Wednesday 18 April 2012

Please Speak-Easy

Before Gotye, and after a horrendous peak hour drive into the city on the same day as a giants game, we managed to arrive in time for our reservation at Bourbon and Branch. Tough to get into on any day of the week, it's an actual prohibition era speakeasy that is now a super trendy cocktail bar.

http://thetender.us/2011/03/24/the-wilson-wilson-private-detective-agency/
Photo: thetender.us

We were there on a random wednesday and got a spot in the Wilson and Wilson bar, made out like a Chandler-esque detective agency with an array of alcohol that even Marlowe would be happy with.

Photo: thetender.us
Photo: thetender.us
Just entering the bar is a bit of an experience. You ring the doorbell outside an unmarked door in a fairly dodgy bit of the tenderloin, and give the woman who answers (in a flapper dress) the password for your reservation. You then walk through a set of hidden doors to reach the bar. The drinks are pricey, but not ridiculous, and each one is a work of art. I'd estimate each one I ordered had about 15 ingredients, almost none of which I had ever heard of, and were added to the drink from bottles, eyedroppers, and sprayed over the top (!?). The flavours were complex, as you can imagine, and I thoroughly enjoyed them. The house rules include 'no phones, no cameras' so I've borrowed pictures from thetender.us.

Photo: thetender.us

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