You say “country club”, we think buttoned shirts, expanses of green lawn, and maybe a game of golf or a spot of tennis followed by a G&T. But the only recreational activities at Enmore Country Club, the retro-tinged new bar by Dan McBride and Dynn Szmulewicz – owners of Redfern’s Sunshine Inn, Glebe’s The Little Guy and recently shuttered Golden Gully in Leichhardt – are drinking, snacking and good chats.

A modern twist on the country club is an appropriate concept for the area, which has become notorious for the “concrete cowboys” stomping down Enmore Road.

With wooden cladding, brass finishes and a room decorated with retro brown-and-maroon patterned wallpaper, Enmore Country Club’s design – executed with the help of creative director and Doom Juice co-founder Zachary Godbolt – is a tad dive bar, a little Australiana.

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While the drinks are majority Aussie, there’s a handful of fun international wines bolstering the menu, as well as a few non-Australian spirits.

“It’s what we like to do, booze-wise … natural wine-leaning,” McBride tells Broadsheet. “And accessible but interesting, delicious cocktails in which, often, we will try and use Australian booze. And then local beer as well.”

McBride gives special mention to the house-made cherry cola, spiked with the booze of your choice (he recommends rum).

“I just saw it around a bit in America, people making their own spins on cola syrup,” he says. “And because we’re going for that tongue-in-cheek ’70s theme – [the theme is] subtle, it’s not going to whack you over the head – cherry cola seemed pretty appropriate.”

He also shouts out the Country Club Cooler. It’s the bar’s take on a Long Island Iced Tea: the cherry-cola syrup, Australian gin, vodka, curacao, a little bit of tequila and white rum.

“It’s very close to the original [Long Island Iced Tea] recipe, the twist being that it’s got that cherry-cola syrup in it,” says McBride.

Fittingly, the short and sharp food menu stars two types of club sandwich, Enmore Country Club-style: “clucking” (chicken) and “not clucking” (tofu). Cheese plates and olives help round out the bar snacks.

Enmore Country Club is only the latest Sydney venue indulging in a bit of nostalgia – think the ’70s-inspired porn-chic aesthetic at Double Deuce, the ’80s-style paean to the former PM at the Bob Hawke Beer & Leisure Centre, and the old-school inner west vibes of the Enmore Hotel just down the road. McBride namechecks a couple of reasons behind the recent retro revival.

“I think that when you walk into a bar [recently] that a lot of the music that’s playing is from that era,” he says. “The music is very cool, like Fleetwood Mac, all those kinds of bands. They’re such good bar music, and they’ve stayed good bar music. I think that’s the first ingredient.

“And then I think it all just looks good. All the mid-century Parker and Chiswell furniture, all that wooden cladding … wallpaper. I think those textures are things people are starting to play with again, because they do look so good. It’s a good thing to celebrate.”

Enmore Country Club
182 Enmore Road, Enmore

Hours:
Daily 4pm–midnight

enmorecountryclub.com
@enmorecountryclub