Chilled cocktails, fine wines, hot pizza and cold beer served up in an innovative space make Dusk Bar an arty hit for designer pre-drinks.
The word 'dusk' conjures up all kinds of images: chilled beers at twilight, long summer evenings sipping cocktails or slipping from the sand dunes to a steamy bar at sundown. Down the quiet end of Fitzroy Street, Dusk Bar has it covered.
In danger of being obscured by its noisy neighbour, the Elephant and Wheelbarrow, Dusk is a tiny bar with a big beachy vibe and refuses to be overshadowed by all the others on the strip.
A thatched fence creatively cordons in the kerbside seating which overlooks the St Kilda Junction parkland, but it is the interior decor that is truly inventive. Dusk has used recycled building materials to compose jigsaw floorboards, seats and tables from underground cable reels and enormous lampshades from reflective CDs. The new spin on DIY decor earned this clever boozer both best hospitality fit out and overall excellence at the 2007 Interior Design Awards.
That's not to forget the beverage menu, which includes freshly blended seasonal cocktails and an extensive selection of local and New Zealand wines. The beer selection has the old faithfuls on tap and a variety of bottled boutique ales.
The bar kitchen is open from Wednesday to Sunday, with $6 specials on their freshly prepared thin-crust pizzas, making Dusk an ideal place for dinner and drinks before hitting one of the nearby DJ haunts.
Maya Linden
