Sydney bar blown away by group buying response

By Sacha Delfosse

The newly rebranded and refurbished Sydney restaurant and cocktail lounge, Le Cartel, has used a group buying website to get hundreds of punters into the bar to sample its cocktails.

Teaming up with Living Social, Le Cartel offered a cocktail degustation deal for $25 that was taken up by 1500 people over two days. They will have two months to book and claim the deal.

“What it’s doing is engaging customers to get out of their comfort zone and instead of paying $100 they are paying a little amount of money to try some good cocktails,” Le Cartel owner and operator, Ibrail Khan, said.

The cocktail degustation provides people with five different drinks including an aperitif, two different style Sours, a white wine sangria and a Daiquiri.

Khan said the offer is a good way to get new customers to come and experience the new changes that have been made to the venue since it rebranded from Kudu Lounge to Le Cartel in December.

Rather than just a new name, the venue received a complete overhaul, with Khan and his team introducing a new theme, new food menu and new concept for the place.

One of the key changes has been the introduction of a new food menu created by executive chef Raja Anand that fuses various styles of Asian cuisine, with a focus on fresh flavours and healthier eating options.
 
The new fit-out, design and art decorating the walls carries a modern Asian influence and the cocktail list that Khan has put together is designed to complement the food menu.

“The place is designed to be a one-stop-shop with quality food and cocktails and good music, seven days a week,” Khan said.

Apart from the Living Social deal, Le Cartel also offers a variety of specials on different days of the week, such as two-for-one cocktails on Tuesdays and a $39 five-course Asian food degustation on Wednesdays.