MELBOURNE | Curious is a hidden Melbourne bar, located down an unassuming set of stairs on Market Street, just up from the new W Hotel of which it is a part of. Walk past the numerous clocks and down the spiral staircase, and you’re greeted with the dimly lit, cavernous space that is Curious.
The fitout is impressive. High ceilings with a canopy of timber beams at sharp angles, plush couches and chairs, and a muted, natural colour scheme. Subtle touches, like the aforementioned clocks and tiny rabbits, nod to Alice In Wonderland, hence the bar’s name.
The seasonally rotating drinks menu, created by bartender Charlie Ainsbury, is inspired by three of Melbourne’s cultural pillars: coffee, fashion and art. Blend 43 features roasted hemp seed infused vodka, spent coffee liqueur, and cold brew. The Estilette contains pisco, pear sorbet, sparkling wine, desert lime, while the Mixed Media is a concoction of rum, mango, coconut, Ancho chilli, passionfruit, ginger, cinnamon, and milk. All of the classics are also on hand, and it’s all made using local spirits and ingredients where possible.
If it’s not a cocktail that you’re after, there’s a great wine list, along with a small craft beer selection that’s a cut above what you’d expect to find at a bar like this. To round things off, some real effort has been put into the non-alcoholic offering.
To eat, it’s cheese and charcuterie, a raw bar, and small share bites like crispy chicken wings, beef tartare, and meat and vego sliders and tacos.
Curious
408 Flinders Lane
Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Australia
Telephone: (03) 9113 8862
E-mail: [email protected]
Website
Open
Tue – Thu: 3:00pm to 11:30pm
Fri: 3:00pm to 12:45am
Sat: 12:00pm to 12:45am
Sun: 3:00pm to 10:45pm