13 weeks in Montreal and on the last night I finally find my style of bar

When I look back at 2010, it’s been one filled with travel, and primarily travel to Montreal. Montreal is definitely a beautiful city, especially in the summer time.  You have over 400 years of history, a history that is warmly embraced and has resulted in a combination of beautiful architecture, amazing food, a wide variety of culture and thanks to French king, more beautiful women per capita than pretty much any other city I have visited.

My one lament though through out my time in Montreal has been the dearth of quality cocktails. Don’t get me wrong, Montreal pretty much has a bar on every corner, ranging from your low end dive bar through to the flashy beautiful people night club that is all about being seen, paying too much for a drink made by a hot bartender, and being packed into a small dark space with music cranked at a level that has you shouting to be heard. Don’t get me wrong, clubs have their place, but I’ll take a chilled bar with a talented bar tender any night.

Which leads me into the tale of my last night in Montreal for the year…

The night started with dinner at a Portuguese restaurant, Chez Michel, followed by drinks on St Denis at bar called La berouf (standard pub but with some fantastic wood work, an impressive collection of scotch and about 30 beers on offer) we then decided to head back to the old port for a drink at Vauvert.

Vauvert is the restaurant and club that is part of the St Paul hotel which has been my home away from home this year. Definitely one of the more popular bars in old Montreal on the traditional party nights of Thursday and Saturday night. It very much fits the mould  of your higher end Montreal bar. House DJ, funky decor, attractive wait staff and the standard drink offerings including the basic array of Tini drinks with an emphasis on either the fashionable (cosmopolitans) or fruity and sweet, all made with an emphasis on fast service and lots volume.

From there it was quick walk down McGill to Le Confessional. This bar is a little more my speed, and it’s been interesting to watch it go through a renovation this year.  The first time I visited in January, it was best described as more of a neighbourhood dive bar that had been there for ever, and hadn’t seen a lick of paint since first opening 20 years ago.  Fast forward 3 months and the interrior was redone. Think plush surfaces, lots of reds, burgendy & dark wood surfaces with chandeliers and mood lighting.  Again, you have the house dj on hand and your standard drink offerings.  My biggest gripe with The Confessional, and it seems to be a popular thing in Montreal, is the use of the electronic pourers for the spirits.  I get  the logic behind it, but when it comes to mixing drinks, it feels wrong and disconnects the human element from the experience of making a drink. But enough of the rant.

After the compulsory drink was consumed, we then decided to head over to L’Assomoir for some more interesting drinks. The problem we had though was that once we got there, they had called it a night.  So in what seems to be a common element for those amazing finds, we resigned ourselves to the night coming to an end and started to head back to the St Paul.

It was then that we wandered past  L’Original. I had actually been trying to get to L’Original all week after having read a write up for it.  The big draw for me was their focus on non mainstream meat offerings, so think venison, duck, Bison etc.  They of course cover your standard beef & chicken offerings but even there they try and mix it up a little bit. 

So we descended the stairs and were greeted with a decor that is if you had to pic a theme, you would say was a modern take on a hunting lodge, complete with wooden moose heads on the wall.

 

When we wandered in we were greeted by one of the owners, Travis, who was more than happy to give us the run down on the menu and the restaurant in general.  The first thing that impressed me about the menu was that it was only two pages, I like to have some choice, but find it overwhelming to be handed a menu with forty pages and a million dishes.  if nothing else, I think about the logistics of a running a kitchen and keeping the ingredients fresh to support that many dishes.  For L’Orignal, the first page is the standards for the restaurant that are always on offer,  (Les Classiques), things like a duck tartare or a Portuguese grilled chicken with chorizo, the second page is the chef’s menu which changes every 2 to 3 weeks.

I then  got into the important part of the conversation and asked about their drink options.

At this point Travis pointed to the chalkboard and offered us a drink, so who am I to say no to a drink?

Chatting with Jane, the bartender, it turns out that the menu is her creation, so asking for recommendations, she suggested the Red Russian and the Polish Apple Pie.  I opted for the Polish Apple Pie (Freshly crushed granny smith apple juice, Zubrowka bison grass vodka and cinnamon) while my buddy Curtis went for the Red Russian (freshly crushed red apple juice, vodka and fresh beet juice).  Neither drink disappointed. The Red Russian had a nice contrast between the sweetness of the apple juice with the spice of the beet juice while the polish apple pie went down the path of mixing the tartness of the green apples with bison grass vodka and the cinnamon for spice.

By this stage it is nudging 1:30am and dinner was a fading memory so we asked if the kitchen was still open and were given a resounding yes!

The bar menu is the companion chalkboard to the drink menu and again we went for the house recommendations. In this instance that was a serve of mini burgers and a bowl of poutine.  For the  uninitiated, poutine is very much a Montreal staple. You take a bowl of fries, add some cheese curd to it and then drown it all gravy. Like any late night food, it’s one of those food that doesn’t seem as appealing during daylight hours and it’s enjoyment is proportional to the amount of alcohol you have previously consumed, and in the interests of full disclosure, it’s not really a food stuff I have ever had much affection for. L’Original has now changed that stance. Their gravy is rich with complex flavours, the fries are done perfectly and the cheese curds are tasty and had a great mouth feel to the whole experience.

The next item to be consumed then was the mini burgers. First up, points to L’Original for not calling them sliders. These truly are mini burgers.  You get a solid patty of minced lamb, topped with caramelised onions and melted aged cheddar on mini burger buns that are fresh and tasty, so forget about greasy sliders, these things are sublime!

From there the house put on a round of espresso & frangelico shots, apparently another Montreal favourite  that didn’t disappoint.

 

So 13 weeks of fruitless searching and what I was looking for was a couple of blocks from where I had been staying the whole time. As the french say, ce la vis!

The other tips I picked up at L’Orignal for drinks were PicaPica and Restaurant Jane. PicaPica being another bar that Jane works at and has done a menu for, Jane (the restaurant/bar not the bartender) apparently does fantastic pizza and does good drinks as well, but they shall both have to wait till another trip and another night ….

The tippling club

After my recent trip to Seoul I was fortunate to be able to fly home via Singapore so I took the chance to check out the sister bar to one of my favourite Melbourne establishments, Der Raum, The Tippling Club.

The Tippling Club diverges from Der Raum in that it is also a high end eatery.  The apparent realisation of a long held dream between Matthew Bax and his chef friend Ryan Clift, The Tippling Club (I’m feeling lazy so am just going to refer to is as TTC from now) positions itself at the upper end of Singapore’s restaurant scene. Specialising in small plates and degustation offerings, the menu offers both 5 and 10 course options with & without accompanying cocktails.  According to their website the goal was to create “one big chef’s table, engrossing and drawing the customer into the kitchen and bar and to experience all the magic of the creative process”.

So it was with much anticipation that I arrived at TTC on a Friday night with a couple of friends.  As you walk down the path to restaurant you pass the tippling terrace which gives the first hint of it’s relationship to Der Raum, the terrace is ordained with hanging bottles.

As you then enter the restaurant you are greeted with an impressive view of the kitchen through a large window as well as a fascinating collection of ingredients in bottles which add to the lab feel.

I will  venture a little from the review here and give some background to the visit. Having realised I may have the opportunity to travel via Singapore, I had contacted a friend from Seattle who had recently moved back to Singapore and arranged to catch up and suggested the idea of visiting TTC. She was keen and had another of her old friends visiting from Hong Kong for the weekend, so we arranged a reservation through Josh from Der Raum for the 3 of us for Friday night. Curious as to what this interesting venue had to offer, my friend then took a small group to TTC a couple of weeks before our visit and had left a little less than impressed with the service.  I had contacted Josh about this and he provided an email address to which I forwarded the tale of her experience prior to our arrival.

So back to our visit, when we arrived, we were running a little late, so apologised for our tardiness but as there was no record of our booking, this was not such an issue.  Interestingly this was a similar experience to that which my friend had experienced a couple of weeks prior. This wasn’t an issue though as we were guided to some seats at the bar and were presented with our menus.

TTC has an interesting feel to it.  The seating area overlooks a garden and is covered by a steel & canvas annex that extends from the old building.  While we got the intent of the space, our group was left feeling that it had a bit of a temporary garden marquee feel to it.

But TTC is supposed to be all about the food and drink, so back to menu.  TTC has 3 menus on offer, one for cocktails, the tasting menu and then an ala carte option.  We started with the cocktail menu and decided to go with a Mb Apple Pie, A Clover Club & a Smokey old bastard.  This unfortunately was the second instance where we found the service to be lacking. Within a couple of minutes of sitting down we were asked if we were ready to order, as we were still making our way through the menu, we asked for a couple of minutes.  This then turned into what seemed like 15 minutes, so we flagged down one of the numerous staff and put in our drinks order.

Once our orders had been taken, we were then surprised by how rapidly they appeared. As we were seated at the bar, we were also rather disappointed by the fact that the drinks had been made out of site and were then presented to us with no explanation of the individual drinks nor confirmation that they were satisfactory.

At this point we hadn’t decided on dinner yet, so we asked for the food menu and were presented with the tasting menu.  During our time at the bar we had seen a

number of very impressive  small plates being ferried out to waiting patrons.  From what we saw, TTC does not disappoint when it comes to presentation.  Immaculately crafted with an obvious attention to detail, the reports from my friend’s previous visit were that the tastes match the appearance.

With none of us feeling like indulging in the full 5 or 10 course experience we then asked for the ala carte menu.  Once again this was summarily presented to us with no further explanation nor enquiry as to whether we had any further questions.

By this stage we had been at TTC for close to an hour and had been rather underwhelmed by the service we had received so it was decided that we would relocate to another restaurant for dinner and continue our evening there.

With the cheque paid, we were waiting for the return of the card and the receipt when Ryan Clift came over to check on our experience and see how everything was. We briefly discussed our drinks and complemented him on the menu before we departed.

As we left, we set about discussing our experience. We were universal in our praise of our drinks, their presentation and the menu.  The Smokey old bastard was indeed smokey, the house infused cigar bourbon presented in the tall jar adding to the experience.  The ladies’ clover club & MB Apple pie where both thoroughly enjoyed.  The MB apple pie tasting exactly like it’s namesake while the presentation in the cardboard box making it reminiscent of child’s juice box.

As you may have guessed from the overall tone though, we all left disappointed with the experience.  When you head to a high end establishment, quality ingredients & excellent products are expected, as is exceptional service, and this is where we universally felt the experience was lacking. Be it the lack of introduction or explanation of the menu & the drinks, the mishandled reservations or the construction of the drinks on the other side of the bar, a commitment to looking after the customer was not felt.

For my friend who had been a few weeks prior, this was a repetition of the experience of her party.  For their visit, reservations had been made and when they arrived, there was no record of the reservation, again though they were seated without issue.  The server was informed that one of the party would need to be leaving for the airport in an hour so they would like all the dishes to be brought out together.  The order itself was taken incorrectly and the dishes where then brought out separately, resulting in the member of the party who had to head to the airport not getting to sample any of the food offerings. 

I was very much looking forward to my visit to TTC, but left disappointed. I have no issue paying top dollar for a quality experience. TTC has first rate ingredients, an innovative and interesting menu, with well made drinks & food, but it is all let down by a service experience that is more in keeping with a roadside take away than an establishment that expects customers to be paying $100 to $200+ (70 to 140 USD) per head.

I have no doubt that some people will get the service experience that is expected, and the various accolades that TTC has received would support that, but you would have thought that given the prior notice of our booking, the explanation on arrival that I was in Singapore primarily to visit the restaurant, and the prior notice of one of the party having had a less than stellar experience on her previous visit that at least some effort would have been made to ensure that we had a memorable experience.  Sadly we did, but for all the wrong reasons.

*TTC has a policy of no photography, thus the lack of visual additions to this post.  Images are available on their website for those who are interested.

 

Der raum

Another week on the road has seen me back in the Melbourne and that of course meant some visits to a couple of my favourite bars and foremost amongst those is the world renowned Der Raum which I had actually intended to write a review of as part of a follow up to my Melbourne Bars Pt1 post from last year, but as seems to happen, time got away from me and it didn’t happen, so I figured I owed them their own review.

So here it is, nine months on from my first visit and I’m finally putting my thoughts into something that is supposed to be at least vaguely coherent.

In what seems to be something that Melbourne bars pride themselves, Der Raum plays it low key from the outside.  Located on the busy Church St in North Richmond, it is just on the edge of the restaurant & cafe strip with a rather unassuming front porch with some dark wooden slats across the front windows.  As you walk in, the lighting is low and you are greeted by low seating and the bar that takes up the centre of the room.  In reading the reviews of Der Raum, I had heard mention of the unusual bar layout but was not prepared for the visual impact.

The story goes that Mathew Bax, the man behind both Der Raum, it’s Singaporean sister The Tippling club and a supporter of local artists, had been looking for a solution to the lack of space to store the multitude of bottles required by any respectable cocktail bar and engaged the services of a Melbourne artist to work out a solution that was both practical but also worthy of artistic merit.  The answer … Hang the bottles from the ceiling on bungy cord.  Each bottle has a ring attached to the neck and the bottles are simply pulled down & unhooked when required.  It is truly one of those solutions that is incredible simple & elegant, but just works so well.

I must admit to not being in a huge hurry to get to Der Raum on my first visit to Melbourne. The stories of the funky hanging bottles and its reputation for molecular mixology were leaving me a little cold.  My preference was for a bar to be about great drinks & service, and not so much about gimmicks.  Within 5 minutes of arriving at Der Raum for the first time, all my fears were allayed.

A quick glance at the menu and you quickly find a mix of the classics as well as a great combination of house specials as well as signature cocktails from bars like London’s Milk & Honey. Now as you can see from the photos below, the liquid nitrogen definitely makes for a spectacle, be it the Nitro Martini or the Bees Knees with its snap frozen honey.  You almost wish they had a few Jacobs ladder and guy collecting glasses named Igor.

But to focus on wafting mists of the liquid nitrogen is to really sell this great bar short.  Like any quality establishment, the total experience is a mix of quality ingredients, made into great product by staff with both a passion for their craft and great customer service.

And this pretty much sums up Der Raum. On the ingredient side, you will find all the usual top shelf fare, which is then further embellished with a range of ingredients that are imported by the house.  Tequila, Mezcal, Rum or bitters are just some of the ingredients that they source from far & wide.  Even if your tastes are simpler, little things like the absence of a post mix gun & an insistence on quality mixers highlight their commitment to their craft.  You will also find a number of house made ingredients as well.  On my last visit I was treated to a camomile infused vermouth as a starter.  This house special combined the dryness of a vermouth with the herbal tones of camomile and was topped of with some liquid nitrogen for effect.

 

The guys are happy to work with you on your drinks as well.  The menu provides a great starting point, but if it’s all a little over whelming then Josh & the rest of the team are more than happy to offer suggestions or whip up something based on your input.

As an example, on my last visit I had the idea that I wanted to combine the flavours of chocolate, rum & ginger beer.  The result is what you see to the left.  A variation on a Chicago Fizz, this time, sans the port with the addition of mole bitters & ginger beer.  Or the mezcal old fashioned to the right (if your wondering why the glass is looking a little low, it was due to the fact that I was enjoying the drink so much, it only occurred to me that I should take a photo after having consumed a few sips).

For those who prefer their drinks more as the maker intended, Der Raum offers an extensive selection of absinthe, tequila, rum & whiskey as well as beer and wine for those so inclined.

Speaking of tequila, Wednesday nights offer 20% all tequilas and mezcals. Der Raum also is home to the Melbourne Temperance Society which providers members with discounts on both drinks and the regular special evenings which Der Raum hosts.

The one thing that is missing from the Der Raum menu though is food.  While there are rudimentary snacks available, Der Raum should not be viewed as venue for supper.  There are however, a number of food establishments close by, so a little preplanning is advised for those seeking more substantial consumptions.

It is also worth noting that you don’t want to leave it till too late in the evening as arrivals after 1am will be greeted by the sorry site of a closed establishment.

 

Der Raum can be found at 438 Church St, Richmond.

Drinking in Seoul

As per my last post, I’ve been on the road for business again, and this time I was returning to Seoul for a week.  This was my second trip to Seoul, with the last one being around the same time last year.  on that trip I had a fairly fruitless exploration of the bar scene. 

 

Downtown Seoul is pretty much the domain of the hof and the bikini bar.  The basic premise being that you sit down at a table and either pay $200ish dollars for a $30 bottle of johnie walker red and you then get a girl who pours you a drink and then herself one and helps you drink your over priced bottle of scotch.  Alternatively you can buy a bucket of beers for $100 and then your helpful korean girl will crack the top of your beer and then help herself to one of your $18 bud lights.

So what about the bikini bars?  Well they are basically a hof where the girls are wearing bikinis or lingerie, and your drinks cost more.

The alternate then is to jump on the subway and head into the suburbs and then it gets a little more entertaining.  Itaewon is where things get decidedly more western as apparently there is a US military base near by, so western style bars abound, and of course their is a red light district to keep the boys entertained.  As far as the crowds go, you get a mix of koreans & non koreans, be they members of the military, tourists or english language teachers, and they all happily down there beers, each nachos or drink breezers.

On that particular sojorn we also took a further subway trip to the university district where the crowd was almost exclusively young 20 something koreans out enmasse.  The drinks continue with beer & breezers, but then also expanded to include Soju which is the domestic distilled rice wine. Distilled rice wine … isn’t that Sake? Nope, if it comes from Japan it is Sake, if its from Korea it is Soju. The advantage of soju is that compared to other spirits it is cheap. A small bottle is going to set you back $10 or so, you then pour said bottle into small ceramic cups for your drinking companions, who then pour yours (one does not pour their own drink) and you then toast and neck the shot in one go. This process is then repeated until such time as you can no longer pour the soju into the little cups, at which point you pour yourself into a taxi and call it an evening, blissfully unaware of the worst hangover of your life that will awake you the next afternoon when you arise.

So that was pretty much the experience of my first trip, and as such the expectations for my second trip were not high.  Not to be discouraged though, a little searching of the interwebs revealed mention of a cocktail bar of repute named Coffee Bar K, a little further searching showed that it was but a short cab ride away, so off I went.

Coffee Bar K

From the street, it is easy to wander past and not even spot this gem of a bar.   To the right there is a small sign that gets lost amongst the other 5 restaurants, bars & businesses in the building, and the to the left there is a black sign with white writing that again dissolves into its surroundings.

Reading through the reviews, I had been warned of this so the direction of looking for the big wooden door was one of those golden nuggets that greatly helped in finding the entry and venturing towards the bar.  As you enter you are greeted by a collection of leather chairs and sofas as well as some tables with chairs.  For me as always, my goal was a seat at the bar, and this is one of those bars where that does not disappoint.  What is a stand out for Coffee Bar K is that the chairs at the bar are similar to the leather chairs through out the bar, so they are much lower than your traditional bar.  To offset this, the bar itself is sunked with the bar top being at typical desk height and the bar tenders then standing on a floor that is a level below the main floor.  The bar top deserves mention as well. Similar to the bar at the W hotel in Montreal, the stone top (marble?) is lit from below and adds to the ambience.  The music, well its more on the Norah Jones side of things and is played at a volume that means you are not shouting to be heard over it.

You have a very comfortable chair to recline in, you get a great view of the staff at work and you can admire the truly impressive array of liquors on offer. The picture to the right show’s three & a half of the 5 shelves that line the back of the bar.  The 5 barrels you can see all contain single malt scotches  while the shelves to their right are contain a variety of Scottish, Irish, American and Japenese whiskies. The shelves to the right of the barrels contain the varietal liquors from around the world.

Which leads nicely onto the menu. The first impression is that it is your pretty standard menu. Leather bound with the name of the bar in gold writing. The presentation then drops off though as you are presented with close to 10 pages of varying fonts & sizes that list the over 200 varieties of whiskies and  then over 100 spirits & liquors before you reach the cocktail list.  Each page is contained in a light plastic sleeve that also takes away from the experience.  At this point I will imagine that this is probably overlooked by most patrons as par for the course, but given the finish of the rest of the bar, the quality of the furnishings and the obvious thought and effort that has gone into the rest of the execution, it just feels a little jarring.  As far as the cocktail list goes, it is almost encyclopaedic.  It feels like someone has trawled the wikipedia drinks list and done a copy & past.  The drinks are listed by base ingredient and then a symbol is used to denote its character.  Sweet, dry, long, soda & its strength.  This again makes for an interesting touch, unfortunately though the ingredients are not listed, so you are left to base your decisions on the base ingredient and a basic flavour profile.  I would much a listing of the ingredients and to then make a decision from there.

In their defence though, the bar staff were very helpful when I asked as to the ingredients of any particular drink, and were more than happy to let me look at a couple of bourbons that took my fancy.

So what about the drinks then? Well Coffee Bar K definitely delivers on this front. After trawling through the dazzling array on offer, I decided to start with the basics, so ordered an Old Fashioned. From a technical perspective, the execution of the old fashioned was lacking.  The sugar cube was not muddled/disolved while a splash of water was thrown in to dilute the whole mixture as opposed to the slower construction involving lots of stirring and a little time as the ice melts. What did make it interesting though was the presentation. Like their Japanese brethren, the Koreans are big on their ice.  So for their rocks drinks you get chunks of ice that are hand chipped from big blocks that delivered daily.

The other interesting ice component are the hand cut ice spheres that are used as an alternate to the chunks in rocks drinks.  The logic behind the ice balls is that the reduced surface area results . The ice spheres are roughly the size of a tennis ball and are hand shaped. (Ice molds  are also available that simplify the process … must add that to the shopping list, personally I have a couple of silicon ice cube trays that make 1 inch cubes that take an age to melt so keep drinks nice and cold, but don’t dilute them in a hurry). But I digress, the more elaborate drinks are where they really seem to excel. The shot to the right shows one of their apple drinks & an espresso martini.  The Apple drink from memory started with muddle fresh apple slices and some Apple Calvados while the espresso martini started with a tea spoon full of coffee beans that are crushed dry before the drink the rest of the ingredients were added while I have no idea as to the drinks below suffice to say that the writing on the top of the drink in the background was a berry paste that was squeezed out of an icing bag.  The glass in the foreground was frosted and had a blue sugar mix applied in preparation for its contents.

After watching so many of these creations being lovingly crafted I decided to settle on the “Walking in space” as my second drink.  The drink in question was created by one of the former bartenders and was used in the Diageo world class cocktail competition in Seoul in 2009 and is listed as containing Johnie Walker Green, brown Cacao, apricot brandy, fresh orange, pineapple & lime juice with lemon grass.  For my one, the JW green was replaced by a JW black and started with fresh lemon grass being muddled then the rest of the ingredients being added and the whole lot being vigorously shaken with copious amounts of ice. The drink is then strained into a cocktail glass while the garnish is made with a skewered piece of the Lemon grass that is caramelised with a blow torch.  The drink itself is obviously fruitly, but then not sickly sweet.  On your first sip you pick up the lemon grass from the garnish and then the dominant flavour is the apricot brandy, but that is a line ball call.  The mouth feel is almost velvety and while it is not something I would normally order, it was definitely a nicely rounded drink that I would happily order again.

All up then, Coffee Bar K was a great find. Great service, great decor, great drinks, now if only they could do something about that menu…

Cafe 74

 

With the impending week being a full one, I departed Coffee Bar K, and on advice dropped in to Cafe 74 which is located less that a minute from Coffee Bar K but thanks to the large neon sign and the imposing facade, its hard to miss.  The cafe consists of both a cafe and a club / bar.  The cafe is located at the front of the building and was doing a solid trade, late on a Saturday night.  The lure of assorted cakes & tarts with fresh espresso was strong, but I resisted and headed out the back to the bar and was presented with a fantastic contrast to Coffee Bar K.  The first thing that strikes you as you step into the bar is the music. Serious house tunes abound while the large projection screen behind the bar was playing the fashion channel which happened to have the Victorias Secret fashion show playing. So not such a bad thing really.  As for the decor, to one side you had booths shrouded in beaded curtains and courtyard with more tables & chairs. The bar itself was a simple black stone affair with your more traditional high bar stools. 

It is obvious that Cafe 74 is chasing the fashion crowd, and in keeping with that aim, the menu could easily be mistaken for a Moet, Channel or Louis Vuitton catalogue or premier fashion magazine.  Heavy stock with full colour printing and custom photos abound. The drinks list was fairly typical with a good coverage of the classics as well as the usual array of fruit flavoured “tinis” and a small array of single malts and assorted spirits on offer.  What was also good was the inclusion of the ingredients in the drinks (though I’m not sure about the olive “brain” in the dirty martini) and in an interesting addition, the alcohol content was also listed.  I did notice this at some other bars so am not sure if it is merely a standard practice or is something that is government mandated?

For this round I decided to revisit a drink that I did not have fond memories of based on an early experience of one a few years back.  The drink in question? The Godfather, a fairly simple drink consisting of scotch and amaretto  served in a rocks glass. Once again hand cut ice was used while this time the presentation was minimalist, but classy, a small slice of lemon peel and a strip of cinnamon bark as a stirrer. The verdict? A well made God Father is one of those simpler drinks that will definitely be placed back on the regulars list.

That then is enough for this post. The rest of the bar exploits for the week were not really noteworthy. Average drinks in hotel lobby bars that did not inspire. The next post that is planned is a report on my visit to Singapore’s The Tippling club, so till then, cheers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Cathay Pacific lounge in Hong Kong … no seriously

Am on the road again and was pretty much keeping my expectations low.  The reason for the low expectations are that my week shall be spent in Seoul, and with bottle service and being served by Korean ladies who help you drink your $200 bottle of Jim Beam being the general run of the bars, especially down town, I am focusing on my stopover in Singapore on Friday night and the reservation that has been secured at The Tippling Club, which is the sister bar to Der Raum which is one of my favourite Melbourne bars.

Imagine then my surprise when I arrived at the Cathay Pacific lounge at Gate 2 at the Hong Kong airport to find a cocktail bar with a pretty reasonable selection of classic cocktails on offer.  Now to set the expectations appropriately, the liquor selection is not extensive, your basic array of well drinks pretty much being it, but when I ask Zak, my bartender for a manhattan and he didn’t bat an eyelid, I figure things were off to a reasonable start.

Whilst making said Manhattan, Zak was distracted by another customer, so finished mixing my drink then handed it across.  After asking as to the make up of it (Jim Beam & Martini Rosso) he realised that he had forgotten the bitters, so recalled the drink, apologised for his slip up and proceeded to update the drink accordingly.

Now it must be said, it is not the best Manhattan I have consumed, but given that it was at a free bar in an airport lounge, and the fact that Zak took the time to correct his mistake, I think that kind of service deserves recognition.

So if you have the opportunity, head to the Cathay Pacific lounge near Gate 2 and give it a look.

A flying visit to Hobart

Another week see me on the road again, and this time the destination was Hobart.  The last time I visited Tasmania was in 99 and I left with fond memories of the scallop pies and a visit to a local distillery that produced an array of apple & peach brandy’s, so I was looking forward to returning.

As always, the trip was started with a couple web searches looking for cocktail bars that might be of interest as well as any other options for my brief visit.  The resulting list really only had two entries, Onba and the Lark Distillery. So for this first post I shall discuss Onba, then follow it up with posts for Lark, IXL, T42 & Das Zimmer.

ONBA

First up then is Onba.  Located in North Hobart it is a kilometre or so away from the waterfront and is located in a nice old building which according to the menu, dates back to the early days of the colony.  The layout is very much that of a restaurant/cafe with a small bar with 4 or 5 seats being located in what I gather was originally a hallway or entrance, but is now home to a array of tables.

Obviously some thought has gone into both the cocktail and the food menus.  My initial reaction to the drinks menu though was one of derision. Once you make your way through the array of coffees, beers & wines you are then find the cocktails broken down by their base spirit, starting with Vodka.  This is one of those areas that I struggle with.  I can appreciate that reality of cocktail consumption is that the primary consumer is probably younger females who’s taste lends more towards fruity & sugary with any alcohol present being  deftly hidden. So in this regard, Onba doesn’t disappoint. The vodka drinks utilising lots of syrups & fruits.  From there the menu continues in a similar vein with the theme appearing to be that any drink can be improved by the addition of berrys, infusions or honey.

The menu does acknowledge the classics though, so I was pleasantly  surprised to see the Sazerac listed, and also encouraged by the note on each page stating that the original variants were also on offer for the asking.

When it came time to order though, after having initially been asked twice in quick succession if I was ready to order, I was then apparently forgotten for what seemed like 15 minutes (maybe 10?) a waitress from another section asked if I had placed my order, so a Sazerac was ordered along with some bread & olive oil and a main to accompany.

For the sake of brevity I will focus on the drink. As I have previously mentioned, the Sazerac is one of my favourites, so I also find it a good measure of any bar.  In this case it did really sum up my experience at Onba.  It had all the right elements, but the execution was lacking and everything was just a little off. First off was the presentation, as you can see, the drink came out with a second glass filled with ice and an instruction to add ice as desired.  This in itself is not big deal, but when the glass that the drink was served in was warm, and the drink itself was barely below room temperature then this is not a good start.  As for the drink itself, garnishing a Sazerac with a twist of lemon is traditional and is done so as to release the oils into the drink and give it that extra edge.  In this case the rind had been poorly cut and the I would guess that it had been placed in the drink without either wiping the rim nor squeezing it to extract the the oils.  The other notable addition was the maraschino cherry, again not in keeping with either the traditional drink nor the drink advertised on their menu.

As for the rest of the experience, the bread was stale, but the chicken breast stuffed with chorizo was well done.  With these consumed though, I had no desire to seek either a second drink or to look at the menu, instead my desire was to head back to the waterfront for a return to Das Zimmer (review to come).

Given my visit to Onba, I can’t say I would be I am in a hurry to return.  From what I observed, they do have some talented & diligent staff, but they would appear to lack consistency and some short cuts in the kitchen leave some basic elements wanting.

note: an email was sent to Onba detailing my experiences so  I am curious to see their response, so will update this post with any developments on that front.

A brief sojourn to Perth

Once more I am on the road, so a revisit to Perth presents the perfect opportunity to dust of the keyboard and update the dear old blog. For this post, I thought I would discuss a couple of small bars in Perth that are newish to the scene and come at it from slightly different approaches.

First up is 399 Bar. Located at 399 William St, North Bridge. Digging into my fading memory, these guys have been open for about 6 months, but they certainly seem to have things sorted.  I popped in on a Tuesday night and was greeted by a number of patrons already seated at the bar and in a number of the booths. Initial impressions where positive, the simple fact they had stools at the bar is a positive in my book!  Taking my spot at the bar, I asked for a drinks menu and was told that they don’t have a menu and instead like to see what a customer likes to drink and then shape something around that.  Definitely a ballsy move and one that very much places the onus on having bar staff who know what they are doing.  So after a quick discussion with Andrew McIntyre we settled on Vieux Carre. So again points scored for knowing one of the less common drinks and also executing it reasonably well.  From there Andy suggested an Algonquin, so rye whiskey, dry vermouth and pineapple juice. One I hadn’t tried and on the day, not something that grabbed me, so Andy was happy to take it back and he whipped a sazerac in its place.

So 399 gets points for good bar staff, as it was a Tuesday night, they were also running through a training session for their staff, so next to me, a class was being given on techniques and the importance of balance in a drink and what flavours work and those that don’t.  Again more points for 399 for taking the time to invest in their staff to ensure a quality experience.

On the food front, 399 classes itself as doing small eats.  This equates to almost being tapas, but they avoid the tapas tag to set expectations appropriately, so the menu is set on a chalk board and you can choose 3 items from a list of tapas staples like chorizo or olives, alternatively they have a one pot option.  So food while not being their primary focus, is something that is on offer.

I’ll be sure to drop in next time I’m in town.

 

Next up on the list was Ezra Pound.  This small bar has only been open a few weeks now and is located in a little alley just off William St, (189 William St, Perth) a block to the north of the train station. The first big challenge for me with Ezra Pound was actually getting any information about it with regards to opening hours or contact numbers.  The guys behind the venture wanted to create a local pub that focuses on nothing more than being a good local that offers a solid selection of beverages, but doesn’t go over the top. Unlike 399 these guys do have a cocktail list, but it has to be one of the simplest and most elegant examples I’ve come across. On offer, Cuba Libre, Negroni, Tom Collins, Old Fashioned, Sidecar & a Martini.  So they cover all the classics, cover pretty much the spectrum of tastes, and don’t make a fuss about it in the process.

For their spirit selections, again they have kept it simple. A couple of bourbons, nolly pratt as the vermouth, 4 or so whiskeys and the staples necessary to make the drinks on offer. 

In one review I found, they discussed the use of jam jars to serve the drinks, the night I was there they were opting for a classic rocks glass, and I think that is far more in keeping with bar than chasing the gimmick of the jam jars (or mason jars for my north American friends).

With regards to decor, they’ve gone for a classic feel. Old style sofas and comfy chairs, stools at the bar, and a nice talking point in the 1930s cash register that apparently was shipped out from New York.

These guys seem to have a pretty good idea of what they want out of the bar, and they have pretty much hit the mark for creating a great local, and given the passion of the patrons I was chatting to on the night I was there, they have created something the market is looking for.  Definitely glad I made the effort to track down this little gem.

the mELBOURNE BAR LIST

Recently I was fortunate enough to be able to spend some time in Melbourne exploring the bar scene and I have to say that I came away very impressed.  The sheer number of quality bars staffed with great people who really care about what they serve is something to behold after my largely fruitless searches in Sydney, but that is another story.

So I thought I would start this series of entries with the list of bar recommendations I received and kept updating throughout the week that served as my guide.

melbourne bars
1806
seamstress – city
der raum – richmond
sweatshop
black pearl – brunswick st, fitzroy –
manchuria – good luck
murmur –
gin palace – 1951 martini
madame brussels – bourke st between exhibition and spring near spaghetti tree top 
geralds bar – rathdown st, north carlton
cumulous inc – flinders lane near spring st. 65/65 egg is a must
blue diamond –
melbourne supper club – spring near bourke. between the european restnt  & the wine shop
boozy rougue – 470 bridge rd, richmond
cookie – swanston st, head around to the back of restaurant for cocktails – bar tender to talk is andy
double happiness

The list started with with 1806, Seamstress & Der Raum after chatting with some Canberra bar tenders (hmm, I need to write up Hippo Bar, Knightsbridge Penthouse, and The Julep Lounge suffice to say, they are worth visiting … the Kremlin Bar …. not so much) and then grew based on conversations with the staff & patrons along the way.  I think a telling comment was from Sara at Murmur who asked where I got the list from as it was pretty much a bar tenders list of bars to visit.  She was definitely on the money, I would return to pretty much every establishment that I visited from the list, now I will put in the disclaimer that I didn’t make it to every one, but the ones I did go to lived up to expectations.  Sure some would get chosen before others to return to, and some are definitely more about a summers day with a bunch of friends than enjoying a finely crafted libation(Madame Brussels) but that is one of the great things about the Melbourne bar scene.  It offers options to suit all tastes.

The Marble Bar

A chilly Wednesday night recently found me in Sydney with a friend and as is the tradition, drinks were sought, so after a little discussion we headed towards the Hilton and the iconic Marble Bar. The Marble Bar has always held a special allure for me, since my first visit was in the early nineties, I have loved its ornate decor and it strong links to a classic bygone era.

So back to the present and on this Wednesday night, the Marble Bar was quiet as their was no live entertainment. I have to say i was pleased about this as the last time I had ventured in there was a live band that was fronted by a singer who really should not have been let close to a mic, let alone one connected to an PA that was set at a level that had my party leaving within two minutes of arriving. We grabbed a table and a couple of menus from the bar and proceeded to decide on our drinks for the evening.

This is one area where the Marble Bar does not disappoint.  There are of course the normal array of sweet drinks to satisfy those who want something fruity that doesn’t taste like alcohol, but this is also balanced by a collection classics including proper Martinis, Manhattans and my favorite the Sazerac.

Like any bar, the quality of the drink you receive will depend on the staff that is on, but I have been lucky in my various visits to have received a consistently high standard of drink.

In summary then, the Marble Bar does get a thumbs up. If you are in search of a quiet venue, then definitely check ahead, as while it does work well as a live venue, it can be a little overpowering.

Hemesphere

Saturday night found me at an event that was due to finish about 11ish, and given that I would be in the city, I felt it an ideal time to venture out to see if I could find a locale that would satisfy my desire for an experience that would at least compare to ZZ. 

The initial plan was to venture to Gin Garden but a quick phone call revealed that the venue had been booked by an external company for an RnB night, so a quick exploration of the Merivale website reminded me of Hemesphere which I had heard about and thought it was worthy of some further exploration.

First up then was the menu and I have to say that on my first cursory glance, I was impressed.  For me, an essential ingredient for any great cocktail menu is a more than passing acknowledgement of the classics, so the inclusion of the negroni, the mint julep and of course, a Sazerac hooked me immediately.

I was also taken by the photo of the interior.  The plush surrounds that hark back to elegant days of an exclusive gentleman’s club.

It was decided then, Hemesphere it would be!

Hemesphere can be found on the 4^th floor of 252 George St, so directly above The Establishment.  This means that upon arrival you are more than likely to be greeted by a sizeable queue, luckily, there is a separate entrance to the left of The Establishment for the other venues in the building, so after a brief interaction with the doorman, I was escorted to the lift where I was whisked up to the 4^th floor where the doors open to reveal  the plush surrounds of the fourth floor.

The combination of the dark, rich reds & browns, with the plush seats and lounges definitely exude luxury and the notion of old money.  There are also a series of display cabinets that contain an array of fine spirits, old whiskeys, cognacs and the like as well as some nice nick nacks like old plumb bobs.

The interior though also provided the first disappointment of the evening. The bar.  Where are the bar stools?  Hemesphere is very much about sitting and relaxing, and dare I say, seeing and being seen.  The closest option you have is a couple of stand up tables that overlook the bar, but are definitely not close enough to enable you to interact with the bar staff.

So I took up residence in one of the comfy chairs and waited for one of the friendly waitresses to come and serve me. I did not have to wait long, and after a brief discussion, I settled on a sazerac as I had seen it in the menu before I arrived, and then waited 5 minutes or so for it to appear.

This was also another telling moment for me with regards to Hemesphere.  The great bars I have been too around the world do a number of things in common, one of the simplest being that you are given a glass of water when you arrive. One of my favourite cocktail books, The Art of the Bar, has a great discourse on the merits of doing this, and it is one of those little things that can be done that costs nothing, but works in both the patron and the bars favour. Pacing your drinks with water will stave of the dehydrating effects of the alcohol and it will also give you the option of enjoying an extra drink or two as the night progresses.  For the bar, this means patrons are spending more, and are also less likely to as affected by their tipples.

Upon arrival, I was presented with an immaculately presented Sazerac.  The lemon twist was well formed and was suspended on the side of the glass.  Bringing the glass to my nose, I was presented the familiar anise fragrance of the absinthe and then bourbon notes. The taste also did not disappoint. But at $27.50 it also should not, and that brings me to my next point.  Yes this is a drink that is made with premium spirits, but $27.50 ($25 with a mandatory 10% service charge) is really just obscene when you are dealing with maybe $8 worth of ingredients, and as for the mandatory service charge, why not instil in your staff a belief in your product, a love of cocktails and the knowledge and skill to deliver exceptional service, and then you will find that people are more than willing to tip accordingly?

Speaking of service, my request for a glass of water did require a second asking, and my inquiries with the bar tender for a possible source of Peychauds Bitters were met with disinterest.  For me this is again a mark against Hemesphere, great bartenders come alive when you show a genuine interest in their craft, and at the time I asked, the bar tender was not run of his feet, there were maybe 30 people in the venue and he was standing around, so while he may have been having a bad night, it felt more like asking questions was an inconvenience.

While I was enjoying my Sazerac, I took the time to browse the menu, and I was impressed by the good mix of sour and sweet drinks on offer.  I did take exception to implication that they had their own special barrel aged bitters, when in fact they are using the Fee Brother Barrel aged Bitters, but I guess that is to be expected.

In conclusion then, Hemesphere does score points for a sumptuous decor, a good selection of drinks, but ultimately loses due to the exorbitant prices, so so bar staff and an overly large dose of pretention.