It also comes with a city skyline view.
Melbourne’ newest bar doesn’t have any fancy signs or neon lighting to guide your way. Instead, you’ll need to take a lift 46 floors up, through a gold door and bright pink foyer. Cloakroom bar, however, isn’t just your normal everyday run of the mill bar. Most people imagine sipping cocktails and drinking wine by the glass whilst enjoying impressive views of Melbourne’s city skyline. But things work differently at this intimate 40 person bar – it also operates as a bespoke men’s tailor for custom suits.
Cloakroom’s humble roots began in Brisbane 2007. It originally opened as an all tailoring service, with suits coming out of Hong Kong. Business partners Andrew Byrne, Callum O’Sullivan, Louis Ialenti, Jonathan Hallinan and Aidan Chappel then saw production move to the bustling city of Tokyo, and the idea of the suit slash bar combination in Melbourne was born.
Wanting to pay homage to the Japanese craftsmanship, you’ll find the country’s influence throughout the bar’s styling. Touches of minimalistic and clean Japanese design are sprawled across the venue, with the darker tones giving a hint to Japanese nightlife. Enter the tailor on the left, and head onto the rooftop bar on the right. Both areas, though separate, are connected by a large glass cabinet, giving full access to a view of one another.
When speaking of the suits, O’Sullivan remarks “[The suits are] true ‘made to measure’. They’re cut by laser and assembled by hand, which means they’re millimetre perfect every time,”
Lots of tailors will offer only whisky when you’re sitting down for a custom suit. But at Cloakroom Bar, they’ve introduced a custom 10 cocktail list with infused liqueurs, house-smoked preserves and reductions. The experience is highly exclusive, with only 3 bar staff working at a given time. Drinks are also heavily inspired by Japan such as the Day 1 cocktail.
“It’s a Japanese-like vodka Martini with sake,” Manager Tony Huang says. “The pickled cherry tomato is like a construct of the Japanese breakfast – you’ve got miso, rice vinegar, seaweed – a little bit sour, a little bit bitter, a little sweet. Tomato gives umami.”
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