The listening bar concept has become one of Japan’s biggest exports in recent years, inspiring venues across the globe, from London to Sydney. The vintage vibe percolates through a cache of bars in the city inspired by the jazz cafes or jazu kissu of Tokyo and Kyoto, given an Aussie twist.
Here are five of our favourite Sydney listening bars to check out.
Ante, Newtown
Ante plays up its Japanese inspiration as a sake-bar-cum-listening-bar on Newtown’s King Street. The intimate venue, founded by Matt Young and Chef Jemma Whiteman, features an inky interior and a blackbutt timber bar that stretches across the space. Behind, filling illuminated shelves, are some 2500 vinyl LPs drawn from Young’s personal collection, with ceiling and wall panels installed for their acoustic properties and wooden floors underfoot. The Japanese influence runs through the menu, too. At the bar, there are 60 types of sake on offer, and Whiteman’s eclectic and evolving international menu features pasta with fermented shiitake mushrooms to izakaya and konbini.
Caterpillar Club, CBD
Located in a dimly lit basement in Sydney’s CBD, The Caterpillar Club is an intimate space offering live music every night of the week from candlelit red leather booths. Its vintage, quasi-bohemian flare expands around the central DJ booth, with walls brimming with original artworks by Allie Webb, antiques and curiosities, and shelves of vinyl records – some 10,000 in total. The Caterpillar Club has an experimental approach to music, with no preset playlists, allowing for a diverse auditory experience as you walk in off the street and guaranteeing no two nights are the same. Within the space is a tiki-style bar, dubbed the Bamboo Room, decked out with thatched walls and a unique cocktail list curated by Beverage Director Lello Arzedi.
Rekōdo, Barangaroo
Rekōdo founder Chef Matt Moran invested close to $100,000 in state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment for his listening bar, installing Klipsch La Scala speakers, a McIntosh MC152 amplifier, a McIntosh MP100 phono preamplifier and a set of McIntosh MT2 turntables and acoustic attenuation to enhance the listening experience inside his Barangaroo record bar.
H&E Architects (Barangaroo House, Chiswick Woollahra) designed the restaurant and performance space, putting a DJ stage in the centre. Seating for up to 140 guests fans around, a mix of high tables and booths, with lot tables spilling out onto the outdoor terrace, which looks onto Sydney’s waterfront. Solotel’s creative director, Anna Solomon, styled the interiors with a modernist Japanese-inspired aesthetic – clean lines, ply, cork, zinc and natural linens with denim accents. Neon lighting adds colour and playfulness and nods to harajuku nightlife.
Rekodo replaced fine diner Bea on level one of Barangaroo House. ‘Expect Japanese-inspired food by Chef Paddy McDermott, sake, cocktails, and wine – all set to a killer soundtrack’, says the website.
JAM, CBD
Seeking to evoke the feeling of sitting inside a giant speaker, JAM Record Bar is an intimate 45-seater listening bar designed by Akin Atelier for Justin Hemmes, CEO of hospitality group Merivale, and his sister Bettina. Hemmes previously ran the music label Jam Recordings—named after their parents, John and Merivale—which also lends its name to the space on the corner of George Street in the city’s central business district.
Compact at just 18 sq m, the laneway bar features a vintage JBL speaker system and pink plywood coverings across walls and ceilings, mimicking the box of a large speaker. Cork and ‘pink batt’—a type of thermal insulation commonly used in construction— are used for their acoustic qualities, adding to a surround-sound experience. It also has the Caterpillar Club beat for vinyl – 15,000 line bespoke uplit shelves enclosing the bar.
Busby, Paddington
Opened late last year in Paddington’s Oxford House, Busby is a natural wine and hi-fi bar.
The name pays homage to Busby’s Bore, which runs beneath the site, while its interiors take inspiration from European counterparts Bambino in Paris and Bar Sway in Berlin, with walls daubed in claret and merlot tones and hung with portraits of John and James Busby – engineer of Busby’s Bore and the grandfather of Aussie wine, respectively.
P&V Wine & Liquor co-founder Mike Bennie curated the wine list, which ‘celebrates a broad spectrum of wines that range from classically styled to more expressive and wilder edged’, while only stirred cocktails are served to maintain sound quality (no shakers to disrupt the listening experience.) Music is also integral to the eating experience too, with Chef Clayton Well’s menu designed to complement the sounds. He told the Sydney Morning Herald, ’At Busby’s, the menu is more than just food and drinks; it’s a journey through music and flavours.’
