New Melbourne rooftop bars to sip in the sun this summer

LOOKING for somewhere different to sit and sip this summer, with a cool breeze and a view? Here’s seven of the best new rooftop bars in Melbourne.

LOOKING for somewhere different to sit and sip this summer, with a cool breeze and a view?

Here’s seven of the best new rooftop bars in Melbourne.

 

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Corner Hotel

Sally and Lara enjoying cocktails on the new Corner rooftop beer garden. Picture: Nicki Connolly

Melbourne’s favourite band room is 20 years young and, in the pub version of a shiny new red car, has celebrated its milestone with a fancy new rooftop beer garden.

One of the best spots for alfresco pints and sundowner savs has been refreshed with a spanking new look, and is now a destination in its own right that’s completely on song.

Loads of living greenery keeps the space cool, while the outdoor kitchen serves up new hits — smoked pork hock; whole roasted eggplant — and good memories (the Corner Parma; the Patti Smith burger). A barbie gets fired up on weekends, too. Sounds great to us.

57 Swan St, Richmond

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Good Heavens

After a couple of false starts, the Fancy Hanks crew are opening their fancy new bar that’s above their fancy new Bourke St digs this week. Good Heavens is its name; good times its claim to fame. Think Palm Springs in pastel, with a Tex Mex twist, the snacks — brisket mole nachos and chicken ribs and grilled cheese — are as tasty as the ‘80s-inspired cocktails are colourful, the lot combining into one smokin’ hot spot this summer.

79 Bourke St, city

QT rooftop

Cocktails come with a with a city view at QT. Picture: Nicki Connolly

Nathan, Erin, Sam and Bessie, enjoying cocktails on the rooftop of the new QT hotel. Picture: Nicki Connolly

It’s fresh, funky and a whole lot of cheeky fun. QT Hotel is Melbourne’s newest dining and drinking (and sleeping) destination and its rooftop bar is second to none.

Take in the cityscape from its lofty heights with a local gin and tonic in hand — or a crafty cocktail — and look at Melbourne anew.

Hungry? Mortadella-wrapped Scotch eggs, polenta-crumbed onion rings and cheese whiz fries take care of bar bites with equally eclectic flair.

133 Russell St, city

Fonda Windsor

Fonda’s rooftop bar is a colourful new addition. Picture Andrew Tauber

Melbourne’s favourite taco slingers and margherita merry-makers, Fonda has a schmick new rooftop bar at its Windsor outpost. The Techne-designed space is as bright and colourful as a piñata, with the bar shaking a good line in fresh fruit cocktails, icy cold cerveza and cool aguas frescas perfect for a hot summer’s night.

144 Chapel St, Windsor

Nineteenforty

Nineteenforty above the Rivoli Cinema.

Named after the golden age of cinema — and the year the now heritage-listed cinema first opened its doors — atop the Rivoli is a Hawthorn hidden gem.

Sip champagne before a flick, a glass of red afterwards, or simply head up to the roof and enjoy the Art Deco styles of the surrounds while taking in the premium G+T experience that pairs Star of Bombay with tonic and a selection of fresh botanicals.

Cheese platters, fancy wedges and fancier popcorn (maple bacon cheese, pecan pie or even rocky road) take care of hungers big and small.

200 Camberwell Rd, Hawthorn

Saga

Saga rooftop bar, Malvern.

Bringing some inner-city fun-in-the-sun styles to Malvern, the multifaceted Sagra — part Italian restaurant, part-deli, part-gallery — also has a fab rooftop overlooking the leafy spires of the east in which to sip an Aperol spritz, amaretto sour, or Peroni icy cold from the tap. Snacks are all class, too — bruschetta and salumi misti and chicken wings and pork ribs hot from the Josper oven — while tiramisu and cannoli with a cheeky limoncello take care of sweet teeth late in the night.

256 Glenferrie Rd, Malvern

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The Cellar Door

The Cellar Door, Eastland. Picture- Nicole Cleary

There’s much excellent alfresco feasting to be done at the Eastland Town Square dining precinct, but head off to the Cellar Door and up to its rooftop where, surrounded by the kitchen’s herb and veg gardens, enjoy views back to the city while basking in the knowledge that it’s as good here as it is there. From the same team as Croydon’s Public Brewery, beer is a crafty focus, while an admirable focus on the Yarra Valley informs the menus, both food and wine. Sunday sessions, with DJs spinning smooth tunes, are sure to hit the spot up here on sunny arvos. Shopping Centre sipping never looked — or tasted — so good.

175 Maroondah Hwy, Ringwood

... PLUS:

Backlot

OK, so it’s not a bar — though there will be drinks — but Backlot is set to be one of the city’s most talked about rooftops this summer.

At Docklands Harbour Town, The Backlot Rooftop Drive in does what it says on the tin — an old-school drive in, on a rooftop, with the sparkling lights of Melbourne as the backdrop to the latest releases on two giant screens.

Set to open on Boxing Day, it’s an imagining of cinema that takes the old and makes it very new.

90 Waterfront Way, Docklands