By Ian Neubauer
A Manhattan-themed nightclub and restaurant spread across three separate levels opened in Sydney’s Kings Cross today. Named Springfield, the Darlinghurst Road venue features a gallery level, an open-plan main floor level and a dark and intimate subterranean lounge bar.
“The main concept we brought back from New York and Los Angeles is that there doesn’t have to be such a distinction between restaurants and bars,” said Springfield licensee, Erica Goldfinch. “Venues can be a bit more multi-dimensional and the idea was to create a space that felt like it didn’t have rules. You don’t have to eat in a certain section and drink in another area. Everything in Sydney is either a bar, a restaurant or a club and we want to mix it up and be a bit of everything.”
Subscribing to the supper club concept, Springfield serves food until the early hours of dawn and, in keeping with the ‘no rules’ theme, all drinks and dishes are available anywhere throughout the venue. Both the menu and the wine list focus heavily on locally sourced produce and brands.
Springfield is also emblematic of the increasing sophistication of Sydney’s most notorious district which, despite rapid gentrification, is still a hotbed for prostitution, drugs and crime. Springfield opened shortly after the launch of Trademark -— Sydney’s most exclusive new nightclub located under Kings Cross’ iconic Coca-Cola sign — and precedes the much-anticipated launch of the new Barclay Hotel on Bayswater Road.