Overview
Mr Tipply is an infamous globetrotting dandy as at home at the Black Jack tables of Monte Carlo and the libraries of Oxford — or that's how the masterminds behind Mr Tipply's bar and eatery would have it. The new venue opening in the Sydney CBD today is a mishmash of influences and celebrations best explained by a quasi-mythological figure.
There's primitivism on the walls and Pan Asian inflections on the menu. There's pottery from Africa, natural textures from Australia, pop art from the US of A and Kimchi Mary cocktails from Korea. If the ambitious eclecticism comes together, it all adds up to another pretty cool bar in the CBD, within a stroll's distance of the Lobo Plantation and Barber Shop. The site, on the corner of Kent and King Streets, was formerly occupied by the City Hotel.
The menu, designed by executive chef Elaine Lee (Westin Hotel group) and styled (styled!) by Gemma Lush, is focused on sharing and includes a trio of duck sliders guilt-inducingly titled Three Little Ducks (green curry duck, roast duck and tea smoke duck, $25). The Singapore-style chilli crab with squid ink linguine ($26) and twice-cooked quail with edamame, grilled pineapple, cherry tomato, spinach and a ginger dressing ($18) also catch the eye.
From the cocktail list, you're obviously going to have the aforementioned Kimchi Mary (aged cabbage and chilli, vodka, tomato juice and spicy mix, $18). Other signatures include the Ninja in a Glass (Vodka 42 Below feijoa, secret ninja mix and lime, $19).
The bar opens to the public on June 6, with a more "refined and intimate" level one bar to follow in late July.
Mr Tipply's is at 347 Kent Street, Sydney.
