Tannic Teeth

It’s one of those places where you would go if you wanted to be seen.

That is, it has a VIP lounge, complete with red roped off barriers that overlook the ‘lower loft’ and bar. You would get to rub shoulders with the DJ on any given night and have first preference service. If you were lucky enough — Wolfe Lane has it for you.

Make no mistake about it. This bar is chic. Wolfe Lane echos a lofty ambition of New York – an air of exclusivity, dedecance and no expenses spared. It has high ceilings and modern low key furniture. For all the sparse decorations, the ceiling roses call the strongest from black lacquered candelabras. Less is more in this case.

The wines are a hotchpotch collection of left off centre – the beers also mimic that seam. Spirits are top shelf, and presented as you would expect. It’s a given for a bar who’s focus is on cocktails. For grumbling bellys there is a small tapas menu on offer.

Rumor has it that the Perth Fashion Festival 2009 will wind down there.

Wolfe Lane

Wolf Lane, off Murray St Perth

Phone 93224671

Wednesday – Saturday 2pm – 12am

Sunday 2pm – 10pm

Relax your purse strings and you’ll have a good time.

Here is another small bar that’s proudly Perth. Melbournites, I know you rule the roost for the Small Bar scene, but c’mon you have many more little laneways to play in. We make do with what we have, and if it’s the law chamber of an old Anglo-Dutch building, that suits us just fine.

Andaluz is one of those contemporary tapas bars. Offering a variety of tasty morsels from slow cooked rabbit and chorizo with lentils and pearl barley, to oysters with smoked tomato and Tabasco sorbet. I would still be a purist and order a fino sherry but then again I’d be temped by the international wine list or the menacing shelves of spirits on display.

The bar’s entrance is open and clean. Clever use of mirrors spawn an illusionary space that reflects the plush leather sofas beyond. Dim lighting, shadow streaked corners calling for private chit-chats are the order of the day. Break out your Romance languages and you’ll

feel right at home – though you might want to rely on ‘The Britanica’ on shelf to settle any linguistic disputes. The overall bar is, well, small. Conscientious interior design breaks up what would be a crowded bar into something mediated and tempered.

You would think the basement of a Federation-era building would hardly be the place for a Tapas Bar. But then again, you would be wrong.

Opening Hours

Noon – Midnight Monday to Thursday

Noon – 1am Friday

6pm – 1am Saturday

Basement Level, 21 Howard St, Perth CBD.

Bar hop to Helvetica when your tummy is full.

It’s one of those uber cool city bars where you’re going to have to stroll down a dark and dingy alleyway to find. Don’t ask me what I was doing down a dark and dingy alleyway to stumble across a small bar but it was worth it. OK I confess I was photographing a fellow small bar Andaluz (review coming soon) and the staff kindly showed me how to get there. The place is named after a font. Helvetica.

If first impressions count, then the entrance of Helvetica insists you have done your research. Or least have someone ‘in the know’ drag you along. It’s another city drinking establishment with a Small Bar license which means it caters to less than 100 people, and tea teetotals after twelve (extended permit for Helvetica pending).

This retro-urbaneqsue setup has an interesting beverage listing with a focus on Whisk(e)y. One may be inclined to call it a quasi-whisk(e)y bar. After all, clients may purchase bottles and have them shelved for storage, and staff will serve you from your (own) bottle every week with no extra cost. Cocktails, wine and beer form the usually holy trinity. There is a simple but good snack menu on offer. Anything more of in the way of culinary offerings is a case of watch this space.

So if the thought of queueing up next to bins and graffiti in your Sunday best on a Saturday night doesn’t dissuade you, give this place a go. The experience makes you appreciate the interior and a fine single malt a whole lot more.

Very cool. I like. I like.

Helvetica. 101 St Georges Tce (at rear and kinda off  Howard St) Perth, CBD.

Opening Hours

Sun, Mon, Tue by reservation

Wed/Thursday 3-12

Friday 12-12 (1am trading permit pending)

Saturday 4-12 (1am trading permit pending)

Sniff around Andaluz and you’ll find it.

For all the council development going on along William St, Northbridge, you’d hope some of the businesses would follow suit. This has happened on an interesting strip of shops, number 399 to be precise. It’s a small bar, cafe, diner eatery thingy which is hard to describe exactly. Call it what you will, the bottom line is it works. Utilising a limited menu (a kind of eat it or starve philosophy), you’ll eat the food – trust me. It works because they change the menu daily and the food is by default, always fresh. The wine list is limited but still well selected. Mulled wine on a winters day? I needed no convincing.

The third shop front next to a Vietnamese Noodle house and another cafe. Decked out in a baroque cum-rustic charm with delicious use of South West timber, Marri if I’m not mistaken. There is a charming little back courtyard complete with solid timber benches and plush cushions. Pull up a chair to the bar, or cozy up in a booth big enough for 6. It’s right in the Asian heart of Northbridge, with the good Yum-Cha scenes a stones throw away. Cafe during the day, small bar at night. Not that you’ll be craving Yum-Cha after a bacon and egg roll and Bloody Mary special ($15) on Sunday. Bloody ripper.

Bar 399. 399 William St, Northbridge.

Mon – Fri 8am to midnight Sat 10am to midnight Sun 10am to 10pm

Find the graffiti art mural and you’re there.

Following the Small Bars in Perth story covered previously, juicy new developments have taken place at my favourite little small bar ‘Alda’s’. It’s quickly becoming a hot spot for savvy city goers after a hectic week, but now, trading the coveted Saturday night enables them to skirt into territory the small bars of Subi and West Perth have had a monopoly on.

Annexing the bordering SAB fashion store, Alda’s has expanded their floor space making way for what I imagine would be a swish cocktail bar complete upstairs loft. Can’t wait till that’s all complete, till then an quirky beer and wine list on Saturday nights shall suffice.

Small Bars.

Taken from the Western Australian Department Racing, Gaming and Liquor, a small bar “is a type of hotel licence that permits the licensee to sell and supply liquor for consumption on premises only, to no more than 120 patrons at any one time”. Essentially it’s the inverse of large establishments, the focus is turned to more of a ‘cosy’ atmosphere perhaps something that could foster repour with the bar owner. And after all, we all want to know people behind the bar.

This brings me to the classic example of a small bar I stumbled into down a little alleyway in Perth. Alda’s is a small bar/ cafe hidden tucked down Wolfe lane. The semi industrial and modern decor work well to suggest something impromptu. The drinks list features some well selected vodkas, gins and aperitifs. Beers are not centre stage, though there they are reasonably priced and more or less mainstream boutique. Wines are quite well selected though I’d like to see something more experiment and edgy. It’s a  small bar that functions well as a cafe, or a glass-of-wine-sit-down affair. It’s a bit sedate for anything other than a casual chinwag.  Another small bar is due to open very soon which will make bar hopping a better experience.

Alda’s. Wolf Lane (off Murray St) Perth. Look for the iron gates.