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MELBOURNE | Concrete Boots Bar is a newish bar at the Swan Street end of Burnley Street that’s aiming to bring something a bit different to the rather dire offering that’s been presented to lovers of quality drink around this part of Richmond. The space is bright and airy, with large windows that open out onto the street and make most of the west facing alignment during the evenings. White walls and wooden furnishings help to create a simple, pleasant venue, with a variety of seating options leading to a table tennis table and DJ booth towards the rear.
The name Concrete Boots comes from the time when gangsters and criminals used to hang around this part of Melbourne, and those unlucky enough to cross them ended up in the Yarra River wearing ‘concrete boots’. In fact, the front door is peppered with bullet holes courtesy of infamous Melbourne criminal Squizzy Taylor. These days the area is safe, and the venue attracts a different sort of clientele, looking for tasty drinks and bar snacks.
Along the wall next to the bar is a chalkboard which lays out the entire menu. We like that there’s an equal focus on craft beer, wine, and cocktails here so that everyone will find a quality version of whatever their favoured tipple is. Drinks are mostly local, with around eight Victorian wines on offer, covering a range of styles, and around 10 beers on tap from breweries like Moon Dog, Mountain Goat, and Bodriggy. Cocktails have a local flavour too. The Australian Negroni, for example, uses Four Pillars gin, maidenii vermouth and red okar amarao.
The food menu features burgers and bar snacks, including several vegetarian and vegan options. The pulled jackfruit burger is a vegan option highlight that’s delicious, and we’d happily eat it again and again. If it’s a meat burger you want, there’s the ‘Squizzy’ with beef, cheese, bacon, onion rings, lettuce, tomato, pickles, aioli and BBQ sauce, and a fried chicken burger too. Another highlight is the avocado tartare, which sees avocado chopped to the texture of beef tartare and topped with an almost raw, runny egg and wafer crisp crackers. Less impressive are the famed Spam chips, which are deep fried pieces of Spam that are akin to eating pure salt. Stick to the tasty potato chips instead.
Concrete Boots Bar
381 Burnley Street
Richmond
Victoria 3121
Australia
Telephone: (03) 9029 8459
E-mail: [email protected]
Website
Open
Thu – Sat: 5:30pm to 1:00am
Sat: 12:00pm to 11:00pm