Bobeche Review

Review by Julian Sherrington

The first thing that any newcomer will notice as they stroll through the door of this inner city gem is the aroma of popcorn filling their nostrils. The second will be the light, which is dark and dim, instantly creating an atmosphere that is simultaneously secret and intimate. Lamps adorn the bar’s corners and give off a fluorescence that creates the impression that one has left Perth for another bar in another city in another country. Anyone who has visited Hemmingway or Scott Fitzgerald’s Paris will recognize the ambience.

The decor is adorned with vintage advertising from our grandparent’s youth. One wall is adorned with a painted mural of a sad clown kissing an elderly woman. Perhaps you have even gone back in time. The music, scratchy as if played on an old gramophone, fills the interior with Bing Crosby, Big Jazz, and Edith Piaf.

But enough with the allusions, ‘popcorn’ I hear you ask? Free of charge and passed around in bowls by bar staff as you recline on a leather couch or prop yourself up on a bar stool. Bobeche has always been busy whenever I have frequented it. The age demographics cater to the night in question. However, young professionals working in the CBD are common after five o’clock and people may drop by for a pre drink before dinner at one of the CBD or Northbridge’s many fine restaurants.

The drinks menu is eclectic and exciting. One of the bar’s specialties is absinthe, with five labels on offer ranging in price from ten to twenty-two dollars. However, if the green fairy is perhaps too strong for your taste then you have options of beer, wine, gin, cider, rum, whiskey and cocktails to keep you afloat. There is something for everyone. The cocktail menu is particularly lovely, some of them themed to a certain time and place like the Jazz Age or the Madison Avenue Era of Mad Men.

The food on offer is limited; sandwiches occupy most of the menu and are not usually ordered. However, there are desserts (crème brulee) and snacks to order. People do not often come here to eat, so if you’re out for dinner make sure that you make reservations elsewhere.

The bar staff are dapper and professional; hipster beards seem to be a requirement for any man looking to work there. Service is always prompt and your drinks will be made with precision and care. The bar opens at four o’clock and operates until midnight on weekdays, weekend nights finish at two o’clock the next morning. Happy hour is between five and six, Monday to Saturday.

Although the bar’s unique and alternative vibrancy is not to everyone’s taste, for many people (including this reviewer) it is the first and in some cases the final spot for any night spent in the city. You will not find any other bar like it. A must!

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