Nine To Try: New Melbourne Bars To Visit This Winter

It was a shock to the city when The Everleigh and Bar Margaux closed in March. The shuttering of Michael and Zara Madrusan’s influential venues may have left an irreparable hole in Melbourne’s drinks scene, but the closures have coincided with openings from a crop of exciting newcomers. From a new local from two Everleigh alumni to a Brighton wine bar from Ian Curley, and Joe’s Shoe Store’s first south-side venue, here are nine new bars we’re loving right now.

Pendant Public Bar , Fitzroy

Belinda Linton and Luke Kelly have worked at some of the city’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 opened their first bar, the Hot-Listed Pendant, in the former Enoteca Zingara space this month. The inviting venue focuses equally on beer, wine and cocktails and the couple have curated a short list of each. It’s all about making people feel at ease and making sure everything meets their high standards, which is why they’ve decided to focus on drinks rather than food. The only snacks they have are packets of Nobby’s nuts and Samboy chips.

81 Bay , Brighton

This Hot-Listed wine bar is the sibling venue to Baix, a restaurant Brighton local and Melbourne hospo legend Ian Curley is expected to open this winter. Curley is the co-owner of Hardware Lane’s French Saloon and Kirk’s Wine Bar , and was previously of The Point , The European and The Melbourne Supper Club. At 81 Bay, his first venue outside of the CBD, he serves European and local wines alongside a snack menu including olasagasti anchovy Gildas, steak frites, bone marrow toast, and gnocco fritto with manchego cream.

Raffy’s , Clifton Hill

On Wednesdays and Thursdays, Raffy’s is a cafe serving coffees and toasties until 2.30pm. But from Friday to Sunday, it stays open late, with DJs spinning vinyl and the cafe space turning into a mini dance floor. The bar, run by a brother-sister duo, has a tight drinks list focused on Australian labels such as Wilkie Wines and MDI Wines. There are also three $22 cocktails: a Paloma, an Espresso Martini with Frangelico, and a brown butter and sage Gin Sour.

Peaches , Thornbury

Skinnys is a light-filled retro diner with a canary-yellow coffee machine, mustard-hued tables and tomato-red signage. It opened two years ago in a former Preston milk bar and became a local favourite for its chicken-salt hash browns, American-inspired sandwiches and nostalgic spiders.

Now, owners Genevieve Bruwer and Jamal Nicoll have opened what Bruwer calls Skinnys’ “older goth sister” – Peaches, a casual wine bar just down the road.

Rock up and order a glass of natural wine or a classic cocktail. And enjoy it with something from the French- and Italian-inspired menu, such as a crudité platter or a bavette steak with cafe de Paris sauce.

Baby Driver , CBD

Beneath Driver Lane, the music-centric cocktail bar in the GPO’s former Money Order Office, has been a CBD staple for nearly eight years. But where Beneath Driver Lane is all about live blues, its new sibling Baby Driver focuses on DJ sets. The musical flow is flexible, but evenings generally start with neo-soul, build into high-tempo jazz and close out with disco-funk.

Richmond Colombian restaurant Lady T has taken up residency in the kitchen, showcasing street-style Latin American food including potato empanadas, barbeque-glazed pork belly bites and chipotle chicken arepas. Drinks are mostly local and European wines, but you can also get fun cocktails like the Midnight Slushie – a frozen take on an Espresso Martini with Sheep Dog peanut butter whisky, Mr Black coffee liqueur, sweet vermouth and cold brew.

Nobody’s Baby , South Yarra

Co-owner Gustavo Prince is behind two quintessentially north-side venues: Joe’s Shoe Store and Pizza Meine Liebe , both on High Street, Northcote. Nobody’s Baby, Prince’s first venture south of the river, is co-owned with Tim Badura, the former venue manager at Young Hearts. While there’s wine by the glass and beer on tap, it’s the playful cocktails that take centrestage here. The Everybody’s Martini is made with 48-hour parmesan-washed vodka, while the Baby Brûlée – egg, vanilla, lemon, Baileys, crème de cacao, whisky – is finished with a torched-sugar top.

The kitchen is led by Brunswick’s Very Good Falafel , which goes beyond its usual pitas for a small-plate menu designed to accompany drinking. You’ll find whiting with harissa and latkes; sumac-cured sardines with challah; and chicken with hawaij (a Yemeni spice mix), skewered with olives and served with chopped salad, harissa and tahini; and ice-cream from Luther’s Scoops for dessert.

Solace , CBD

In January, a new venue quietly opened at the end of Croft Alley in Chinatown, in the space that housed legendary bar The Croft Institute from 2001 to 2020. Solace is a three-level music-focused bar opened by four friends with backgrounds in record label management, hospitality, film distribution and event production. The drinks list is short, sharp and local. Expect low-intervention wines from producers like Minim, Konpira Maru and Ephemera, alongside beers and seltzers from Wolf of the Willows, Aqua Boogie and Bodriggy. Cocktails change regularly, but recent offerings have included a Sichuan Spicy Margarita, a jasmine-infused Martini, and a Pocari Sweat-spiked highball. Most infusions and syrups are made in-house.

Times New Roman , Brunswick East

With $6 snack-size serves of pasta and $6 glasses of house punch, this follow-up to Good Times is just as affordable as its older sibling. But there’s an even bigger menu and a local drinks list with most glasses of wine priced in the low double-digits. The space is a kitschy interpretation of Rome and comes complete with a Roman-inspired water feature in the courtyard.

The Hippo Bottle & Bar , Collingwood

The Hippo has long been a Smith Street staple, but earlier this year, the bar and bottle shop moved to upgraded digs just a one-minute walk up the street. Order local beer on tap or choose any single bottle from the shop and enjoy it in-house for no extra corkage. Plus, the team lets you BYO food.

Additional reporting by Gideon Cohen, Quincy Malesovas, Sebastian Pasinetti, Jo Rittey and Haymun Win.