Hunter & Barrel

At Hunter & Barrel, margaritas are smoked atop a stone bar. The bartender puts woodchips inside a smoking gun and sets it alight. The flame is sucked into a decanter and released as a billowing train of smoke: dinner and a show, according to beverage manager Joel Davis.

Smoked drinks, barrel-aged cocktails and fat-washed spirits are among Hunter & Barrel’s signatures. The progressive cocktail menu is designed specifically to complement the rustic food on offer.

Skewered beef rump and salmon are served alongside pickled-cabbage slaw and jacket potatoes. Other beef options are slow-roasted on the charcoal grill. Local beers come bottled, on tap and in tinnies; the lemonade is made in-house; and the dessert menu features a reinvention of the traditional s’more.

On the rooftop of building 303, Hunter & Barrel looks like a modern woodland tavern. Large, wood-panelled windows brighten the space, and a mass of green foliage and twigs suspended from the ceiling is the central focal point. Rows of quilted-brown-leather booths face inward, looking directly onto the bar and open kitchen.