Bar Outro makes a temporary home on Lonsdale Street. Photo: Ash St George.
It was late and I was hungry.
Dinner after 8 pm in Braddon on a weekday can be hit-and-miss, but I knew that Bar Outro was a sure thing. On quiet nights, they serve dinner til 9, and from Thursday to Saturday, you can eat until midnight.
Perching at the window bar gives you the best people-watching view on Lonsdale Street. It also puts you in a prime position to check out the stereo set-up of this vinyl bar. If you’re chatting with a group, you’ll miss the magic of the turntables switching between funk and soul, but I had a lovely time checking out the disco instrumentals and a surprisingly chic ABBA cover in what I’m fairly sure was Japanese. I’m a sucker for obscure retro records (ask me about my disco remix of the I Love Lucy theme), and I’d take the atmosphere of vinyl over Spotify any day.
A gimlet (half drunk) and snacks – yes, please. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
This is my second visit to Outro and despite a tempting list of cocktails, I can’t resist coming back for a favourite: the gimlet. On my first visit, it was listed as tomato, and this time it’s strawberry (although tomato is still an ingredient) with saltbush. This drink is smooth, savoury and endlessly sip-able, with a giant ice cube keeping the whole thing bracingly cold.
Snacks on the menu are not cheap but offer plenty of bang for your buck in terms of flavour. The potato terrine with south coast tuna tartare and salmon roe is a clever fish’n’chip mouthful. Pops of roe and tart ponzu balance the rich tuna and crunchy potato. The smoked eel on cucumber with finger lime is small but mighty and perfectly balanced on a dime. It’s creamy, crunchy, refreshing and zesty all in one mouthful with a lingering finish of smokiness that had me licking my lips.
Enjoy ricotta scarpinocc with a side of retro tunes. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
Tempted as I am by the Wagyu bavette steak, I decided to try the scarpinocc: bon-bon-shaped pasta parcels filled with creamy ricotta, served with burnt butter, pangrattato breadcrumbs, and a few sweet golden raisins. Just as I was feeling that I needed a hit of some acid to balance out the dish, I took a long sip of the dry German Riesling from the BTG list and felt equilibrium return to my palate. Ahh …
My first visit to Bar Outro took advantage of their late-night supper menu (perfect for a post-gig feed), which features their dry-aged cheeseburger. We also managed to sweet-talk our way into ordering the house-made flatbread with chicken skin butter (it’s as good as it sounds). The cheeseburger comes with epic bacon jam, proper pickles, sweet onion, and a super-soft bun. It’s a little bit sloppy (as all late-night feeds should be) and a lot delicious.
Bar Outro is a temporary venue as the building it’s housed in is slated for redevelopment in the next few years. I hope it finds a permanent home eventually, but for now, you can find me at the bar, listening to records and drinking a gimlet while watching the people of Braddon wander past.
Bar Outro is located at 3/9 Lonsdale St, Braddon. They are open for dinner from Wednesday to Monday, 5 pm to 9 pm, and for supper from Thursday to Saturday, 9 pm until midnight. Lunch is served Friday and Saturday from 12 to 2 pm, and drinks are available Thursday to Saturday until late. Follow Bar Outro on Instagram.
