Liberally decorated with antiques, trinkets, ornate furniture, this spot is reminiscent of the Victorian period. Cocktails and tapas beckon.
This converted garage is easily spotted by looking along Victoria Street for a small cluster of gorgeous creatures, smoking and flirting at the bottom of a wide staircase like rebellious young peacocks, defying the no-nicotine policy inside.
Once inside, the Victoria Room is a British Raj-esque space, filled with an eclectic mishmash of restored antique chairs and tables, boudoir-style couches and individual lamps. The bar itself is well-equipped for serious cocktails and even has its own sugar cane press for extracting sugar hits.
Patronised by Sydney's funky and fashionable, the space is a hybrid of colonial gentlemen's club and 19th century house of burlesque.
A popular cocktail bar, the Victoria Room also offers a dimly lit and romantic restaurant space for dinner. The menu is predominantly Middle Eastern and Mediterranean tapas. These are a little more upmarket than your usual tapas, including such dishes as the fried haloumi, oven-roasted tomato, asparagus and basil salad; the tender veal with porcini and portobello mushrooms, parsley, sage and butter; and the spicy Moroccan style meatballs. On Friday and Saturday nights, the kitchen stays open between 11pm and 2am for supper - a pared-down menu of moreish (no pun intended) snacks.
If all this is a little too new world for you, on Saturday and Sunday afternoons you'll find high tea, where ladies and enlightened gentlemen can indulge in scones, cucumber sandwiches and tea (or champers if you're feeling a bit naughty). It's all frightfully civilised, dahling, and we wouldn't have it any other way.
Shelley Tustin
