The Tinsel Bar
After making a name for herself crafting tinsel installations and dazzling tinsel jackets (the kind seen adorning the shoulders of Kesha, Alia Shawkat and Alice Ivy), Brisbane-based craft doyenne Rachel Burke is taking her glittery obsession to new heights. On Friday October 18, Rachel will be unveiling Brisbane’s most Instagrammable new bar and event space, The Tinsel Bar. Rachel will be collaborating with Maris Cook (Maeve Wine, Hello Please) to transform the former home of South Brisbane eatery and bar Ol’ School into a sparkling cavern of craft, cocktails and colour. Much like Rachel’s wearable art pieces, The Tinsel Bar’s interior will be vivid, swathed in tinsel and neon lights creating a multi-hued and textural wonderland. As for the consumables, The Tinsel Bar will operate as The Tinsel Deli during weekdays (hawking specialty sandwiches, toasties, salads and juices) from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm, and as a bar on Friday and Saturday nights. The nighttime offering is laden with nostalgia, with morsels including pop rocks, fairy bread, push-pops and bolognese toasties evoking cherished childhood memories. The Tinsel Bar will be available for private functions during the week and Rachel herself will be hosting regular art and craft themed events. We’ll have a close-up look at The Tinsel Bar when it opens just off Fish Lane later this month.
Banquet Bitch
If you are a fan of culinary collisions, mark Monday November 11 in your calendars – pop-up dinner series Banquet Bitch is out to blow minds. The brainchild of two young-gun chefs Leaham Claydon and Jake Warhurst, Banquet Bitch spawned when the two chefs (who are both members of the kitchen team at ARC Dining) connected over shared food philosophies and an itch to create an event that is oriented towards the hospitality crowd. As the two can attest, hospitality workers are on the job when most exciting food events are taking place – Banquet Bitch is a chance for that crowd (and non-hospo workers, of course) to gather and party with good food. The first Banquet Bitch event is taking place at Brooklyn Standard and will feature a menu that blends Jake’s interest in New American cuisine and Leaham’s Asian cookery training for a cross-over banquet boasting Chinese food styling and American ingredients and flavour profiles. The menu is still being developed, but we’ve been told guests can expect dishes such as pork and prawn siu mai with a Southern-style boil-up bisque, drunken turkey with cranberry and goji, spicy Dorito dan dan noodles and oolong tea Twinkies. As for the drinks, the Brooklyn Standard crew will be running the beverage program, but diners will be treated to an Oolong Island Iced Tea on arrival, which pays homage to the iconic Long Island iced tea. Tickets will officially go on sale on Monday October 21, with somewhere between 50–60 spaces available. Follow the Banquet Bitch Instagram page for more details.
Lucky Duck Club
Speaking of hospo-oriented pop-ups, industry veterans Nick Miles, Dave Marshall and Kyle Weir have come together to create brand-new venue concept, the Lucky Duck Club. Although Lucky Duck Club is a physical venue in the making, the crew has decided to give revellers a taste of their vision with a series of pop-up bar takeovers. The Lucky Duck Club crew is cruising through five Australian capital cities between now and the end of the year, giving punters a taste of what the venue will be all about. The Brisbane-based iteration of the tour will be pulling up at Brooklyn Standard on Saturday December 22 for one night of revelry, showcasing the forthcoming concept’s future plans for welcoming vibes, high standards and cheeky service with a mind-blowing food and beverage offering. On the night you can expect to catch a sneak peek of some of the music that the club’s walls will hear, the service, the uniforms and the team’s mouth-watering canned cocktails (which have been seriously elevated since the team’s first few takeovers). If you like the sound of gin fizz and clarified peach punch in a tinny, this is right up your alley. Entry is free – keep up to date with any further details over at the Facebook event page.
Stokehouse Q In The Sky
Although Stokehouse Q boasts one of the finest spots along South Bank’s riverside strip, a new one-off event is upping the ante in terms of location. On Saturday October 26, Stokehouse Q will be hosting an interactive seafood dinner atop the Goodwill Bridge, which connects South Bank’s parklands to Gardens Point over in the Brisbane CBD. Stokehouse Q’s new executive chef Ollie Hansford has designed the feast to include an interactive element, making it one part cooking class and one part fine-dining experience. Each course will give guests the chance to match their tastes to the ingredient options available, with dishes including the likes of DIY cobia ceviche and a four-senses salmon – the latter allowing diners the chance to dictate their preferred level of salt, sour, sweetness and bitterness. If this sounds like your kind of dinner event, you can purchase tickets here.
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