Shabooh Shoobah

Shabooh Shoobah is spread across two shopfronts, both with large windows onto the street, giving a great sense of space that encourages you to sit back and see where the night takes you. One room has inviting red banquettes, a splash of colour against the artfully weathered walls. There’s more seating around the sizeable timber and marble bar in the other room, which doubles as the kitchen and DJ booth. Music here is vinyl-driven with the dial switched to eclectic – droning electric guitars and angsty vocals might be followed by sweeter, sunnier unplugged sounds or good-time Italo disco. 

The kitchen is a pretty basic affair, though the flavours emerging from it are anything but. It’s all wine-friendly stuff, whether you’re talking the gildas, little skewers spiked with marinated artichoke, quail egg, spicy pickled peppers and a wedge of Manchego cheese, or a sensational combination of creamy mozzarella-like stracciatella teamed with braised peppers and crisp curry leaves. Something meatier, perhaps? Try the excellent Polish sausage served with witlof and mustard. 

It’s easy to pick a wine match from the two-page list. It divides its time mainly between Victoria and Europe, so you might find an Australian vermentino rubbing shoulders with a citrusy catarratto from Sicily. And given the bar’s local status, it caters to a range of tastes with funky skin-contact wines alongside the more old-school refined drops. There are around a dozen options by the glass, though bottle prices are kept at very reasonable levels so it won’t take much convincing to treat yourself and scale up to a bottle of decent Burgundy or sparkling rosé. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself lingering here past the quick glass of wine you’d intended. It’s a place of subtle pleasures that reveal themselves over time.