MAY 2021– a couple weeks before the the pyscho lockdown where Melbourne became the most locked down city in the world the poor things! (not that we were any better)
So, birthday week away in Melbourne and I decided to do a pub crawl. Melbourne is well known for its quirky pubs and fun nightlife and the CBD is laced with funky little lane ways and alleys where hidden gems are waiting to be found! I love how they are all mainly in the same area in the CBD so its easy to do on foot in 1 night – so i got a list together and we started early…
MOVIDA
One of my favourite cute bars in Melbourne! – every time I go to there I take a little visit and buy my favourite wine – its ok for vegans as well as they have cute little sharing tapas dishes – the potatoes are the best!
I also love the location! its on Hosier Lane where there is a vast amount of awesome colourful grafitti
THE WHISKEY DEN
We walked past this tiny little pub which was literally a hole in the wall, the 2nd level was just a little balcony and had some funky world art on the walls
This little bar had pretty pricey spirits but some really interesting flavours around the world – we tried quite a few different sorts of whiskies
Nick & Noras
Nick & Noras was a really cool find but it did take a bit of a wander to actually find it first then find the entrance to the bar.
This bar is mainly a cocktail and champagne bar which has such a glamourous feel to it, its named after fictional murder solving duo from the novel “The Thin man” – you should see the decor, so elegant and interesting, you feel like dressing up and putting a feather in your cap!
We had to have a booking but because it wasnt a busy time we found a timeslot to go in and have some cocktails
EUROPEAN BIER CAFE
An old school corner sports pub with 4 levels, where i can imagine all the business suits come by after work, very quiet and classic compared to the other places visited and seen, theres a rooftop as well and great place to catch a game with a cold beer 🙂
CHERRY
This bar was nearby and cos I loveeee cherries I wanted to visit and check it out!
Glad I did, cos this was a pretty cool 3 storey bar with this awesome bright red light on the top floor bar – sitting areas and eateries on mutliple levels, really cool and hip, loud music and very cool bar people
We went right to the top bar which i recommend as it was bright red, funky, loud and hip!
LOOP
A cool hip rooftop bar, guy let us in after i told him we were doing a pub crawl for my bday – was packed but still really cool even with so many ppl around, compared to what im used to really noticed how chill Melb people are – had a quick drink here had a chat with the bar lady and took off to the next one to the bar – no time to waste!
SPLEEN BAR
https://www.spleenbarmelbourne.com.au/
Really, the only reason we went here was only because of the name lol we were curious, was a 70’s style bar with a cute bar, they also do comedy here – people so friendly i love it in Melb!
SIGLO
Had to line up here for a while, could tell its very popular and great location, its a rooftop bar and looking out to the beautiful Parliament House across the street.
We sat down in the crowded balcony and decided to grab a bottle of red, quite nice and the atmosphere was awesome!
CHARLES DICKENS PUB
Ok, so i got ditched by my friends around 8:30pm – home time for them lol but I carried on on my own – I was too curious about the other bars and pubs I had marked down on my map and I wanted to check as many as I could out
First stop on my own was Charles Dickens, I lived in London and Ireland prevously so this brought back some awesome memories – I actually would love to be living in London right now…
https://www.thecharlesdickenstavern.com.au/
I sat and watched a bit of football with a whiskey which is one of my favourite things I used to do in London
THE GEORGES
Had another quick whiskey here at the George
THE CRAFTY SQUIRE & PORTLAND HOTEL
A hip Craft beer bar and microbrewery, home of the famouos James Squire Brewhouse
Had a quick beer here and a chat with the bar guy, who gave me an extra shot of whiskey when he found out it was my bday and my friends had abandoned me lol
THE CARLTON CLUB
A pretty hip club with crazy stuffed animals, pretty unique, had a garish red light going on – had another whiskey here before heading on up to explore a bit more
ISLAND BAR on top of the Carlton
So took off upstairs and I couldnt believe what I found! on top of the building there was an outdoor bar and then I found a set of stairs and climbed up to another bar which happened to be an exotic Island Bar! It was fairly empty compared to the lower levels and was really out of the way and just so nice to sit around the palm trees full knowing that im in a city with office buildings everywhere yet I felt like i was in Jamaica somewhere!
Even though I had a whiskey downstairs, I just had to have a Hot Buttered Banana Rum as that just sounded so divine and it was cold out so it went down so well
HEROES KARAOKE ROOFTOP BAR
I DONT do karaoke, but I was curious to see what this rooftop bar looked like, so I went up
The bar itself was really interesting! again the red lighting and had so many cool and unique lanterns and lamp shades hanging from the roof – I really did like the joint!
Ended up making some new friends who wanted me to join them in karaoke, but def didnt… had my drink and left with the sounds of sqeaky high pitched off karaoke tunes in my ear
WHISKEY & ALEMENT
What a absolutely awesome whiskey bar! I love whiskey so this was a great place to visit and take a look at the different types of whiskeys they had to offer, the have over 1000 whiskies on the menu!
TOUCHE HOMBRE
A cool tequila joint with nice outdoor seating area, the have choices of mexican food and also ceviche
OK, and that was a wrap for me lol – I literally had at least 1 drink at each pub / bar!
I really have to admit that even though I went to most of the pubs on my own, im SO glad I did because not only did I get to go at my own pace and hence see more pubs, but I also got to meet new people and share some stories with bar tenders and have a chat.
I really love Melbourne night life, the streets are so safe to walk, the pubs are all close so its easy to just roll on over to the next, people are friendly so they dont have the typical boofhead security guards who want to know what you had for dinner in 1978 and stare into your eyes like you just slapped dead a chihuahua that night and drank your granddads full cupboard of alcohol and snorted talcum powder before trying to make your way into their pub (those type of security guards are mostly in sydney lol)
I was glad to see that Melbournes night life was awake as sadly, Sydneys has very much gone backwards since the king hit incident a few years back, and in that 5 years the government lost $16b in nightlife revenue and ever since then its just never been the same – so, back to Melb, I really do suggest to get an interesting bunch of friends (who can handle their alcohol) and plan a dress up pub crawl… now THAT would be interesting…
The Wandering Passport 