1. People laughing and chatting around a bar with a drinks fridge in the background.
    Monica Styles
  2. A record player under a lamp.
    Monica Styles
  3. Street view of a bar with red lighting and a neon-lit drinks fridge.
    Supplied
  4. Street view of a warmly lit bar with a bartender serving a customer.
    Supplied
  5. People gathered around a sunlit bar with drinks.
    Supplied
  • Bars | Wine bars
  • Brunswick

Bahama Gold

Old Palm Liquor's new neighbour is a funky wine bar serving up golden music, eccentric wines and snacks made with love

Lauren Dinse
Advertising

Time Out says

When spoken aloud in succession, the two words “bahama” and “gold” evoke the smoothness of a premium single-origin coffee brand. But come to this bar for coffee you do not; rather it’s a new wine bar and neighbour to sibling Old Palm Liquor. The name works because its wine list focuses on drops that are rare, meticulously taste-tested and singular - just like a good coffee should be.

Bahama Gold started out as a liquor delivery service in the dark days of lockdown, but has since transformed into a public bar and wine shop for the discerning explorer. The first thing you’ll notice upon walking into the cosy 12-seater is its warm golden lighting and generous outlook out onto the quietly hip Brunswick East end of Lygon Street. There seems to be no divide between inside the bar and outside, and passers-by spill in curiously.

Next, you’ll cast an eye over what is a very impressive sound system perched above the drinks fridge. Here it’s all about funky bottles, like pét nats and orange wines, and a bar-curated vinyl collection that will have you opening your Shazam app all night long. But don’t assume you won’t be fed well.

Though food isn’t necessarily the focus, Malaysian-born head chef Jane Low puts on a rotating menu of small plates that mark Bahama Gold as an interesting dining destination in its own right. While watching her chop fresh field mushrooms or preparing agnolotti by hand behind the bar, the level of comfort you feel is akin to being in the kitchen of someone you know well. 

Low’s freshly baked housemade Tuscan bread is a regular, though the toppings change at the pace of her whimsy. One night, it might be tomato sambal; the next, honey and goat’s curd. A chicken leg with salsa verde could swiftly be replaced with a sticky Marmite pork belly at a moment's notice. But you can always expect cheese and eccentric cured meat selections to round out the menu.

Housed in the building is a 1,000-bottle-strong wine cellar featuring drops the team has collected over the past ten years, many of which are sourced from low intervention and small players. The attention to detail shines from the moment you walk in to peruse the wine list to the conversation with the bar staff that follows. 

While Bahama Gold may be much smaller and newer than Old Palm Liquor, it’s no less characterful. Step in on your next free weeknight and ask Low for her recommendations. You're bound to encounter a pleasant surprise or two.

Why not bookend your visit with some other interesting things to see and do in Brunswick East? Or add more wine bars to your list with our handy guide to the best in Melbourne.

Details

Address
135 Lygon Street
Brunswick East
Melbourne
3057
Opening hours:
Daily noon-midnight

What’s on

Bahama Gold x Da Paolo Pizza Pop-Up

Take a stroll by beloved Lygon Street wine bar Bahama Gold and you might just pick up on the tantalising aromas of pizza. That's courtesy of the sizzling slice magic from acclaimed pizzaiolo Kitisak Iacuzi's pop-up Da Paolo, which has swooped in for an in-house residency that will run indefinitely.  Alongside rivers of Bahama Gold's housemade local and imported vino and Da Paolo's cult pizza pies, the bar will be spinning vinyl sounds every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from 5pm until 10pm.  Hailing from Italy's Liguria before moving to Melbourne more than 12 years ago to join Neighbourhood Wine, Iacuzi went on to earn his dough-making stripes at organic bakery All Are Welcome, then Gray and Gray and Pizzeria Magma. His newest venture Da Paolo is named after the pizzeria his father ran in Liguria through the '80s.  "I’m so excited to be back in the Bahama Gold kitchen serving up Da Paolo’s pizzas to Brunswick," shares Iacuzi. "The Neighbourhood Wine team has truly been family to me, taking me under their wing when I first arrived in Melbourne, not speaking a word of English, and igniting my passion in the kitchen." Pizzas on offer at the Bahama Gold pop-up currently include a marinara with yellow passata, confit cherry tomato, oregano and basil; margherita with San Marzano tomato, fior di latte, pecorino and basil; gamberi with local prawns, garlic, parsley and fermented chilli sauce; zucchini wtih stracchino (a traditional young Ligurian soft cheese), capers, marjoram and m

  • Food and drink
Advertising
You may also like
You may also like