Suzie Wong’s Good Time Bar

Fortitude Valley icon The Bowery shook its last cocktails in January 2020. Now, it’s Suzie Wong’s Good Time Bar, a Hawaiian-themed dive bar with a heavy focus on live music.

It definitely isn’t The Bowery anymore. The bar and its ceiling-high liquor shelves are still there, and the layout is more or less the same, but everything else has changed. The booths are gone, the front door has been shifted (and in a cute touch, now resembles the door of a cold room), and the front windows walled in and replaced by a light box. There are colourful prints everywhere, and the venue’s brick walls are now scattered with neon, photos and other knickknacks.

For drinks, the aim is to get to the bar, get served and get back on the dance floor. Don’t expect anything too complicated with the cocktails – just fun concoctions with names such as Unsolicited Life Advice. The beer taps pour Australian craft brews as well as a clutch of US imports, including Hawaiian brewer Kona’s Big Wave golden ale. For wines, a relatively straightforward list covers most varietals.

In terms of music, you can expect a similar mix to Brooklyn Standard, with the more esoteric weeknight artists giving way to party bands on the weekends.