A Closer Look: Fancy Free

“A Closer Look” is a series in which Broadsheet editor and noted food writer Max Veenhuyzen examines the city’s restaurants with a more critical eye.

What sort of idiot orders wine at a bar run by employees formerly of one of the world’s best cocktail bars? This one. But to be fair, by the time we arrived at Fancy Free, a six-month pop-up that opened in March in an aquarium-like glass box on Little Collins Street, it was edging near 11pm and we were at the tail end of a three-stop progressive dinner fuelled by more than a little grape juice. Since it was a school night, sticking to vino seemed like a smart play.

“You’ll be sorry,” chimed my colleague. She was right. A week later, fuelled by the Fomo of watching those around us with high-balls crowned with dried eucalyptus leaves and squat rocks glasses glazed with a slick of jam, I was back at Fancy Free to take its cocktail list for a test-drive. It was a good night.
The eucalyptus thingie? That’s the Burn Back Highball, a tall, refreshing glass of apple brandy and mead flavoured with burnt eucalyptus (yes, it’s house-made, no, you probably shouldn’t try this at home). That situation with the jam? Meet the R&C, a winning one-two of whisky and clarified milk punch: a bartending magic trick that yields, for want of a better descriptor, creamy invisible milk. (The slick of raspberry jam is a nod to rhubarb and custard, the flavour profile that inspired the drink and its name). Berries also made a cameo in the Grape & Grain, a mix of rye whiskey and what the gang here calls a “berry sherry” made by infusing Seppeltsfield fino with local fruit. The silky house Martini, meanwhile, stars drops of Italian olive oil – a subtle twist on the classic gin, vermouth and olive
power play. It barely warrants mentioning, but the cocktails are a little different at Fancy Free. For one, about a third of the house creations are booze-free.

Yet for all the house-made ingredients, pre-made cocktails (see the Pet Not, a bourbon and kombucha doppelganger of the on-trend sparkling winemaking style) and other trappings of cocktail geekery, the vibe at Fancy Free is fun rather than formal. Then again, when you consider that owners Rob Libecans, Matthew Stirling and Ryan Noreiks all tended bar at Fitzroy institution Black Pearl – a World’s 50 Best Bars stalwart lauded as much for the exactitude of its drink-making as the warmth and good nature of its staff – this should come as little surprise. Sure, they’ll talk the finer points of fermenting honey if you ask, but all conversations are likely to start with how your day’s been rather than what they did to whatever’s in your glass.

Despite the strong DIY ethos driving the drinks and the spare aesthetic of the venue (as much about the practicality of opening a temporary venue as repurposing elements inherited from the space’s former tenant, 8-Bit Burgers) team Fancy Free knows when to outsource a job. The gelato in the sans-alcohol Fancy Float comes from Messina. The fancy ice is by Navy Strength Ice Co, The Everleigh cocktail bar’s sister business. During the opening six weeks, Sydney outfit Mary’s was in charge of the food with squishy-bun burgers and juicy fried chicken ticking the boxes for fatty, finger-friendly ballast. The bar has since taken over the food itself;
former Embla brigade member Matt Reid has introduced a menu of sandwiches, croquettes, wontons and other snacky items that chime with the neighbourhood spirit of the place.

Speaking of restaurants, now seems like an apt time to reflect on the growing amount of crossover between the bar and restaurant worlds. The platinum chat dispensed by staff at Fancy Free confirms my belief that good bar- tenders – forward-facing and interactive, even when staring down a two-deep mass of customers – give the best service in the world. I’ve also been encouraged to hear about the various ways Fancy Free tackles waste. Coffee beans, for instance, get used three ways – hot brew, cold brew then to make a house coffee liqueur – before being given to a nearby florist to use as soil compost. I love it from a sustainability point of view. The owners (also) love it for what it does to their bottom line.

Thanks to the double-whammy of a competitive market and fickle customers, more operators are thinking temporary. Pop-up stores. Pop-up restaurants. Pop-up bars. Of Melbourne’s current crop of pop, Fancy Free is one of the outfits making the most of the freedom and fluidity afforded by a fixed used-by date. The best bit? For all the gentle boundary-pushing going on, the staff never loses sight of the guest’s experience. At the end of the night, shouldn’t that be what a good bar – pop-up or permanent – is all about?

This story originally appeared in Melbourne Print Issue 25. Fancy Free's final service is on Sunday, July 28. Details on closing parties here.