The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry | A Sydney Food Blog

Arcadia Liquors, Redfern

June 28th, 2012  |  Published in Bars  |  2 Comments

Arcadia Liquors, Redfern Arcadia Liquors in Redfern is a fine hideout on a cold winter night – as Matt and I discovered on Tuesday, eating ourselves into toastie comas. The staff made him a “joke” sambo, so big that it hardly fit into the griller. They warned him it was so large and crammed with ham and cheese that it might actually kill him. He survived and ended up with seconds.

I nursed an Escanciador cider as he played beerspotting, giving me a breakdown of every bottle he recognised on the bar’s shelves. Alongside all these variations on alcohol are old, curiosity-sparking knick-knacks (provenance: either “long story” or “Mitchell Road Auction House”). Arcadia Liquors has a small-bar feel – with better legroom. There’s a lot more space than your XS-sized usual suspect, but the personality’s still there. I liked that slow-lane feel of sitting there, losing track of time to cold drinks, an encore round of toasted sandwiches and an unhurried loop of Gillian Welch songs. Time (The Revelator) is still such a great album and this is a fine new bar.

Arcadia Liquors, Redfern

I read in Broadsheet that owners/barkeepers Brett Pritchard and David Jank (The Old Fitzroy) are thinking of having live music at Arcadia Liquors and more cocktails are going to sneak their way onto the drinks list. What they’re already doing is pretty cool and, as my friend Jo noted, the mulled wine is unmissable – the perfect tonic for handling winter’s temperature drops.

And with a name like Arcadia, lush greenery is a prerequisite – so the bar has an outdoor section, with a vertical garden running down one wall. I wonder if you can hear the Gillian Welch soundtrack out there, too.

Arcadia Liquors, 7 Cope Street, Redfern NSW www.arcadialiquors.com. You can follow Arcadia Liquors on Facebook.

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2 Comments

  1. Anonymous says:

    Yeah, Arcadia Liquors f’n rocks!!! Not too many new age latte sipping hipsters either which is a nice change.
    Well done to Brett and Dave for giving Redfern another reason to be proud!! Get in for a Spaten or a Franzie, at least I know where I’m going Friday evening :0)

  2. Anonymous says:

    I went to Arcadia Liquors after reading this review. It turned out to be a very cosy and very friendly place to have a drink and some conversation. There was some mulled wine brewing on the bar and the bartender had just added some cloves to the mix. It seems like a good place to be on a winter’s evening, or during any other season. I hope that this place does well and we see more operations of this kind happening around town.

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Hi, I'm Lee Tran Lam. When not blogging with my mouth full, I'm usually writing, presenting Local Fidelity on FBi radio, making zines, producing podcasts or continually breaking promises about how I really am gonna get through my book pile one day.

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This is a blog about eating and drinking in Sydney, Australia (with the odd cross-border or off-topic detour). BYO appetite.

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