Melbourne is the OG of Australian bar culture. A confluence of factors in the 1990s – a recession, a liberalisation of licensing laws, boredom with traditional pub culture and an abundance of unloved spaces in the bluestone-cobbled laneways that play a supporting role to the main boulevards of the city’s geometric grid – saw a whole new genre emerge: the Melbourne laneway bar.
You’ll find them in basements, up unmarked staircases, on rooftops, in carparks, in former hairdressers and warehouses. Some are lavishly appointed, others are strung together with second-hand furniture, a quick paint job and a malfunctioning lava lamp. They can be tiny or rise several storeys; eye-wateringly serious or satisfyingly brainless. And that’s the beauty of the Melbourne bar scene – there’s something for everyone. The something might take a while to find, but the hunt is part of the thrill. Here’s six of the best:
At Caretaker’s Cottage, there’s just two rooms and a standing-only hallway (Credit: Ryan Noreiks)
1. Caretaker’s Cottage
If there was an award for truth-in-naming, Caretaker’s Cottage would be a shoo-in for the prize. This tiny 50-seat bar sits in a cottage in the beautifully manicured grounds of the gothic-revival Wesley Church, formerly home to the church’s caretaker. Now it’s one of the city’s most popular bars, both for the unique leafy setting surrounded by city skyscrapers and the impressive attention to detail in decor, drinks and service. It’s run by three industry veterans – Rob Libecans, Ryan Noreiks and Matt Stirling – fans of small English pubs and excellently crafted cocktails.
For a space that consists of just two small rooms and a standing-only hallway (complete with shelf for leaning and resting drinks on), Caretaker’s Cottage feels surprisingly spacious, thanks to an interior that combines clean modern lines with period features and cosy textures via designer wallpaper, leather banquettes, modern art and curtains. The drinks follow a similar something-old-something-new path. There’s Guinness on tap, superb martinis (pre-mixed and kept in the freezer for maximum chill) and clarified milk punches alongside a constantly changing collection of Australian craft beer and a snack list that includes “crisps of the day” and Welsh rarebit. Waiting for a table is not unusual, but it’s worth the wait.
Website: www.caretakerscottage.bar
Address: 139-141 Little Lonsdale Street
Instagram: @caretakers.cottage
Eau de Vie brings speakeasy vibes to central Melbourne (Credit: Speakeasy Group)
2. Eau De Vie
Many bars have taken a swing at a 1920s speakeasy vibe and most have failed miserably. Not so at Eau De Vie, which nails the brief from the get-go with its laneway location and minusculely signed entrance that might take you a couple of attempts to find.
Once inside, it’s all plush carpets, golden lighting and leather couches, a non-annoying jazz soundtrack, formally attired bartenders doing theatrical things with smoke, nitrous oxide, flames and top-shelf liquor, and a hidden Whisky Room with an impressive focus of whiskies and lockers where regulars can keep their belongings.
Eau De Vie offers compact but strong lists of Champagne and beer and a snack menu that leans French with the likes of duck rillettes, shucked-to-order oysters and a good selection of charcuterie and cheese, but it would be criminal to come here and not give the cocktail list a crack. The list offers something for everybody, with precision-made classics sharing space with more elaborate drinks containing ingredients like bacon-infused whisky, marmalade syrup, Szechuan pepper and pineapple vinegar. Best thing? The atmosphere has an attractively clandestine edge, channelling a timelessness that makes you want to party like its 1929.
Website: www.eaudevie.com.au
Address: 1 Malthouse Lane
Phone: +61 3 8393 9367
Instagram: @edvmelbourne
Unsurprisingly, gin is the focus of the extensive drinks menu at Gin Palace, with hundreds of options on offer (Credit: Gin Palace)
3. Gin Palace
One of Melbourne’s original laneway bars, Gin Palace was opened in 1997 by Vernon Chalker, a visionary bon vivant who was instrumental in shaping Melbourne’s bar scene and a pioneering champion of gin before it became fashionable. Vernon is no longer with us but Gin Palace is, still keeping it louche, the dimly lit, semi-basement bar serves some of the most generous, correct martinis in town and, with its 03:00 closing time, offers the option for the night to go pleasantly sideways.
The split-level space has a down-at-heel private club vibe, all curtained alcoves and gilt-framed art, with cushion-strewn second-hand couches, upholstered armchairs and polished timber tables scattered in various configurations across carpeted floors. It has table service too, via formally dressed young gin enthusiasts with trays, happy to talk gin preferences from the hundreds available, martini options from the page-long list, which tonic is best suited to a particular gin – or whether to eschew gin altogether and tuck into the solid Champagne collection or the short, sharp list of non-gin cocktail options. Snack-wise, the choice is limited – a toasted chicken sandwich, some cheese and nuts – but at a place with a name like this, eating’s a little beside the point.
Website: www.ginpalace.com.au
Address: 10 Russell Place
Phone: +61 3 9654 0533
Instagram: @ginpalacemelb
Head to HER Bar for all-day cocktails and a French-inspired menu (Credit: Parker Blain)
4. HER Bar
The ground-level offering from the HER, a four-level house of fun, HER Bar is a beautifully designed, warm-hued, all-day watering hole where you can start the day with a lobster omelette and breakfast cocktail (an excellent Bloody Mary or an espresso martini pick-me-up) and finish with a late night raclette cheeseburger washed down with a glass of premier cru Champagne.
It’s a gorgeous room with its glossy pink terrazzo floor; soft tan leather banquettes; marble and timber-topped tables; high ceilings and a room-length, zinc-topped bar beneath a multi-panelled abstract artwork by local painter Eleanor Louise Butt. It’s one of those spaces that encourages getting comfortable and losing a few hours with friends, drinks and conversation.
It also offers the gateway to the rest of the building – a rooftop bar, an excellent Thai restaurant and a Tokyo-style listening bar, like a tiny nightclub with a superb sound system and even better acoustics. Cocktails at HER Bar are a highlight – finely tuned versions of classics like the Sidecar, an array of spritz – but the wine list is also a thing of beauty, listing small producers from across the world, from superb South African chenin blanc to rosé from nearby Yarra Valley or a handsome Italian Nebbiolo.
Website: www.her.melbourne
Address: 270 Lonsdale Street (enter via Drewery Lane)
Phone: +61 3 9997 0437
Instagram: @her_melbourne
Little Lon Distilling Co is located in a tiny, two-room 1877 red-brick cottage (Credit: Jess Zeds)
5. Little Lon Distilling Co
There’s something reassuring about knocking back a gin only metres from where it was distilled. Add an atmospheric laneway setting – a tiny, two-room 1877 red-brick cottage, formerly a brothel and the only single-storey cottage left in the city of Melbourne – and you get a drinking experience both uncommon and thoroughly enjoyable.
Little Lon Distilling Co was originally only a temporary tenant of the historic cottage, but its popularity as both a bar and a place to learn about the process of making gin through regular tastings and masterclasses allowed it to provide a permanent home to its 200-litre copper still.
It’s a tiny space with just 20 seats inside the cottage and in the cute garden out the front. Inside, it leans into its red-light district history, favouring mirrors, candles, lamps and intricately patterned wallpaper, with bartenders as adept at shaking the cans as they are at giving history and gin lessons with aplomb. The still’s output includes four main gins – from a traditional London Dry with rosemary notes to a slightly fruity, lychee infused style – but there are regular, one-off liqueurs and spirits being distilled that are then used, to great effect, in the bar’s surprisingly extensive range of cocktails.
Website: www.littlelondisttillingco.com
Address: 17 Casselden Place
Instagram: @littlelondistillingco
Choose between the rooftop “gin garden” and the downstairs tiki bar at Union Electric (Credit: Union Electric)
6. Union Electric
Not only does Union Electric offer a smorgasbord of the finest vintage hip-hop known to humankind played at an agreeably hefty volume, it also provides two separate options for the discerning drinker.
Upstairs at this cleverly designed indoor-outdoor space is a rooftop “gin garden” that delivers resort vibes, complete with canvas umbrellas, palms, strings of Edison globes and a bar stacked with gin from across the globe, including an inspiring showing from Aussie distilleries. Downstairs, there’s a tiki bar with actor Bill Murray standing in as patron saint, courtesy of a portrait of him in “Suntory time” mode from the film Lost In Translation watching over the bar. It has an impressive tiki mug collection and a serious dedication to fresh fruit, rum and housemade shrubs (the vinegar-based drinks, not the plant).
The two separate options make Union Electric like a bar crawl for lazy people – you don’t even have to leave the building – and the fact that the place makes excellent drinks without pretending to be a super serious temple of cocktail wizardry means that it’s all about the effortless good time. Move towards the neon-red lightning bolt sign in the laneway and leave your good intentions behind.
Website: www.unionelectric.com
Address: 13 Hefferman Lane
Phone: +61 3 8809 3161
Instagram: @unionelectricbar
(Bar reviewer and author of a history of Melbourne’s bar culture, Michael Harden has been a fan of the genre for nearly 25 years.)
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