Smoking cocktails, chicken katsu & gin bowls: elevate your midday at Midnight Bar

You may have wandered downstairs to Midnight Bar for an end-of-week wine or relaxing Sunday session, but if you’re yet to try the venue’s weekday lunch menu, you’re seriously missing out.

Inspired by the seasons, Midnight Bar offers an evolving list of well-balanced and elaborately presented cocktails, as well as an extensive list of local and international wines, beers and spirits. Complemented by a dynamic menu of simple food, done exceptionally well, Midnight Bar is primed to elevate your regular weekday lunches.

The bar’s modern and luxurious space captures the afternoon sun, allowing diners to bask in its warmth, whether they’re cosied up in a booth, positioned at the bar or settled on one of the inviting alfresco lounges.

If you’re on a time crunch, we recommend sharing a selection of small plates – think freshly shucked oysters, citrus cured scallops, corn ribs and prawn toast – for a delicious sample of the menu.

Otherwise opt for a bar classic such as a steak sandwich and chips, complete with grass-fed minute steak, mustard greens, and cheese. The chicken katsu sandwich with tonkatsu sauce and lotus root chips; slow roast pork belly with corn puree, jus and pork crackling; and spaghettini with cuttlefish, tomato, smoked butter and pangrattato are also firm favourites from Midnight Bar’s lunchtime offering.

On a hot summer’s day, it’s easy to be drawn to the gin bowl menu. Offering a selection of large gin cocktails, paired with flavoured Fever-Tree tonic water and garnish; they’re the perfect refresher.

The ever-changing signature cocktail menu has been refined by the skilled bar team and currently features ‘Campfire’ with Hennessy VS Cognac, apricot brandy, coconut, maple syrup and a torched marshmallow; ‘Peach Side’ with Canberra Distillery gin, peach schnapps, passionfruit, lime juice and simple syrup; and ‘Emerald Isle’ with Tanqueray gin, Chartreuse Green, dry vermouth, cucumber, lime juice and house-made mint syrup.

Don’t leave without trying the ‘Earth Bender’ signature cocktail; crafted with Chivas Regal, Crème de Mure, elderflower liqueur, ginger syrup and ginger and lemongrass tea, and presented with flair under a smoking cloche.

Midday at Midnight is available from 12pm weekdays, with walk-ins always welcome.

Or if it’s a late afternoon tipple you’re after, join Midnight Bar from 4-6pm daily for their Golden Hour, to enjoy great value on drinks and savoury plates and to bask in the afternoon glow with a drink in hand. Live in the Lounge has also started back up for the spring/summer season, with a local artist performing every Friday from 5pm.