Lambsgo bar (Fitzroy)So my latest bar discovery. My housemate described it as having a "Mexican" vibe. A small bar, tucked away from the hustle and bustle and general crapness of Brunswick St bars. The best thing about it - a fridge stocked with 100ish imported beers, good lord, as you can see in the first image. The second image is the wall to the left of the bar - was very impressed to see the kind of beer posters they had up - and we were sitting in a comfortable dark position right in front. Lambsgo bar is then segmented into different rooms - the one where you enter has low tables and chairs to chill out, with a Galaga machine close by. Next room has a pool table, next room has dining table/chairs for the eating customers, next area is a smoking courtyard.
Small but with everything you need, more importantly dark, and most importantly they know their shit when it comes to beer - there's a friggin two page menu. They also have an old school bar tap and red telephone next to the bar. Brilliant.
The Standard (Fitzroy)
Aside from the Corner which I talk about below (and whose presence I can't help but let into my world on a daily basis) The Standard is the next pub I consistently find myself at. Now the trick here is to perfectly time your arrival to The Standard to ensure you get a beergarden table. I'm not revealing the trick, work it out yourself. You don't want to miss out on a beergarden table, it's worth fighting for. In fact the other day when we left the bar, I went up to a guy who had kindly asked me to let him know when we were leaving so he could pinch our seats, and passed the torch on. The look of relief and happiness on the guy's face was worth going alone. Well kinda.
So The Standard's other qualities - great food, a small but good imported beer selection, Bulmers on tap (UK not Irish, hehe) and they make the best bloody mary I've had in a bar in Australia. They use a splash of red wine and good tomato juice. Genius. Really, when you go to The Standard, you're investing at least a few hours there, if not one hell of an enjoyable afternoon/evening.
NOTE/HINT - The Standard don't use this I don't think, but I'm also a bloody mary fiend and make my own regularly - Golden Circle Tomato Juice and celery salt are the key.
Local Taphouse (St Kilda)
I've talked a lot about this place in previous blogs and given how long this blog is getting I'll let the goodness of what I've told you previously soak in further.
Napier Hotel (Fitzroy)
Tucked away between Brunswick St and Smith St. Part irish pub vibe, you really need to be up for a feed when you go here since it's really centred around the food, with the drinks almost being a side issue. But here's the thing - you will not believe the portion sizes you get at the Napier. I think we ordered an entree once that could barely be finished. Plus all the food I've tried there tastes amazing. The beergarden is ok (though the weakest of the beergardens mentioned here and I don't remember much music being played at a decent level either) but not inviting enough to really commit to a long afternoon of drinking.
The clientele is a bit rougher footy type for my liking then again, during AFL season, so is the next pub - that doesn't really detract from its likeable qualities though (in either case) as long as you time your drinking sessions correctly.
Corner Hotel (Richmond)
Now I'm going to be biased towards the Corner by default because I work in an office in the same building, with my desk being about 30 steps from the upstairs bar, but this really is a music institution in Melbourne, with touring bands disrupting my work on a not quite daily but feels too often basis. Sometimes I'm happy with the disruption if it's a great band, others - like many shall not be named Australian touring acts - are just plain annoying. If I drilled a hole straight into the floor from where I'm sitting, I'd land somewhere near the stage. Good to know.
Anyway, great bar staff, amazing food, and not only do they have a beergarden where you can regularly hear Old Crow Medicine Show, Dylan and the like, but they also have a downstairs bar area aside from the band room that has booths, a pool table and an old school arcade machine with Galaga, 1942, Space Invaders and all the greats. Just good vibes all round. The only thing lacking is a good beer selection but in this life, you gotta compromise and I'm very willing to do it given everything else the Corner offers. Plus Mountain Goat Hightail Ale (Richmond) tastes good on tap as long as you don't let it drop a degree in temperature i.e. drink quickly.
Great Britain Hotel (Richmond)
Terrible looking on the outside - in fact it's one of the first bars discovered in Melbourne by my housemate when we moved over here from Perth, but I never wanted to go in because it looks like a horrible blue collar bar from the sidewalk. How wrong I was. Now, as long as you never go there on a Friday or Saturday night when all the upturned collar fuckwits go to pick up short skirts (and try them on presumably) you'll be witness to a very chilled, dark, somewhat dirty folk/rock/blues vibe.
Couches inside, great decor and folk singer/songwriters every Sunday afternoon. Beergarden lacks sunshine in the winter which is difficult to deal with given how bone chilling the Melbourne winters can be, but they have wasabi peas available on their bar snack list, so I forgive them. Also don't ever try the "Piss" beer they have on tap - it tastes exactly as it sounds. Cider on tap is Pipsqueak - as mentioned previously is far more tolerable then in bottle form.
Oh and to dispel the legend - Bimbos is not a good place and don't ever mention it to me alongside any of these. The end.
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