The Paris end of Bourke Street has been given a boost of old-world glamour by Martinis with Mancini, installed by Con Christopoulos and collaborator Tim Davey into what was Self Preservation.

When the pandemic swallowed the foot traffic that sustained Self Preservation's day-through-night trade, owner Christopoulos tapped his manager at the now-closed French Saloon and they put their heads together for a new bar.

"One martini is four cups of coffee," says Davey.

A love of old jazz and mid-century films led to a traipse through Prohibition-era cocktail books, with the final result now on show at Martinis with Mancini.

Named after composer Henry Mancini, who scored The Pink Panther films and wrote Moon River, the bar's long, narrow room is filled with small tables dressed in pink linen and bentwood chairs, creating a supper club feel.

In the softly-lit space, bartenders stir and shake 21 classic drinks, 10 of them being martinis. The best-seller is the perfect martini: Four Pillars dry gin, both dry and sweet Dolin vermouth and a dash of orange bitters. "It's interesting: you put 'perfect' in front of something and people want it," says Davey.

You can also get your martini imbued with Fernet-Branca, made with frozen Tanqueray gin or reimagined as a 50-50 Gibson. The drink Davey wants everyone to try, the Martini Negro, plays with the proportions of both a martini and negroni. Boulevardiers, sours and Garibaldis are among the other cocktails.

Chappy's chips are dropped at the table with your drink, and there's a bar menu which includes six-pointed cheese and onion toasties, or buttered brioche rolls stuffed with mortadella.

The kitchen of The European handles more complicated dishes such as salmon gravlax. These are joined by Greek pastry triangles, tiropites, or kourabiethes, sweet crescent-shaped almond biscuit, a nod to Christopoulos' heritage.

Open Tues-Sat 4pm-late

70 Bourke Street, Melbourne, 03 9650 0523, martiniswithmancini.com