Picture this: it’s a hot day in downtown Fukuoka, and you pass a vending machine selling the traditional Japanese vending machine things (Coke, Pepsi, bubble-tea, pizza and underpants).
Just any other street in downtown Fukuoka… …or is it!? (Takuya Miyano)
You pop some coins in and instead of getting a coca-cola back, the vending machine opens wide, revealing a set of stairs.
“This vending machine is a pub!” we imagine you saying to yourself as you descend the slightly steep steps into a dimly lit Izakaya.
You know that Izakaya means ‘Stay-drink-place” in English, so you grab a seat, ask for a sake and the special (cheese fondue yakitori, a kind of grilled chicken with veges and a cheese sauce dip) and stay-drink you do.
Be warned though: every other vending machine you visit from now will probably seem pretty dull.
The pub is hidden amongst other vending machines in Fukuoka’s Kasuga neighbourhood…see if you can find it.
At get lost we don’t spend a lot of time in tents. But if it meant trying a variety of expertly curated scotches and accompanying cigars, we probably would.
Meet Safari Tent: a two hour, private scotch and cigar tasting experience where you chill out in finely-decorated luxury tents, each with comfy old-man armchairs, rich wood floors, oriental rugs, wood plank ceilings and other rustic touches.
The tent is a pop-up in Rhode Island from Preserve, who do lots of cool shit like this, and the tastings themselves come from legendary brands Laphroaig and Cobina.
As well as this, there’s some charcuterie, chocolate and roasted nuts to go with. You’ll truly feel like royalty….in a tent.
You may have noticed we haven’t put the exact location of Toots in the ‘location’ section of this article. That is because we, err, can’t actually tell you.
Toots is Perth’s secret 70s disco bar. Dance to Boney M, Gloria Gaynor and more while sipping on Fruit Tingles, White Russians and the like. There is glitter, there is colour, and you’d better believe there are a lot of disco balls.
Located in another bar in Northbridge’s Chinatown precinct, we can’t share with you the exact location, but we can tell you that these are the steps to a good night at Toots:
🍷 Find the ‘front’ bar.
🍷 Kindly ask the bartender if “Toots is in?”⠀
🍷 Get your golden ticket and follow the instructions to the secret door.⠀
As if we needed another reason to visit Tassie, the team behind Forty Spotted Gin have just gone and opened a bar. Hidden away from Hobart’s main strip, the venue is a work of art, and has been built using thousands of individual pieces of timber joined together to symbolise the nest of a forty-spotted pardalote – one of the Apple Isle’s rarest birds and the gin brand’s namesake.
The entire Forty Spotted range is available to sip and sample, including the just-released half-strength Raspberry and Rose, plus there’s an impressive collection of more than 20 unique gins from right across the world. You can even book a 90-minute gin-blending masterclass at the ‘Ginstitute’, and take home your very own bespoke bottle of the good stuff.
The name says it all, really. Canberra’s cool new bottle shop-meets-bar is a mecca for lovers of quirky, out-of-this-world wines, especially varietals that are natural and organic. With a simple brick frontage it’s unassuming from the outside, and just as relaxed once you step inside, making it the perfect place for a cheeky after work drink or lazy Sunday sesh, or to quickly pop into on your way to dinner, when it’s BYO and you need to impress with a fancy drop.
Nibbles come in the form of marinated olives, La Luna Holy Goat Cheeses, Ortiz anchovies and charcuterie platters, which can be enjoyed at the huge communal table or even across the road at Hassett Park. Our pick of the vinos? You can’t go past the house rosé – thank us later.
Don’t be surprised if the name Slow Lane Brewing rings a bell. You’ve probably seen the cute, candy-coloured tinnies at your local independent bottle shop, and with some luck you’ve even tried – and most likely loved – one of the popular sours or pale ales. If that’s the case, you’ll be stoked to hear this husband and wife-owned brewery has just opened the doors to its Botany based warehouse and taproom.
Be prepared to do a double take at the wall lined with wine barrels (Slow Lane ferment many of its beers in aged oak barrels – it’s a European thing), before settling at one of the tables to enjoy a delicious froff, including a hoppy sour ale brewed using an experimental yeast strain discovered growing on a tree in a Philadelphia graveyard. Yep, that’s a thing.
Just when you thought Melbourne couldn’t possibly have any vacant rooftops left to spare, along comes Harlow. Formerly the Great Britain Hotel, after a handy 1.3 million-dollar refurb this new space is ready to go, and believe us when we say, she’s a real beauty.
With a capacity for 200 people (without restrictions, of course), there are plenty of spots to perch and either sip a Rockstar – an exclusive rooftop-only cocktail of watermelon-infused tequila, Cointreau, lime juice, watermelon simple syrup and chilli salt or knock back a parma or burger. They also do a boozy bottomless lunch, which we all know is the cool thing to do right now. But it’s the sweeping, uninterrupted city views that will have you returning time and time again.
The 80s are back, baby, but this time they’re cool! Neon Palms is a Miami Vice-inspired, pastel coloured fever dream serving up frozen slushies, a synth-heavy soundtrack and guaranteed good times. Located in the trendy Perth suburb of Northbridge, it’s the brainchild of hospitality pals Hayden Carter and Sasha Fagan, who met bartending at the Ritz-Carlton Perth and share a love of the whole Miami-in-the-80s aesthetic.
There are private booths to cosy up in, an outdoor courtyard lined with AstroTurf and custom neon signs adorning the walls, while the lurid-looking (and no doubt, tequila heavy) cocktails match the décor perfectly. If hunger strikes, Brazilian chef Marcelo Kretzer is dishing out mean Cubano sandwiches, and his signature homemade empanadas are an absolute must-eat.
As if you needed another excuse to visit Songbird – the outdoor terrace bar at The Ritz-Carlton in Perth – it has just launched a brand-new cocktail menu inspired by iconic Australian birds.
There are ten signature cocktails and six non-alcoholic options to choose from, and each has been expertly crafted using a blend of the finest native ingredients. Our favourites include Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo – a delightful pink-hued beverage made from Belvedere, river mint and spiced rum, and the Rainbow Bee-eater – a potent mix of Johnnie Walker Black, mountain pepper leaf and Giffard Apricot Du Rousillon.
Best enjoyed with a couple of share plates from Songbird’s new grazing menu, there’s no better spot in the city to watch as the sun goes down over the Swan River and Perth skyline than this exclusive rooftop location.
There are pubs, and then there are London pubs. They number in their thousands in this historical city, and the euphoria one gets from an afternoon of sipping a brown ale on a cobblestoned corner is unmatched.
And there is no pub more iconic than The Churchill Arms, where a love of the great wartime prime minister is as colourful as the flowers dripping from its eye-catching facade. Originally built in 1750, and located just a few streets from Kensington Palace, its walls are covered in Churchill memorabilia – and although Sir Winston never made his wartime broadcasts from the pub (as the legend goes), his grandparents did drink here regularly in the 1800s, which is cool enough for us.
The Churchill Arms was also the very first pub in London to serve Thai food, and the annual flower bill is believed to be more than AU$45,000.
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Just any other street in downtown Fukuoka… 
…or is it!? (Takuya Miyano)
