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The lingering question of whether you can sip on a Japanese Slipper under a ceiling made of 750 upturned sports trophies somewhere in the vicinity of central Sydney has finally been settled. The answer’s yes.
Behind a pale yellow window that beams onto a dark corner of Cleveland Street, Baptist Street Rec Club sits inside a former heritage bank building, a floor up from sister venue Island Radio. It’s one of several hot new venues to open in Redfern and Surry Hills’ new mega precinct, Wunderlich Lane.
The retro cocktail bar is the latest venture from House Made Hospitality, whose footprint in this city already includes the likes of Promenade Bondi Beach, Martinez, Easy Tiger and The Carrington, as well as four levels of bars and restaurants at Circular Quay’s Hinchcliff House.
Through the lemon-lit entryway, a wooden staircase climbs into a small bar room with a spongy orange carpet and walls jammed with vintage movie posters, gig flyers and framed photos of Aussie icons.
To one side there’s a DJ nook with a swirling disco ball and shelves of amber-tinged vinyls. The venue then twists left through a corridor of chattering leather booths before opening up into the ‘Trophy Room’ – a boisterous shrine to local glory days, where hundreds of sports trophies dangle overhead like golden stalactites.
At the top of the drinks list is the Japanese Slipper, a cocktail that – despite its name – hails not from Japan but Melbourne, first mixed at Mietta's Restaurant in the 1980s. Here, it arrives in glowing radioactive green, topped with a neat rod of three ruby-red melon balls. The look is pure retro: something plucked from the pages of a mid-century Women’s Weekly. The mix of melon liqueur, yuzucello, Cointreau, fresh lime, rosemary, and finger lime delivers a sharp, tangy hit, smoothed by the candy-like sweetness of the garnish.
Then there’s the plump and zesty Breakfast Martini, made with dry gin, Cointreau and lemon. This version is a local twist on the classic, swapping in a dollop of spiced pineapple marmalade for traditional orange, and finished with a tiny slice of toast on the edge of the glass to soften the palate between sips.
The Penicillin leans smoky. It straddles comfort and medicinal fire, with two whiskies swirled with ginger, honey and lemon – as well as a sharp splash of malt vinegar. The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, by contrast, is fresh and zesty, combining cocoa-nib rum, Cointreau, house falernum and lime.
The cocktails go deeper. There are 10 mainstays and five monthly specials. They currently include a White Russian with burnt‑butter vodka and maple cream, a Beetroot Negroni, and a bright Earl Grey Fizz with floral gin, almond, tea and lemon.
There are also seasonal editions, which right now feature a collab with Sydney’s favourite butter spinners Pepe Saya. The “winter warmers” menu includes four butter-washed cocktails, such as Harry Potter-inspired Hot Butterbeer Rum, which tastes like a molten caramel slice with scoops of flor de cana rum and Pepe’s spiced caramel butter batter.
Elsewhere, the bar provides a host of local beers, including house-made Reccy Lager, with an all-Australian wine list that leans into small-batch, flavour-forward producers.
Whereas downstairs sibling Island Radio offers up punchy riffs on the food found in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, Baptist St Rec Club features a Thai-inspired snack menu. The bar’s onsite pop-up kitchen Bangkok Dreaming serves crab betel leaves, spring rolls and crisp money bags – as well as lesser spotted tofu galloping horses – a firm upgrade on your standard bar snacks.
Redfern’s latest drinking den feels simultaneously daggy and upscale. You’ll find yourself dancing on a carpet under a home-made disco ball like you’re up late at your mate’s house. Then you’ll look down and see artwork in your cocktail foam. You’ll be scouring the ‘Fancy Champagne’ menu with bottles up to $300, then end up in a toilet cubicle papered on all sides with Shane Warne’s face.
Somehow, though – between waves of ’80s disco, stacks of late-night bites and splashes of eccentric mixology – Baptist St Rec Club masterfully finds the balance.
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