The Nixon Room: the Essa team’s precedent in precision
In a plush former storeroom, it’s serving a tight cocktail list and elevated snacks such as tuna tartare, chicken wings and coral trout fish-finger sandwiches.
You have to work to find Essa. Among the glamorous open-air restaurants of James Street, it stands out precisely because it doesn’t stick out.
Even once you’re inside, there’s nothing overtly flash about its dining room.
It’s low-key, the better to keep the focus on the food and wine, with seasoned punters knowing the best seats are at the kitchen counter, hanging with chef patron Phil Marchant and his brigade.
It perhaps makes sense, then, that Essa’s new sibling bar, The Nixon Room, is even harder to find, and even more surprising once you do.
“We’re dictated by the nature of the premises, in a way,” co-owner Angela Sclavos says.
“But what we have is the opposite of [James Street]. It’s certainly not about people watching. It’s more about the experience once you’re inside.”
There are no flashing signs to find The Nixon Room, nothing to indicate the way.
Instead, you’ll need to spot the brass door up a small laneway on the
opposite side of Essa’s 181 Robertson Street premises.
Inside, an old storeroom has been turned into a low-lit boozer that sits just 25 people amid a fit-out of plush carpet, walnut wall panelling, marble tables and caramel-coloured leather banquettes.
In charge of the design was UME Architecture’s Craig Channon (who also designed Essa), working with brand consultant Borhan Ghofrani from a brief by Sclavos to capture the culture of late 1960s and ’70s United States.
“You’ve got things like the disco anthems,” Sclavos says.
“You’ve got The Godfather and Star Wars. You’ve got the first-ever gay rights protests.
“You’ve got John Lennon leaving the Beatles. You’ve got Studio 54. All these things happened in such a short period of time, and much of it is still relevant today. Star Wars is still relevant, The Godfather is still relevant, disco’s still relevant, even the politics of the time echoes on today.”
The inspiration is dished out to punters direct via coasters that recreate Polaroids of famous figures from the period: Debbie Harry, Elton John, Diana Ross, Marlon Brando in The Godfather and Richard Nixon, to whom the bar owes – obliquely, anyway – its name.
For drinks, there’s a selection of six signature cocktails – you might order a Pamplemousse (Haku vodka with grapefruit-riesling cordial, Vietnamese mint and sea salt), a God Complex (Talisker 10-year single malt with Luxardo amaretto, roasted banana, parsnip and hazelnut), or a Purple Hearts (Lula rum, ube, pandan, charred pineapple and coconut fat) – but the barkeeps will happily stir the classics also. The wine list is similarly short and leans towards organic and biodynamic drops, with Essa’s impressive cellar available as a back-up.
“This isn’t like [Fortitude Valley cocktail bar] Savile Row, say, where you have a wall of spirits,” Sclavos says.
“We don’t want to have 50 different whiskies. That’s not what we’re after. It’s more about, here’s five that we think are the best. It’s a curated list.”
Marchant has matched the drinks with a produce-driven menu of small snacks designed to be eaten with one hand. There are Appellation oysters, a coral trout fish-finger sandwich, fried chicken wings, and tuna tartare with Gympie lime and fried nori crisp.
The whole thing is low-key, elegant and precise. It’s one of the most
distinctive new bars to open in Brisbane in years.
“It’s almost like a snippet of Essa,” Sclavos says.
“There are not many bars in Brisbane where you can go and have five or six little bite-sized courses while sipping on some amazing drinks.”
Open Wed-Sat 4pm-late
3/181 Robertson Street, Fortitude Valley
Matt Shea is Food and Culture Editor at Brisbane Times. He is a former editor and editor-at-large at Broadsheet Brisbane, and has written for Escape, Qantas Magazine, the Guardian, Jetstar Magazine and SilverKris, among many others.