After an exhausting week of multi-tasking, office politics and corporate speak, what better way to unwind than by savouring a few delicious mixes in Sydney’s leading cocktail lounge?
The
Bayswater Brasserie is an award-winning Sydney institution. Besides being named our Cocktail Bar of the Year for 2008,
Bartender Magazine judged it to be the world’s sixth best bar. Thanks to its knowledgeable staff and diverse menu, there are few better places to enjoy a drink with friends.
And with its refined décor, atmospheric lighting and alluringly-lined (and amply stocked) shelves, the surroundings are almost as intoxicating as the cocktails. As for the cocktails, the combination of fine ingredients and dedicated bartenders ensures that everything to pass the lips is not so much a drink as an extravagant work of art. Getting plastered has seldom felt this classy!
Bayswater signatures include the Darling Daisy (“blended Scotch shaken with pineapple and clove marinade, lemon, ginger and yellow Chartreuse”), Oasis Africa (“cognac and gold rum, built with white peach, lime and cinnamon”) and Kings Cobbler (“Calvados, crème de violettes and maple syrup shaken with pressed lime, orange and blueberries”). And they also make the classics, such as Georgia Mint Juleps (“cognac and peach stirred with fresh mint, sugar and water), Chicago Fizzes (“gold rum, tawny Port, lemon and sugar shaken and topped with soda”) and Vampiros (“Mezcal rolled with tomato juice, orange blossom water and spices”).
If you don’t believe that the bartenders can possibly be as good as claimed, just challenge them. They’ll describe every ingredient and process in such loving (and lengthy) detail that you’ll soon be in need of a stiff drink! But when their expert hands go to work on your cocktail of choice, all will be forgiven, as theirs are the practiced movements of true, dedicated pros.
Besides its famous cocktail bar, the Bayswater also has an excellent restaurant, which the
Sydney Morning Herald praised as “a highly stylised form of the Parisian experience”. But a word of warning: quality comes at a price. A night of fine dining and urbane drinking will cost upwards of $100 per person.
