Sorry folks, you all missed out on a truly great event. It’s okay though, because it was the launch of a whole month of equally brilliant nights of live music.
To celebrate ten years of the venues existence, Yelp took over the beautiful Horse Bazaar, hidden in plain sight on Little Lonsdale street, a cozy dark space with a prominently featured bar and plenty of cute little booths to take over as you and your friends drink and eat your night away.
The first important moment of the night was the taste of one of three custom cocktails created especially for the event and mixed for us by Joey from Baranows Emporium. Over the course of the night, we got a little taste of each of the drinks. The first, Samurai Sling, was a miss for me, I’ve had far too many bad experiences with tequila to be able to taste it without any major flashbacks, but my plus one enjoyed it far more than I. But the other two were heavenly – I never knew Finland made gin (more like GINland), but they do it well. We were allowed a sniff of the bottle and I’m fairly certain it could double as a perfume of sorts, but that may be just a side effect of my love affair with gin. I’ve also decided that no matter how old you are, novelty animal stirrer sticks will always be fun. Mel from Melbourne Cocktails and I got so excited over the tiny koala in my drink that the bartender busted out some 3D novelty cat sticks and I think the look on our faces made her night, goodness knows she made ours.
Not just a birthday bash, the night was also celebrating a new live music licence for Horse Bazaar – meaning a whole month of great live bands taking to the stage just for you.
When the band kicked off they instantly had my undying attention. The Lagerphones, a 6-piece local production, filled up the venue with noise. I wasn’t quite brave enough to start dancing (tequila tends to help with that though) but I was happily bopping in my chair. The ambience of the brass instruments reflecting with projections meant for the wall made it feel a little like art. The Lagerphones are some of Melbourne’s best (I noticed a few familiar faces from other local acts in the lineup), and they’re just the beginning of what’ll be happening at Horse Bazaar for the next month.
Eventually I was able to let myself get distracted from the music by the arrival of plate upon plate of beautiful Japanese food. Horse Bazaar’s cocktail skills are equally matched by their gastronomical skills. Not restricted to mako, we had a feast of tempura veggies with beautiful spicy sauce, succulently seared pork and plates of other delicate flavours. We met the owner of the venue and I had to shake her hand for creating such a wonderful menu and night for us all.
See you there for some more tasty food and lovely music!
– Jasmin Ashton
Jasmine is a PR student and designer from Melbourne who has a lot of feelings about pretty much everything. Find her at @Jasmanna.
Disclaimer: The Plus Ones were invited guests of Yelp Melbourne
