Forget the couch – it’s Wednesday, we’re going out, and Jess is picking the venue.
It was impossible for Jessica Nguyen – home cook and reason for most of our Insta food envy – to choose just five Melbourne bars, so we upped it to eight. Even then, it was a challenge for this creative to settle on her favourites. It’s part of her job to seek out the best new places and, without the restrictions of a traditional 9-to-5, it’s easy for weekdays and -ends to blur into one. But, aside from the obvious requirements of excellent food and drink, she has one other key criterion for a weeknight venue: flexibility.
Jess loves the type of place where you can float in without a booking and, ideally, grab a seat at the bar. “That’s always my favourite spot to be,” she says. In this post-lockdown, bookings-essential era, Jess is relishing being able to once again wander into a venue unannounced and enjoy an unplanned night unfold with friends – “The spontaneity is part of the fun.”
Jess is fresh off two weeks eating and drinking her way around New York. Can Melbourne on a Tuesday night really compare to a city that never hits snooze? Jess is sure of it. “New York has some beautiful upscale hotel bars – and they do divey, speakeasy bars so well – but Melbourne wins for representation and diversity of its venues,” she says. “You can see it in our wine and cocktail lists, too. We’re very experimental.”
During the week, Jess looks for al fresco seating as well as a cosy feel indoors. The picks from this self-confessed “drinks chameleon” include institutional wine bars Marion (“The chicken is iconic!”), City Wine Shop (“I love their orange wines”), and Kirk’s Wine Bar (“Kirk’s always finds a table for you somehow”). She gives all three the nod for their food, service and atmosphere being as incredible as their vinos.
The day we spoke, Jess was headed to IMAX to see the new Top Gun movie with friends, with a pit-stop at her Carlton favourite first. “Capitano is always my go-to before a movie. It’s relaxed enough to stroll in for a drink, they do a beautiful Negroni and the pizzas are phenomenal.”
Unsurprisingly, food is important to Jess. She welcomes the blur between bar and restaurant and Melbourne’s growing list of superb wine bars with stunning interiors and first-rate food suits her just right. “I love the fact you can have a couple of drinks, order some oysters or olives, a little croquette, and then head on to another restaurant,” she says. “Or sometimes you drop in for a quick wine and it turns into a full dinner and kicks on for hours afterwards. All of these places are perfect for that.”
Brunswick hub Etta is particularly special to Jess – not only for its renowned food and drink, but Head Chef Rosheen Kaul is her best friend’s sister. “Anyone who knows me knows I’m always there, even though I live on the other side of town and it’s a schlep for me to get there,” laughs Jess. “Everyone who loves food, loves Etta.”
“I’m also a massive cocktail girl,” Jess confirms. No surprise then that cocktail powerhouses Dessous, The Everleigh and Gimlet tie for her favourite spots to indulge in skillful mixology. There's a lot of specific cocktails worth making repeat visits for, but her favourite thing to do? "Leave it in the bartender's hands, tell them the kind of cocktail and flavours you like, and they’ll make you a bespoke cocktail to suit you!"
If there’s one thing Jess leaves me with, aside from a growing craving for Negronis, it’s that you don’t need an occasion to go out. “Melbourne has so much to offer,” says Jess.
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