Treasure in the Attic for Black Pearl (video)

By Sacha Delfosse

One of the jewels in Melbourne’s cocktail crown, The Black Pearl, officially opened its upstairs bar yesterday (May 5) after many years of discussing and planning its launch.

The new room, named The Attic, occupies the second floor of The Black Pearl in a space that used to be a storage area, which has now been developed into an old styled wood furbished salon with capacity for up to 60 people.

While aiming to be both an extension of the downstairs bar and a stand-alone space, The Attic is fitted with a balance of booths and communal tables for larger groups and smaller intimate seating for couples.

“It will be all table service without being too wanky, similar to what we do downstairs except up here we’ll come to you instead of you coming to us,” Black Pearl bar manager, Chris Hysted, said

The Attic has been 'a work in progress' since the days when Robb Sloan was The Black Pearl bar manager, with Hysted conceding the delays have become an industry inside joke.

The Black Pearl held a soft launch on Sunday May 1 for family and friends, as well as hosting a Ron Zacapa industry event on May 3, and will initially be trading on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

“And then when it picks up we’ll be looking at making it everyday, and try and use it for industry events and cocktail competitions and things like that,” Hysted said.

The food menu will be seasonal and constantly changing, while the spirit selection is much more refined and regionalised than the downstairs bar, with a cocktail menu catering to a more mature taste.

“The big idea we had when we we’re setting it up was I suppose a less is more approach to it, so instead of having a back bar with a bottle of absolutely everything we just wanted to do everything really well but smaller,” Hysted explained.

“So in terms of spirit selections we keep it quite regionalised in terms of the way the menu has been put together. The wine selection though not being monstrous is a really good representation of everything, as well as the beer selection which we’re very happy about.”

Click on the clip below for a short introduction to The Attic.