Tell us about your bar:
Bulletin Place opened in Christmas 2012 and is one of Australia’s most awarded bars. The bar has become the poster girl of the ‘small bar’ movement in Sydney, taking advantage of a change in liquor licensing laws to encourage small independent operators to create more grown-up drinking spaces akin to Melbourne’s ‘laneway culture’. Step up Adi Ruiz, Tim Philips and Rob Sloan – three lifelong bartenders who met while working in Melbourne’s creative hub, Fitzroy.
The venue has no outward signage; the entrance is through a store room and up a flight of stairs, two mintues’ walk from Circular Quay. Bulletin Place is entirely table service, seats just 45 people and there is no traditional menu – instead, the beers, wines and cocktails available on the day are written around the room on chalkboards and rolls of butcher’s paper.
What’s on the menu?
Our signature at Bulletin Place is our daily changing cocktail menu. We write a list of five brand new original drinks every single day. The drinks are strictly based on the best of Australian produce from the market each day, what’s looking good, what the weather’s like and if there are any significant events on that day. We have a rotating wine list where every time a bottle is finished, the next person who wants to order a red wine picks what we have open for the room by the glass until that bottle is finished, with two reds and two whites open at any time. Beers are hyper local and we change it up every week. Food is simple and honest – marinated olives, hummus made for us by a neighbouring restaurant, a cheese board and pate/breads.
Care for a drink?
Seasonally, try a mango daiquiri at the height of the season, black cherry brambles, passion fruit pisco sours, or the Penicillin cocktail (scotch whisky, honey, lemon, ginger).
Sounds:
Eclectic, lots of old dub, dancehall.
Highlights:
Relaxed service by adults for adults, some of the best drinks in the country and a quirky but comfortable interior.
The bill comes to:
For an order of marinated olives ($7), cheese board ($24), daily cocktail ($19) and a glass of wine ($12), the total comes to $61.
