The premise at Vinabar, a pint-sized joint in a happening part of Sydney’s CBD, is tight and terrific: a short list of Vietnamese-style cocktails and banging banh mis. Sold.
Vinabar owners Reymark Tesalona of Baby Rey’s Burgers in Marrickville and property developer Ashwin Arumugam may not seem like obvious contenders to open a Vietnamese-themed bar, but they’ve managed to make a strong showing. Both have travelled extensively through South-East Asia and brought a good stash of flavour knowledge back in their suitcases.
“Small Space, Big Dreams” reads a quote on the bar’s coasters, and the sentiment checks out. Guests enter through a door tricked out to look like a banh mi bar – it’s fitted with a shelf filled with sriracha and Vietnamese instant coffee. Inside, space is at a premium – around 20 people can fit comfortably scattered around tables and along the bar. The multicoloured, handmade lanterns suspended from the ceiling look like they should go some way to muffling the Hanoi laneway-level noise, but their purpose seems purely decorative. No matter – it’s all part of the atmosphere.
The Cà-Phê Martini is a potent potion – a thick and creamy eye-opener made with bone-rattling Vietnamese coffee, vodka, condensed milk and coconut, spiked with a choc-dipped Pocky stick to dial the calories up to full-fat. Others on the cocktail list include a Vinagroni featuring starfruit, and the Rumble In the Jungle, which centres lychee and rambutan around a vodka base.
For the alc-averse there’s also a mixed fruit Jungle Juice cocktail or Carlton Zero.
There’s always a clever special on offer as well and your server will clarify matters by drawing it onto a notepad so you get a sense of what you’re ordering. Perhaps it’ll be a neon pink dragonfruit number made with sour mango and rum, or it could be a foamy fluffball of gin, rosewater, citrus and egg white.
If you’re the member of your group who prefers to steer clear of frills and fancies, and just wants a plain old Manhattan or Moscow Mule, they also have a solid backbar, and can whip up any classic on request. Or pick from the short wine list of South Australia’s Millon Wines or bottled Hanoi Beer.
