Lui Bar at Vue de Monde

The Lui Bar at Shannon Bennett’s Vue de Monde on the Rialto Towers’ 55th floor is a mix of dim lighting, dark interiors, Australiana-inspired bar food and cocktails that are second to none.

Part of Bennett’s transformation of the former observation deck, the swish venue – named after the concreter Luigi Grollo (the Rialto would not exist if it weren't for him) – offers a romantic 360-degree view over a sparkling Melbourne night as you sip a Gin-ger Spritz.

At the spacious Lui Bar, locally made furniture is draped in Sonia Rykiel fabric, and scattered about with astute consideration. A stone circular bar takes pride of place, while window seating makes the most of remarkable views. The bar menu is printed on paper that you can take home, soak in water and plant to become a lemon-scented bottle brush tree – like magic – and it’s made up of cocktails crafted by a busy team of well-dressed bartenders (outfitted by Akira and M.J Bale) under the guidance of Sebastian Reaburn (ex-1806).

It might include a Native Southside or a Million Dollar Baby. These can be sipped with bar food like a Western Australian marron roll, cheese and truffle damper and fried chicken with osetra caviar. It all has a nice Australiana and Ballarat goldfields swing to it, albeit with stellar city views.