Gypsy Bar

A Very Small Bar in Paradise

By Amarande Chauvet

Brunswick Street is the place.

During the day, its European appeal attracts shoppers, cafe eaters, restaurant fanciers, and drinkers alike with some of the biggest range of bars - it is not surprising it is the place to be.

My first real trip to Melbourne took me on a wild ride with backpackers. Or should I say not so wild as I thought. After two days of thinking I could run naked through the rooms of the hostel with no one noticing I decided to make the first move and break the ice with some of the French and Polish. My object: get as much people together and hit the town.

I am glad to say: IT WORKED!

Not the naked part - I fortunately did not have to resort to it - for my social ego would have been very disheartened if it had been the case.

With a group well set up for enjoying a good time - and obviously also a cheap time - we headed out to test Melbourne's bar, and I am surprised to say that on two occasions we ended up in 334 Brunswick Street.

The Gypsy Bar, 334 Brunswick Street Fitzroy, is a very small bar - so small that twenty Americans could not fit in there.

Its minuscule single room is dark and elongated - with mirrors at the top - slightly resembling the fruit section at a supermarket. The Bar takes up most of the space, with seating tables along the side opposite some bar stools.

The place probably allows a maximum of 50 people in (but on statistics I could be well off).

What makes this place is its ambience and, despite its size, its different atmosphere in every corner.

The two or three tables on the street offer for those night lovers who desire a quiet drink, a relaxed place to sit and enjoy some sangria or imported beer, with some of the tapas of the day.

Now to the end of the Bar - where you'll discover nightclub enthusiasts on their low - I call it the drunken bench. It is the bench were a well deserved night out ends - with a few friends discussing philosophy and blocking the pathway to the bathroom.

Easy goers over populate the middle tables of the bar - enjoying the next door table's company - the word is girlfriend swap.

The occasional nightclub enthusiast sits at the bar - talking to the chatty bar tender'ess', while their friends tries to win a game of cards against us - nice try.

But the coolest place - the place were all the night action is - is the two sits out the window of the bar. From there, feeling on the top of a tower (a stool) offering a view of drunken night life in Fitzroy, you experience the power a king has over his subjects - or you can transform into the eventual casual flaneur, watching the night world open its arms.

But I digress� The Gypsy Bar is awesome for its little quirky personality and for its music.

My Melbourne nightlife visit got me flirting about groups of handsomely poor musicians style 1920s playing violin and guitar, while a small Melbourne city dweller rapped along. They were playing a gig at the Bar - and it is absolutely riveting to see such a small bar take interest into such different folk music.

They played beautifully and on a Tuesday night we rocked the house so much that its capacity doubled when all the while we blocked the entrance pretending to tap dance in heels.

We had so much fun that even the tough mafia looking man who walked down to tell us to be quiet joined the party after ten minutes.

On the Saturday following another band was playing - this time some 'over advanced rock 'n roll' and it was just as enjoyable. This time we had a bit more time to try out the drinks and the flirt.

With regards to the drinks, they are nothing amazingly special, neither is the food - but that is not why you go there. You still get a very decent sangria (my favourite), some good beers and quite a few interesting cocktails and liqueurs (a friend tried a 'Purple Peacock' - Absolute Kurant, Creme de Cacao, Frangelico, Cranberry, Nuts, Berries, Chocolate and Honey - and seemed to have enjoyed it - she was nearly on the bar trying to dance with the musicians (the drinks fault or hers, who knows...).

The Gypsy Bar is a night time paradise, a place of fun and personality where picking up is easy because you are practically already all on top of each other (and it is not a bad thing), where music sounds so good even the furniture is dancing and where the entire suburb lives on bohemian chic.