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Friday, 01 February 2008 21:05 |
The Down Under
Tiki Bar
There is nothing like traveling and discovering something by accident that just takes away your breath. Recently I was in our second biggest city, Mel-bourne, and was wandering along Swan Street looking for a record store that had existed ten years ago when I used to live and work in the state of Victoria. Discovering the Tiki Bar and Lounge was like stumbling about in a desert and then having a mirage appear before you: one doesn't know what to do but stare with mouth open and then drag ones self toward said mirage, so that's what I did !
 Visiting Tiki Bar & Lounge in Richmond is a bit like finding yourself in the middle of a Baz Luhrmann film and not just because it's plonked in the middle of a dance studio that looks out over a semi-industrial streetscape and is full of eccentric charmers who'll tell you your tiki mug is cursed. Well, actually, that's a large part of it. The tango studio is separated from the bar by inky drapes, which never fully close, leaving alluring flashes of a room lit by red lamps and potentially inhabited by people who can dance better at parties than you or I .
The lounge is a subtle tiki fit-out, a ragtag collection of leather lounges, '50s kitchen chairs and bamboo-trimmed bar stools are scattered around the lounge, with 'conversation pit' areas cordoned off by beaded curtains and yet more bamboo, and the walls are decorated with retro paintings and prints. There are even two tanks of tropical fish that fill the quietened air with bubbling between CDs. This, the candles in paper shades, a charmingly misbehaving CD player that skipped as it saw fit (causing one or more proprietors to leave the bar mid-anecdote to whack it), and a playlist of everything from Martin Denny to Robert Drasnin, make a visit to the Tiki Bar & Lounge more like a night at a friend's house than propping yourself up for another drink at another bar. Indeed, the bar staff are nothing short of delightful; jugs of water and bowls of chips were brought to each table as you work through the seemingly bottomless cocktails, and the Hemingway-hatted and leied bartender spent the night conversing pas-sionately with whomever was seated at the bar. As for the drinks, there is a range of tra-ditional and authentic cocktails with the specialty of the bartender being once called 'The Suffering Bastard' . Many of the cocktails are served in stone tiki mugs, which makes for a wonderful tiki experience. Provided yours isn't cursed.
If you are visiting Melbourne I suggest you visit the Tiki Bar and Lounge at 327 Swan Street Richmond.
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