Hunky Dory Social Club

Editorial

What is happening, Darlo? Once, we looked to you for ready, rowdy roughhouses that refused gentrification with the force of a convict who’d raided the King’s rum. Now, we visit the 2010 when Melbourne’s bar scene gets too loud. Darlo, darling, how you’ve grown.

The Hunky Dory Social Club is one of a growing, but very polite, army of bars that has turned its back on Sydney’s hose-out traditions and looked instead to the nicer parts of Melbourne and New York for inspiration. Now, a girl can enjoy a tipple in her best frock without competing for the attention hogged by poker machines. Now, a boy can order a posh drink without fear of recrimination.

With its vintage flourishes and oodles of quirk, that include menus presented in Little Golden Books, this place almost out-Melbournes Melbourne. But, not quite. The down-at-heel dandy look might feel just a little too twee for some.

But, heck, with a new era of proper hospitality and classic cocktails upon us, we can forgive a few bijou fixtures. And, with such fabulous outdoor seating and so many months of the year to enjoy it, we can eel smug that we’re not in cold, cold Melbourne or freezing New York.

Snaps to the HDSC for extending the local language of the bar.

SM King, November 2010