Bar Ampere
Swamped by two bars, nosh by day & party all night
It was Cup Day night and we found ourselves at the new Bar Ampere. Complete with icy mint juleps, a whole turkey, banjos and harps, vermouth and pastis, we were taken to a new world – one that began in Paris, stopped in between at a scene from Deliverance and spat us out next door at Gin Palace. True story.
We now invite you to Vernon Chalker’s new place. He’s that guy behind Gin Palace, Collins Quarter and Madame Brussels.
It’s an eccentric place: an all-day café (7.30am start) and all-night bar (3am finish) that sits alongside an electrical substation. Hence the name Ampere, which is the unit measure of electric current. At first there’s the outdoor/indoor alcove, then a beauty of a bar that makes its name in pastis and a wine list owned by a single Rhone Valley winemaker.
Though the real story begins out back.
Notice the old farmyard gate, barred-up shutters and moss flooring (a.k.a. ‘the swamp’), then hit up the piano man for a mint julep.
Add Gin Palace to the mix and you’ve got two bars, one old and one new, connected by a decrepit patio overlooking swampland. And better yet, all this eccentricity is splashed with class.
As we said, true story!
Where: 16 Russell Pl, Melbourne
When: Mon–Sun | 7.30am–3am
Details: barampere.com.au
