Best Melbourne and regional Victoria bars to visit this winter
MELBURNIANS are heading indoors as the mercury drops, but luckily, the city is full of atmospheric drinking holes to cosy up in this winter. These are 10 of the best bars to while away the cold nights.
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MELBURNIANS are heading indoors as the mercury drops, but luckily, the city is full of atmospheric drinking holes to cosy up in this winter.
Dan Stock finds 10 of the best bars to while away the cold nights.
KICK BACK WITH WINNING WORLD CUP SNACKS
DID A SUPERVILLAIN SWIPE THOR’S HAMMER?
A THOR-SOME NIGHT OUT
The Vikings have arrived. The Speakeasy Group (Eau de Vie, Boilermaker House) has opened the doors to its homage to Vikings, Mjolner, on Hardware St.
With an always changing carvery menu of “bird, beast, fish, veg” cooked over coals, and mead on tap that’s drunk out of horns — oh and whisky shots from flamed bones — and you have a festive feast of good times of lands from afar.
Head downstairs to the bar for the signature Blazing Glogg — a cognac, cranberry and port concoction served with a spiced “tea bag” (pictured) — that’s set ablaze and served until 3am on weekends.
Mjolner, 106 Hardware St, city. mjolner.com.au/melbourne
NO SPAIN, NO GAIN
It’s known as the “olive pickers’ breakfast” — a simple plate of silky, salty Iberico jamon and juicy orange slices — and it’s a one-plate way to escape grey Melbourne by whisking you deep within an Andalusian olive grove.
Frank Camorra’s slice of sunny fun on Hosier Lane, Bar Tini, adds an extensive cellar of Spanish wines to vermouth on tap, sherry on the shelf and snacking of the highest order.
Smoked, canned and cured seafood is a mainstay, but there’s fab fried fare — a jamon/cheese-stuffed quail, a pork jowl croquette — good for adding a layer of winter warmth, and a signature Bar Tini — gin martini with manzanilla sherry — is sure to turn a frown upside down.
Bar Tini, 3-5 Hosier Lane, Melbourne. bartini.com.au
EASTERN PROMISES
It tastes like a walk through a pine forest while eating plum pudding on a misty winter’s day. It’s warmingly restorative, good for both heart and soul and unexpected bouts of melancholic poetry.
It’s called Becherovka, a herbal liqueur from western Bohemia rarely seen here, and you’ll find it served in both postprandial disgestif and in quenching aperitif form at Little Odessa.
Brother and sister Stefan and Sofia Soltys’s cosy little space is an oasis of Eastern Europe just off bustling Brunswick St, where the house rye is served with beetroot butter, the borsch gets the expat’s tick of approval, and the goulash comes with fried bread (of course).
There’s Budvar on tap, Georgian wines in the fridge and Ukrainian vodka to sip late at night by candlelight.
Little Odessa, rear 274 Brunswick St, Fitzroy. littleodessa.com.au
HOT STUFF
The southern Indian state of Kerala is miles away from a Melbourne winter — literally and figuratively. But chef Mischa Tropp (We Are Kerala pop up) is now bringing a taste of the fiery south to the Rochey, having taken over the kitchen of this loved Fitzroy pub. While the food is hot stuff — look no further than the Keralan fish curry for a bowl that’ll make you sweat — cool cocktails, including a boozy Mango lassi, put out the fire with ease.
Rochester Hotel, 202 Johnston St, Fitzroy. rochey.com.au
WINNING THE HATERS OVER ONE SARDINE AT A TIME
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RAISE A GLASS
Sometimes it’s not a crackling fire but simply warm hospitality that will bring you in from the cold, and if that, plus a glass of something interesting served by a team with hospitality in their DNA, sounds like it’ll brighten the day, then make tracks to the Carlton Wine Room.
In a handsome 19th century building, you’ll find a space where the wine is as cerebral for the academic as it is delicious for the drinker, and the food is as straight-up tasty as it comes, with big, bold flavours executed with class.
Raise a glass to your new all-weather friend.
Carlton Wine Room, 172 Faraday St, Carlton. carltonwineroom.com.au
THE BLACK SEA
It’s dark, moody and perfect for a winter tete-a-tete.
The bar at Iki-Jime, the fish-focused restaurant that’s taken the place of the old Bistro Vue, serves brilliant snacks — think little fish snags served in brioche straight from Vue de monde, crisp fish skin and spiced prawn crisps and buffalo fish wings — and cocktails to bring you in from the cold. Hot stuff.
Iki-Jime, 430 Little Collins St, city. ikijime.com.au
ON THE CLOCK
Don’t be sucked into the flashing lights and the ding ding ding of the jackpot win and come, instead, to the pub at Flinders St station for scrambled egg buns and salt beef bagels and pork schnitzels with egg, chips and salad and schooners of Carlton Draught.
Green Light Diner channels a New York state of mind, and its covered outdoor terrace complete with gas fire and heating and great views across the river affords hidden respite in the heart of the city.
Green Light Diner at Clocks, Flinders St station. clocksatflinders.com.au
BABY, LIGHT MY FIRE
Chef Scott Pickett’s new fire-powered restaurant, Matilda, comes with built-in cold-weather comfort thanks to the open kitchen on entry glowing with charcoal and flickering with flames.
But once you’ve taken off your coat, it’s not the restaurant that beckons — though you will want to make a date with the wattleseed-crusted wagyu bavette and pink lady tart tatin — but Oscar’s bar downstairs, too.
Here you’ll find cocktails shaken with class. A Winter Daisy — blood orange vodka with amaretto, topped with soda — and Harry’s Reserve — bourbon, chartreuse, apple and chestnut liqueur — warm the cockles, while snacks like smoky chicken rillettes to spread on warm spelt bread, charry octopus with macadamia and oysters with bone marrow crust, take care of afternoon hungers and late-night bites.
Matilda 159 Domain, 159 Domain Rd, South Yarra. matilda159.com
SNACK ATTACK
It’s the ultimate happy hour. When you drink a spritz in situ in Italy in the afternoon, your Aperol-and-prosecco over ice comes with a side of snacks.
Plates might come piled with salami and cheese, olives and bread that’s all on the house.
It’s yet another thing the Italians get right in their quest for living la dolce vita, and it’s yet another reason to head to Windsor’s handsome wine bar Neptune.
For here, from 4-6 each night, your negroni or vermouth or your tipple of choice comes with pre-dinner bites to snack while you sip.
Grab the couch by the fire and see the afternoon turn to night in the most sophisticated way.
And on Sunday afternoons aperitivo plates and oysters are offered for free while the ivories are tinkled in the corner with jazz classics.
Neptune, 212 High St, Windsor. neptune.melbourne
PLUS FIVE REGIONAL PUBS TO VISIT
PUB WITH TWO NAMES, BALLARAT
Artist David Bromley and wife Yuge have transformed Ballarat’s Peter Lalor Hotel into a pub that’s part bar, part bistro and part accommodation, but where the beer is cold and the Argentinian grill is hot.
RED HILL HOTEL, CHEWTON
Come for the chips — fat crunchy beauties doused in curry sauce and melted cheese — stay for a beer at this classic country pub that comes with old-fashioned hospitality from a new young crew.
THE EMPIRE, BEECHWORTH
New owners and a new look have breathed life anew into Beechworth’s historic Empire, and the dining room is perfect for a long lazy lunch or dinner, with food that’s a step up from pub norm.
GRAND TERMINUS, BAIRNSDALE
A new focus on celebrating the best produce of the area has now made the bistro at this historic corner pub in Gippsland a top spot for a feed.
THE FARMER’S ARMS, CRESWICK
A focus on house-made charcuterie and in-house butchery and aged steaks makes this a must for carnivores — though the eggplant parmigiana means their vego friends leave just as happy.
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