When it comes to cocktail bars in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, they are far and few in between.
Charlie Parker’s
Charlie Parker’s is a new bar by Merivale located beneath the newly-opened Fred’s, a restaurant led by Chef Danielle Alvarez.
Basement Level
Descend the stairs and you might get a familiar feeling among the exposed bricks, the warm subdued lighting and basement feel.
Cosy Room
There’s a cosy, romantic room that invites intimate conversations,
Open Kitchen
and an open kitchen with a banquette and table seating. Continue along and you’ll find tables that line up the corridor that leads to the bar.
On first impression, Charlie Parker’s may seem familiar but this is a bar at the forefront of innovation. Much like chefs adopting the nose-to-tail approach, the bar team takes the chefs’ approach to extracting flavour and reassembling it into a cocktail. Every part of the plant is put to use from nuts and flowers to stems and soil. The team uses equipment such as immersion circulators, vacuum chambers and rotovap for evaporation infusion to create distillates and flavours that go into the cocktails. Click here for a more in-depth article on the cocktail methodology.
Charlie Parker’s Menu
The spiral bound menu is to be admired. Inspired by the notebooks used to arrive the menu, it features fonts and titles that give the illusion of being handwritten by pen, ink, pencil including notes “stuck” on the paper with sticky tape. Inside the pages, the spirits are presented under their category (vodka, gin and so forth) with key information such as origin, Producer/Distiller, Description and Tasting Notes – much like one does when taking personal notes during tastings.
The produce-led cocktail menu changes with the seasons. Eight cocktails ($19 each) feature on the opening menu, listed under the Botanical Drink Classification, from Nut & Fruit to Root & Soil. The drinks don’t bear names, but a list of key ingredients that one is accustomed to seeing on some restaurant menus.
Burnt Pecan; Rosemary Almonds
The Burnt Pecan, Pisco, Mandarin Reduction, Oloroso is a cocktail that exemplifies the end to end approach at Charlie Parker’s. Every part of the mandarin and pecan is used in the making of the drink. The juice from the mandarins is turned into a concentrate. The pulp is broken down, dehydrated and turned into leather used as garnish. The skin is dried and turned into mandarin bitter. Pecan shells are used to smoke the Pisco and the nuts go into making orgeat.
The cocktail is a tall swizzle style drink that bursts with the brightness of mandarin along with a little smoke, the nuttiness of the pecan with sherry notes on the finish. It’s vibrant and refreshing, a good choice to start the evening.
Parsley Stem, Manzanilla, Citrus, Chartreuse
Parsley Stem, Manzanilla, Citrus, Chartreuse is a riff on The Last Word with parsley root distillate from the rotovap. It gives the drink a herbaceous burst, clean bright savoury notes with a punchy citrus flavour. Powdered sugar coats the side of the glass providing contrast against the green dehydrated parsley leaf garnish.
[Centennial Park]
Some cocktails have a word or two that evoke a feeling or a location. Kikuyu Grass, Nasturtium, Jasmine is dubbed as [Centennial Park]. Take a sip, close your eyes and you’ll be there. The cocktail has light and delicate floral notes, grassy herbal undertones with the pepperiness of nasturtium and a hint of jasmine on the finish. Simply superb.
[Forest Floor]
Scotch, Redwood Bark, Stone Wash captures the essence of the [Forest Floor] and this cocktail pushes the boundaries in innovation. Whisky is washed over schist pavers which are broken down into dust and put into sous vide then through the rotovap. The resulting distillate is mixed with Talisker whisky for a smoky and earthy flavour, Dom Benedictine, and served with a piece of schist and redwood bark as garnish. The drink is finished with a spray infusion of moss and riverbank. If you’re a fan of peated whiskies, this is the drink we recommend to savour at the end of the night.
Marinated Beetroot, Walnuts, Feta
Aside from the cocktails, a couple of sodas and a solid wine list, a concise food menu is put together by chef Danielle Alvarez of Fred’s restaurant upstairs. Items include Gem Lettuces, Herb Dressing, Breadcrumbs, Sliced Porchetta, Giardiniera, Bread; and Veal Tartare Caesar, Pangrattao and Pecorino. Shown above is a salad of Marinated Beetroot, Walnuts, Feta ($14) that complements some of the lighter drinks.
Flatbread
For something a little more filling to prepare the stomach for more cocktails, the wood-fired Flatbread of the Day ($24), shown here with Pecorino and Jerusalem artichoke is big on flavour.
Charlie Parker’s brings a innovative perspective to Sydney’s bar scene. The project by Sam Egerton (Head of Operations of Paddington Precinct) and Toby Marshall (Venue Manager) took two years to complete and the level of care and originality carries throughout. From the warm welcome that makes you feel like a regular, to the finesse of the cocktails and the overall experience that pulls you back like a magnet.
At heart, Charlie Parker’s remains a neighbourhood style bar and it is a much needed addition to Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
Charlie Parker’s
380 Oxford Street, Paddington, Sydney
Hours: Tue to Thu 5pm –midnight; Fri 12pm – midnight; Sat 12pm – midnight; Sun 12 pm – 10pm
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