Union Electric Bar

If you listen carefully while you’re walking down Heffernan Lane, you’ll hear old school hip-hop and R&B. It may be tricky to find the party, but when you find the moss-green door, there’s a little World Class drinking venue waiting for you on the other side.

Huw Griffiths and his business partner Shane Whiteley restored this vacant property, keeping features such as the original bricks and timber ceiling structure above the bar.

With experience at The Royal Saxon, Madame Brussels and Le Bon Ton, Griffiths believes you don’t go to a bar to buy a drink, you go for an experience. And this is a comfortable and intimate space.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are key ingredients on the menu of modern tiki drinks. You'll find freshly-pressed apple juice, lemon, ginger and cucumber as regular features, alongside colourful botanicals and micro herbs. Various fresh fruits are placed in vinegar to form sweet shrub syrups, which can be enjoyed with or without alcohol. (Shrubs are vinegar-based fruit drinks mixed with spirits, water or carbonated water).

Quirky names accompany the cocktails; usually a nod to the hip-hop soundtrack playing over the speakers. For example, the California Love – a summer sipper made with Australian gin, fino, verjuice, makrut lime and fresh strawberry – is a nod to Tupac’s immortal anthem.

While this place doesn’t have a kitchen, guests are welcome to order in food from any of the neighbouring restaurants. And why wouldn’t you? Some of the city’s best Chinese food is just around the block.