First Look: Two Everleigh Alumni Open Pendant – a Sophisticated Bar With a Relaxed Pub Feel

“With the challenges that everyone’s faced in the past year with the cost of living, we lost lots of great places,” says Belinda Linton, who will officially open Pendant Public Bar this Saturday May 17 with her partner Luke Kelly. “But people still like going out and the pubs are still doing well.”

With that in mind, the duo’s first venue, set in the former Enoteca Zingara site, is about making people feel comfortable and at ease. “Cocktail bars can be really tight and formal and the guests feel uncomfortable because someone rambles at you for ages and you just nod your head and agree,” says Kelly. “We want [Pendant] to be comfortable … but you just get these really high-end products at the same time.”

The duo has spent a decade refining this approach at some of Melbourne’s best drinking destinations. Linton at Congress and Black Pearl, Kelly at Mr West and Hot-Listed Apollo Inn. Both worked at The Everleigh for three years – Linton as venue manager and Kelly as bar manager.

They first started talking about opening a bar early in their careers. They initially thought they’d open a large venue with a thousand-bottle backbar. Experience distilled the dream into a small, local bar where every bottle has a purpose and is produced by makers who really care about the craft. “Ten years ago, we were 22, fresh little bartenders,” says Kelly. “Now we’ve used our knowledge and, rather than overloading the offer with a thousand bottles of the same thing, every product has a purpose.”

At Pendant, a cognac-spiked Old Fashioned and an ice-cold Martini – pulled straight from the freezer – lead the six-drink cocktail list. The Martini is made with Never Never gin and dry vermouth at a very dry seven-to-one ratio, and is seasoned with the lightest touches of salt, sugar and acid to sharpen and lift the flavours. “We’re not out to change the game,” says Linton. “The cocktails aren’t revolutionary – they’re classic at heart, but the way we like to drink them.”

That’s rounded out by a roster of four changing cocktails. There’s always a tall spritz, a citrus-forward number, a dark-spirited serve, and a stirred, boozy drink. The opening line-up: the Czech Spritz (Braulio amaro, coffee liqueur, Czech pilsner and cucumber); Second Line (Never Never Triple Juniper gin, amontillado sherry, apricot, honey, lime and bitters); Bracer (Dewar’s 12-year-old Blended Scotch whisky, lemon, absinthe and bitters); and Point Blank (Nodo Tequilana, mezcal, Amaro Averna, Cocchi Americano and bitters).

There’s also a sharp selection of beers on tap – Guinness, Coopers, Stomping Ground pilsner and Fixation IPA – and a wine list that mixes familiar grapes with playful detours. Spanish alvarinho sits alongside pinot grigio, a rare kerner made by monks in the north of Italy gently nudges riesling drinkers out of their comfort zone. It’s all designed to pique curiosity without being alienating; and wines are priced with the same no-nonsense philosophy as a good pub.

Surrounded by great restaurants, Pendant isn’t a dining destination. It’s a place to bookend your night; a Martini before dinner, a Guinness after. Food is the most basic of bar snacks: packets of Nobby’s nuts and Samboy chips.

Pendant Public Bar
1/366 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy

Hours
Thu to Mon 4pm–midnight

pendantpublicbar.com
@pendant.publicbar