What do you get when you add a legendary venue of Melbourne’s bar scene to one of the truly iconic views of Sydney? To find out the answer, head to Bondi Icebergs this April, where one of Melbourne’s most revered drinking dens, Bar Americano, is taking up residence, Wednesday to Sunday, for the whole month.
This doesn't simply involve the bar team from Americano making the hop north. A replica of Bar Americano’s famously tiny premises has been constructed within Icebergs – creating essentially a bar within a bar. In Melbourne, the venue holds a maximum of just ten standing patrons, but to make things ultra-exclusive, the Bondi counterpart can host seven seated guests. It’ll be available for individual 90-minute bookings, but also for groups if you and the squad want to hog the experience all to yourselves.
Multi-award-winning founder and hero of the Melbourne bar scene Matt Bax has dabbled in more experimental concepts over his career, but at Americano, the menu is a cocktail purist’s dream. A strictly limited range of classic mixes make up the spine of its offering – each delivered so exquisitely perfected that this is far from lacking creativity. When recreating this experience at Bondi Beach, the drinks menu will include eight classic cocktails, inspired by premium spirits, Tequila Patrón, Grey Goose Vodka and Bombay Sapphire Gin.
The immersive theatricality of this residency will be a trip in itself, one minute transporting you to the trendy, cloistered cool of a Melbourne laneway, before releasing you back onto Australia’s most famous beachfront. Securing a 90-minute session costs $80 per person pre-paid, which is then deducted from your bar tab.
