Bar Outro makes a temporary home on Lonsdale Street. Photo: Ash St George.
A building on Lonsdale Street slated for redevelopment is getting a new lease on life before the wrecking ball comes. The site formerly occupied by Rye Cafe has been transformed into a wine bar and listening lounge called Bar Outro – the name itself a nod to the bar’s temporary home.
Bar Outro is the latest venue from Anthony Ianelli and Sungyeol ‘Sunga’ Son, who are also behind Civic restaurant Terra, which recently underwent a hasty relocation to City West.
Anthony also runs Griffith Cafe Recess with Scott Brewer, and the three are using the launch of Outro to mark the beginning of their new hospitality group, The Good Life.
Although not intended to be permanent, Bar Outro still plans to make an impact. The space has been minimally altered but acoustically treated to transform it from a brunchy cafe to a late-night vinyl lounge.
“We didn’t want to go too overboard with the transient nature of the space. We’ve softened the edges of the original space, upgraded the sound and put together a menu of everything we feel like eating right now,” said Anthony.
“The idea is simple: come in for a drink and a feed and stick around for the music.”
The menu has bar snacks, clever cocktails, and minimum intervention wines. Photo: Ash St George.
Sunga has designed the food menu to be big on snacks, such as crispy pig head croquettes, house-made pickles, and South Coast oysters dressed with Japanese tosazu vinegar. More substantial dishes include wagyu bavette with smoked fat vinaigrette or chicken ballotine with tarragon jus and pomme purée (which is really just French for fancy mashed potatoes). Vegetarians can enjoy ricotta-filled scarpinocc pasta with brown butter, truffle and pecorino.
Between 10 pm and midnight, a late-night supper menu will feature dry-aged cheeseburgers (heaven for night owls!)
The drinks list leans towards minimal intervention wines and inventive cocktails like the Jaffa Old Fashioned (rum, coffee, Campari, spice) and a Strawberry Gimlet with tomato water and saltbush.
The space has been ‘softened’ from the Nordic-style of cafe Rye to create a night-time vibe. Photo: Ash St George.
Outro is being touted as a listening lounge, with thousands of records lining the back bar. Hi-fi nerds will appreciate the vintage JBL 4344 studio monitors, McIntosh amplifier, Technics 1200 MKII turntables and Omnitronics rotary mixer, and music lovers will love the sound quality. Rumour is that most of the fit-out was spent on the sound system, and this vintage vinyl nerd is certainly excited to see what’s spinning!
The ‘live fast, die young’ lifespan of Bar Outro is exciting, and may offer a blueprint for temporary pop-up bars to breathe life into precincts slated for redevelopment. The Good Life group has teased that they’ll be opening more venues in future.
Bar Outro opened its doors on Friday (1 August).
Outro is located at 3/9 Lonsdale Street, Braddon. They are open for lunch from 12 noon to 2:30 pm from Thursday to Sunday, and dinner from 5 pm to 9 pm from Wednesday to Monday. The late-night supper menu from 9:30 pm until late runs Thursday to Saturday. Closed Tuesdays.
Follow Bar Outro on Instagram. Follow The Good Life on Instagram.
Original Article published by Lucy Ridge on Region Canberra.
