail classic Eau de Vie, Viking luxe bar Mjolner and whisky-serving Boilermaker House — for one. Secondly, like Mjolner, Nick & Nora's will be a Sydney import — the group opened its first Nick & Nora's in Sydney in October last year.

Like its Sydney counterpart, the venue is inspired by Dashiell Hammett's novel The Thin Man and its fictional crime-solving team Nick and Nora Charles. If you're not familiar with the book, expect a roaring 30s vibe befitting a most glamorous party — the 240-person venue will have five distinct spaces, three balconies, art deco finishes and a whopping 400 bottles of Champagne on display.

The latter will be housed in a climate-controlled display case and feature rare vintages alongside bubbles by the glass. For cocktails, the manual will be organised by taste — a Speakeasy Group signature — but with venue-themed list names like Femme Fatal, Hollywood Starlet and The Snitch. Think martinis, Champagne cocktails and sours aplenty.

Nick & Nora's Sydney, by Jiwon Kim.

Nick & Nora's will be located in the high-end restaurant precinct within the 80 Collins Street building that's currently under development and set to open in early 2020. It's shaping up to house some big hospitality names, with a highly anticipated new venue from Sepia's Vicki Wild and Martin Benn and a rooftop restaurant and urban farm from Pastuso's Alejandro Saravia already locked in.

The giant 80 Collins development is going up on the site of the heritage-listed Le Louvre building, on the corner of Collins and Exhibition Streets. The high-rise, along with a newly refurbished commercial tower on the same block, will boast a futuristic new office tower, a 255-room boutique hotel and a luxury retail offering alongside the hospitality precinct.

The Speakeasy Group — led by owners Sven Almenning and Greg Sanderson — is also doing things a little differently this time around. Instead of raising equity for future venues through private investors, the group has started a Birchal crowdfunding campaign for public investors — and over $870,000 has already been invested since it started last month. The campaign will run through April 4 and investments can range from $500–10,000. If you have the cash to splash, all new 'owners' will receive a VIP invite to the Nick & Nora's Melbourne opening night.

Nick and Nora's Melbourne will open in early 2020 at 80 Collins Street, Melbourne. Keep an eye on this space for updates.

Image: Nick & Nora's Sydney, by Jiwon Kim.