Seven long-term friends with a passion of hospitality have joined forces on About Time, a pop-up bar and restaurant which will open its doors in Sydney’s CBD on 18 October.
Located on the corner of Hunter and Bligh streets, the venue will trade seven days a week, until the site’s scheduled demolition in late 2022, offering alfresco dining and drinking, with the unique addition of an open-air patio.
Hospitality lifers Ben Hickey and Naomi Palmer (Owners, The Roosevelt), Steve Davis (Venue Manager, Opera Bar), Tom Price (The Baxter Inn), Jono Carr (ex Liquid & Larder), Paul Oscar (Ambassador, Stone & Wood), and Shannon Ponsford (Head of Wine for an international wine exporter) have come together for the project, which will feature a grown-up, boozy take on the servo slushie, a housemade French onion dip with Jatz, and a reinvention of the roast lamb sandwich.
Steve said: “Obviously we’re surrounded by some of Sydney’s great steakhouses, so we don’t want to play in that pool. We’re bringing back the lamb sandwich – sourcing produce from family farms in New South Wales, roasting slowly over coals, and whacking on a soft, floury damper roll from St Malo Bakery with housemade mint jelly. We’re also adding the king of fancy freezer desserts to the menu, the almighty Viennetta.”
Jono will be designing drinks and overseeing the day-to-day operations as General Manager. Among the cocktails in the works, is a Pavlova Milk Punch and a Rocky Road Old-Fashioned.
He said: “The cocktails will be fun and approachable, made with care, using high-end spirits, quality ingredients and forward-thinking techniques. We’ll do all the fancy stuff before service to make sure guests get a delicious beverage, swiftly – I want it to be easy to have a good time here.”
Much like the bar itself, when something runs out, its time is up, as Shannon explained: “The venue is driven by quality rather than any specific regionality. Expect to see cracking examples of Australian wine alongside delicious European drops on a rotating list. If we can only get a few cases, when it’s gone – it’s gone.”
The spirit selection is set to follow the same ethos, with Tom and Ben using their expertise to oversee a strong back bar range. Brews aren’t forgotten, with plans for a balanced selection of tap favourites and craft tinnies curated by Paul.
