So you’re feeling a bit baller, but you’re not quite ready to start buying tables at Club 23 and applying for big cat pet licences - enter new Prahran cocktail bar Impala’s personal whisky locker.
When a regular old Jameson on the rocks simply won’t do, you can purchase a whole bottle of your preferred dram to return to each time you visit. In between visits, it’ll be safely housed in their glowing gold whisky cabinet, which also doubles as a feature wall.
Impala sits right upstairs from moody mod-Mediterranean restaurant Neptune, giving diners a place to develop the night after they’ve lined their stomachs with tinned seafood and steak tartare. Windsor's time really is now.
Like the restaurant downstairs, it's owned by Asian street food barons Nicholas Coulter and Simon Blacher (Hanoi Hannah, Tokyo Tina, Saigon Sally) and brothers Dave and Michael Parker (San Telmo, Pastuso). With their new venture they’re going for a “palm springs after dark” vibe, with an interior that looks like the photonegative of the green-banana-leaf-print-over-baby-pink look that’s been everywhere lately. It’s all black walls and gold leaf tropical wallpaper, dark leather banquettes and Scandi furniture. Very '70s.
Photograph: supplied
The kitschy chic vibe extends to the music, which promises to be abuzz with disco tunes so you can while away the night under their mirror ball to the smooth sounds of Earth Wind and Fire.
The cocktails are surprisingly complex, with ingredient lists that will require multiple breaths to read. The Mrs Belleville combines Belvedere vodka, peach and ginger liqueur, with added texture from a Fernet Branca amaro, citrus and egg white combination, while the Queen Victoria is unabashed fanciness, featuring champagne, Hennessy VSOP cognac and Peychaud’s bitters plus strawberry and basil syrup.
To keep partygoers adequately fuelled as they get their Dancing Queen on, they’ll also be serving bar snacks, including prawn cocktails for that full retro experience.
Impala is open Thu-Sun, 6pm to late.
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