Rabbit Hole Bar & Dining
“Pick it up, flip it over, try to catch the balls in your mouth,” says Doug Laming with a cheeky grin. He’s tall, tattooed and handsome, and at only 26, a surprisingly sophisticated molecular mixologist. The balls in question contain tequila, sugar syrup, and Cointreau, and together with a lick of salt balanced upon a lime, they form Doug Laming’s Margarita ($12). Consuming it is sexy; ditto watching him use more spherification to form the “olive” in your (well-balanced) Martini Magic ($21). What’s clever about his cocktails is taking something familiar, like a gin and tonic, and improving it: the Jellied G & T ($11) – basically a Hendrick’s gin and tonic jelly cube that fizzes on your tongue. A whisker of LSD would improve it further; after all, the bar (owned by Doug and his partner Georgie Dodds) is called the Rabbit Hole! Similarly, offerings from Chef Tomoyuki Usui’s kitchen take a Ferran-Adria-for-beginners track; modernising familiar dishes like roast chicken and potato into Sous Vide Chicken Breast, Roast Thigh, Potato Puree, Crisp Potato Cubes, Potato Film and Passion Fruit ($32). (Despite how it reads, it’s friendly, filling and accessible.) Tiede Wagyu Tartare, Onsen Egg and Truffle Meringue ($21) and the brulee-style Strawberry Mousse ($19) (think: shortcake) dessert also generate smiles!
Rabbit Hole Bar & Dining
Basement Level, 82 Elizabeth Street, Sydney
Ph: (02) 8084 2505 rabbitholebar.com.au
Bar, Modern Australian, Cocktails $$$$
