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Antico Bar

Wednesday: 4:00 PM – 1:00 AM
48 Burnett Lane, Brisbane, QLD, 4000
Phone
No phone
Website
anticobar.com.au
Instagram
@anticobarbrisbane

Read time 4 Mins

Posted 19 Feb 2024

By
Fiona Donnelly

Making a cocktail at Antico Bar in Brisbane

An intimate, Italian-inspired drinking den serving exotically flavoured cocktails, Antico Bar brings a stylish dash of old-world dolce vita to Brisbane’s Burnett Lane.

A cocktail served at Antico Bar in Brisbane
Why you goAny fresh venture from the Cuatro Group – the Brisbane team behind plush CBD cocktail bars Dr Gimlette and Death & Taxes – is an excellent excuse for celebratory drinks. But when the new project is as appealing as Antico Bar, it’s a spur to activate full party mode. Set in the former home of Super Whatnot, tiny Antico brings a dash of Italian sprezzatura to the city centre’s grungy Burnett Lane. The stark Corten frontage has been jettisoned to reveal a low-key brick façade complete with peeling posters. The building’s slim split-level interior has likewise been utterly transformed. The decor evokes those classic old Italian bars you might stumble into in Florence or Naples, slightly time-worn neighbourhood hubs staffed by sharply dressed barkeeps – all dark timber walls and flickering candles. It remains as unadorned as its unremarkable laneway location, with zero signage other than a beautifully crafted mosaic-tiled A. Out-of-towners may need to consult Google Maps to nose it out, but this laneway has become a destination for locals. And Antico, along with its convivial cocktail-slinging neighbours Death & Taxes and Alba Bar & Deli, will ensure it remains a well-trodden path into the future.
Why you stayOptions for great late-night drinking in Brisbane are relatively thin on the ground, particularly bars like dimly-lit, atmospheric Antico – a stylish sliver of elsewhere you can slip into and escape. Climb the stairs past the sunken lounge with its handsome button-backed leather booths, low-slung timber ceiling and polished wooden floors, and you’ll hit the central serving bar. There are fewer than 50 seats, with table service throughout, and staff are well-drilled, so you’ll feel catered for wherever you sit. You might score a stool at the dark marble-capped bar – a buzzy spot to survey a tightly edited array of back-lit bottles with a lovely arched mirror behind, and textural brick walls to the side. Or you could head upstairs to the airy mezzanine where there’s a choice of fat leather banquettes, or perhaps a roost overlooking the action downstairs with glittering close-ups of the show-stopping chandelier. There’s a decidedly clubby feel here, reinforced by accoutrements like leather-bound books, cut-glass lamps and lovely glassware. Details are key – and beautifully observed – from the brass foot rail that finishes the main bar to the elaborate Escher-like mosaic flooring that recalls the Dutch artist in its mathematically precise patterning. The playlist chimes with the glam but not flashy vibe, regularly leaning old-school soul or rhythm and blues.
What drink to orderAntico is about elegantly escaping the everyday, and that calls for a cocktail. It has just eight regularly changing house cocktails and with this experienced team you know drinks will be beautifully balanced. The Daisy’s Hotel, for instance, will be properly sour, but the blend of Pampero Blanco rum, sharp kiwifruit and citrus is softened with the addition of Poire Williams, an eau-de-vie brandy full of ripe pear flavour. Pampero Blanco pops up again in the cutely named If You’re Not into Yoga, mixed with dry fino sherry, citrus and pineapple gently offset with coconut water. The Zombie Reviver, meanwhile, rocks Casamigos tequila, triple sec orange liqueur and pomelo blended with anise-flavoured pastis and a dash of citrusy Cocchi Americano aperitivo wine. The wine list is almost exclusively Italian, with just a couple of choices of red, white and sparkling, including a suitably smooth Venetian soave, a robust Chianti red and a prosecco. Beer-wise, Peroni Nastro Azzurro flies the tricolour alongside Stone & Wood’s Pacific Ale from Byron Bay.
Serving up a cocktail at Antico Bar in Brisbane
Italian-inspired snacks fit perfectly at Brisbane's Antico Bar
What to pair it withThere are just two suitably Italian-inspired snacking options here – order both and be done. Bruschetta arrives tomato-rich and dotted with fresh basil, while a stack of sourdough accompanies a plate of mortadella topped with a fat cream-filled round of burrata cheese. Brava!
Why we love itIf you’re a Brisbanite of a certain age who likes to drink well it’s an odds-on bet you’ll have visited Super Whatnot. Consequently, Antico has enormous boots to fill, but this potentially tricky transition has been accomplished seamlessly. Even die-hard Super Whatnot fans can see the tenancy is in great hands.
Don’t leave withoutPop upstairs to the toilets to check out the city’s cutest, most-decorative (and perhaps smallest) hand basins. Also pay attention to the lovely central bar flooring – constructed in Turkey, it’s made from thousands of tiny mosaic tiles.
Make it fancyIt won’t cost a million bucks but the 1 Million Dollars cocktail is the ticket if you want to feel a teeny bit special. Served in a Nick and Nora bell-shaped glass, it’s crafted from Pampero Anejo rum, fruity sloe gin and a light peach-flavoured apéritif called Rinquinquin (pronounced ran-can-can, if anyone asks), nicely zinged up with fresh passionfruit and citrus.
One of many cocktails you can order at Antico Bar in Brisbane
Authour image
Fiona DonnellyFood writer Fiona Donnelly turned her love of bars and restaurants into a career – and she’s still pinching herself.
Tags
Drinks DirectoryCasual catch-upPet friendlyBrisbaneBarGreat tunesFancy occasionKiller cocktailsDate nightParty vibesAfter work drinksRecently opened
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