BEST NEW BAR Clooney Kitchen & Bar

This overachieving cocktail bar has given new shine to Port Melbourne’s nightlife

MELBOURNE’S CROWDED BAR scene is a rough sea to sail: standards are high, cutthrough is elusive, and attention spans fleeting. Pin-thin margins for error have new bars firing everything at their disposal, from frenetic online presences to media-baiting ‘concepts’ and madefor-instagram wares. Clooney Kitchen & Bar, in decidedly unfunky Port Melbourne, has none of these things – not even a dotcom website. We have to assume all that saved energy was channelled into the making of a bloody great bar.

Clooney might be young, but Shannon Mcfarland (The Rochester, Woodland House) and Will Crennan (Gin Palace, Collins Quarter) together have clocked decades in the industry, and it shows. The cocktail list confidently stretches from the elegant restraint of A Modest Proposal, in which local maker Starward Whisky is wrapped simply with the marmalade sweetness of botrytis riesling and fig leaf syrup, to the exuberance of their Screw Pine Delight, where mango-infused white rum, coconut milk, pandan and lime juice come together to invoke a revved-up melted Splice.

In the kitchen, Leigh Stanicic is also splicing textures and flavours, reaching across borders to

put white anchovy frito inside crisp lettuce cups with kewpie mayo, chilli and mint, or fold ribbons of jamón over whipped pea and pickled shallots – it calls to mind the savoury-sweet character of Cantonese barbecued meats. And for all the quiet diligence of the service and lavish Art Deco surrounds, there’s a playful undercurrent that reveals itself, first in the devoted list of holiday cocktails, then in maximalist snacks of truffled salami, truffled smooth kohlrabi and truffled pecorino on toast for a mere $7 – a triple-decker, umami-led dopamine hit. Another, please.

Almost every dish or cocktail makes you think, “I want to come back and have that again.” In each category they’re nailing the trifecta of delicious, balanced and different, and that’s before you even get to the far-reaching wine list and curiosity-drumming craft beer selection. Despite being located in a wedge of Melbourne that has a reputation for getting sleepy in the evening, it hasn’t taken long for the tables to fill up at Clooney. No website, no worries; it sounds like a recipe for modern self-care, maybe it’s also a good business model. 171 Bay St, Port Melbourne 3207. 03 9645 1568. Tue-sat 4pm-late.