There’s a jukebox, a pool table and a red neon Heartbreaker sign that you can spot from the street. 1970s rock and roll tunes are blaring into the wet night with the odd patron singing and dancing with her reflection.
This is Heartbreaker, The Everleigh’s younger sibling, a rebel at heart and she’s proud of it. At this new and buzzy Melbourne bar, there’s no mixing, no shaking and the cocktails come in bottles that are poured into a glass with hand-carved ice. Here, it’s about beer, shots, good times and rock and roll. And maybe making out in the corner as someone intimated in my ear.
Heartbreaker by Michael Madrusen of The Everleigh and Sebastian Reaburn (ex 1806, Lui Bar at Vue de Monde) is located at the corner of Russell and Lonsdale streets near the Chinatown end of Melbourne. The interior is bathed in a red glow with dim lighting, channeling a seedy yet seductive dive bar with many dark corners to lose yourself. It’s relentlessly loud and it’s just the way you want it.
The back bar has a focus on whisky, tequila and mezcal with Australian and American craft beers served in American pints size. Bottled cocktails come via The Everleigh Bottling Co with a choice of a (wet) Martini, an Old Fashioned, a Manhattan and a Negroni, the latter poured over a chunk of hand-carved Navy Strength ice. The Manhattan hit the right spot at that late hour when you sit perched at the bar lamenting the loss of late nightlife in Sydney.
There is Liquor to Go should you need a bottled cocktail fix in your own home. A food menu is yet to come so it’s smoked nuts in the meantime.
Heartbreaker is the sort of bar you stumble across and draws you in from the moment you walk in.
Heartbreaker
Address: 234a Russell St (Lonsdale Corner), Melbourne VIC 3000
Phone: (03) 9041 0856
Website: heartbreakerbar.com.au
Hours: Mon-Sat 5pm-3am; Sun 5-11pm. Bottle shop: 5-11pm daily.
Photo by Cocktails & Bars – © Copyright: All rights reserved.
