Sydney’s best cocktail bar, Eau de Vie, has always hidden behind the misleading entrance to The Kirketon’s toilets, taking some know-how to locate its cocktail nirvana.

Now, Sven Almenning – with his tendency to pop Champagne with a sabre – and partner Graham Ette have produced a sequel in Potts Point, but this time in full street view. Welcome to The Roosevelt, which leaves EDV’s Prohibition ’30s behind and brings you into the 1940s.

So does the name conjure FDR or Teddy? Well, neither. It actually heeds the site’s past life as the nightclub of legendary Kings Cross kingpin, Abe Saffron, who enlisted Frank Sinatra to perform here back in the day. The crims may be gone (hopefully), but there are aims to reproduce some of Saffron’s glitz. There’s the cabinet display of antique cocktail shakers – once admired by The Collectors – Deco-style furnishings, and special attention to tiki drinks, that popular Forties tipple.

What’s old is also new. Take the ‘Escape From Zombie Mountain’, a tiki concoction of rum, absinthe, passionfruit, muddled grapes and apple juice, wafted with a smoking gun. Whodunnit? We know. Or get your molecular mixology fix with a Nitro Colada via a travelling cocktail cart, where pineapple, coconut cream and rum are transformed into sorbet and topped with meringue blowtorched in front of you.

Yes, there’s showmanship aplenty at The Roosevelt, and no more than in the back room, where chef David Leitzen – a veteran of Germany’s 3-Michelin La Vie – is pairing a five-course cocktail and dinner degustation.

Shhh, each night’s menu is a secret. But we can tell you this. There are dual 5-metre-long tables sitting 18 people apiece, each with ice wells running down the centre, keeping your drinks, spirits and maybe even your food chilled. Cajun, Mexican and raw food might be in the mix. It’s $150 for the whole eat/drink enchilada, and it hasn’t started yet.

Oh yeah, and there are hidden private rooms we’re not supposed to tell anyone about. Intrigued? That makes two of us.

Where: 32 Orwell St, Potts Point
Hours: 7 days | 5pm-midnight
Phone: 0422 263 226
Details: theroosevelt.com.au

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