It’s Vintage Vinyl and Sailor Moon Gimlets at Hawthorn’s New Japanese Listening Bar

With just 10 seats in the main bar, the Bar Selecta team likes to joke that the venue is small enough for drinkers to hold hands with the DJ. But behind this tiny bar is a team with a big pedigree: former Flower Drum bartender Joey Tai, saké sommelier Masaki Hisaike, The Elysian co-owner Kelvin Low, Golden Monkey co-founder Adam Ong and Brand Works ’s Michael and Eleena Tan.

Like Waxflower and Music Room, this new Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn bar is inspired by Japanese-style listening bars.

Bar Selecta “pays tribute to craft,” Michael tells Broadsheet – and he means it in every sense. Vintage audio equipment and JBL speakers, all sourced from Japan, sit alongside a carefully curated but unpretentious vinyl collection. It includes 1950s jazz albums; vintage pressings of Dr Dre and De La Soul; rare Japanese funk records picked up in Tokyo; and pop records by Ariana Grande, Lana Del Ray and Selena Gomez.

At Japan’s listening bars, drinks are often secondary to the music. Here, bar manager Tai matches the music with playful takes on classics – including the Sailor Moon Gimlet, which combines Japanese gin, cherry blossom cordial, pickled melon, pineapple-yuzu bitters and Midori.

The bar’s petite size puts drinkers right in front of the bartender. Tai encourages people to ask questions and feel like they’re being guided through their drink selections. “It’s about what kind of mood you’re in,” she says. “Because we’re small, we can be flexible [with the drinks]. And we can have fun.”

Low was sick of seeing premium saké mostly being served with snacks in Australia. “You don’t need food to accompany good saké,” he says. He’s curated a saké selection that shows its diversity of styles: sparkly and cloudy, dry and savoury, balanced and elegant, fruit-forward, aromatic, earthy and umami. “We’re serving it in wine glasses to help open up the flavour. Like wine, people can tell us what flavour profile they like, or what mood they’re in. You don’t need to know everything about saké to enjoy it either,” he says.

In addition to the 10-seat front bar, there’s a cosy 25-person lounge, serviced by a vintage waiters’ station and drinks cart. The lounge will soon host Sunday sessions, where guests are encouraged to bring their own records. A dog-friendly outdoor area is accessible via the laneway, and the plan is to serve yakitori skewers from a hibachi grill out there in summer.

The mid-century modern interiors are a refined blend of Japanese minimalism and retro audiophile culture. The red onyx marble bar top, lit-up backbar and orange glass bricks create a warm, textured backdrop for nostalgic vinyl and cocktails worthy of Mad Men. As in many beloved venues in Japan, at Bar Selecta, fastidious attention to detail hides behind a casual exterior.

Bar Selecta
717 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn
(Entry at rear)

Hours:
Wed to Sun 4pm–midnight

barselecta.co
@barselecta.au