More than a great view: get two spectacular recipes from Aster

In partnership with Hendrick’s Curious Gin Trail through the north end of Sydney city. Six great bars are involved, with delicious Hendrick’s serves on offer at Apollonia, Aster, Disco Pantera, Frank Mac’s, Martinez, and The Doss House.

If we were handing out trophies to the bar with best view (and perhaps we should), then I think we have a winner. Aster Bar sits atop the Intercontinental Sydney, on the roof, 32 stories above the streets. It offers a 270 degree view of Sydney harbour — which itself deserves a trophy or two — with the service and hospitality you’d expect from such luxe surroundings.

There’s plenty of good things to drink here, too, as the hotel’s director of bars Mattia Arnaboldi suggests in the interview below. Here, he talks about what makes the bar special, and offers up two Hendrick’s Gin cocktail recipes spectacular enough to match the view.

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BOOTHBY: For people who haven’t been here, what’s Aster Bar all about?

MATTIA ARNABOLDI: Aster Bar is on level 32 in the InterContinental hotel. [It’s a] luxury bar, probably the best view in Sydney.

BOOTHBY: I think it’s fair to say it is the best view from a bar in Sydney.

MATTIA ARNABOLDI: I mean, it’s incredible. We’re very lucky. Our office is beautiful. Aster is all about luxury meets a very good, well done cocktail bar.

BOOTHBY: And if you look out the window towards the harbour, you can see Hendrick’s is popping up at the Open Air Cinema; you’ve got some special cocktails happening with Hendrick’s this month. Can you talk about those?

MATTIA ARNABOLDI: We collaborated with Hendrick’s and we made a special menu running until the end of February. We’ve got a beautiful highball, called the Ultrasound Highball.

Super fresh, with a fig leaf and pepper reduction with tonic, and we make it into a soda. And then we have a very classic Martini, a little bit more floral, with sakura vermouth and dry vermouth and Hendrick’s. Very fresh, good for summer.

BOOTHBY You’re 32 floors up from the street — or 32 floors closer to the stars. Can you describe the atmosphere here?

MATTIA ARNABOLDI: We’re trying to combine a hotel bar with a cocktail bar in the city. We’re in the heart of Sydney, obviously, we have a lot of tourists. We try to satisfy everybody, both people living in Sydney and tourists. We have an extensive wine list. We have a 25 cocktail concept menu which is interactive for the guests. And we have an amazing team. So we’re very lucky.

BOOTHBY: Because you must have to serve sort of all types, right?

MATTIA ARNABOLDI: We welcome everybody. During summer, obviously, it’s 60 percent tourism and 40 percent local.

BOOTHBY: Do you have a favourite spot in the house when you come in here?

MATTIA ARNABOLDI: The window seats obviously are quite romantic — I only took my partner here one time, so I should do it more often.

BOOTHBY: This is a reminder to you. Talking about cinema, is there a bar that you’ve seen in a movie or in a TV series that you wish was a real bar? Has there ever been a cocktail or a drink that you’ve seen in a movie that you wish was real?

MATTIA ARNABOLDI: I mean, cocktail from Tom Cruise, that bar, that would be probably the original bar for most bartenders who grew up in the 80s and 90s.

BOOTHBY: That’s how bars were meant to be, right?

MATTIA ARNABOLDI: Exactly. So fun and chaotic and you know, I think that definitely would be one of them.

BOOTHBY: Yeah. Servers yelling at the bartender, the bartender just drowning in the weeds. That’s how I used to bartend.

MATTIA ARNABOLDI: Yeah, that’s it. That’s the old days.

BOOTHBY: The service is bit smoother up here at Astor I think.

MATTIA ARNABOLDI: Yeah, definitely. I mean I hope so! Thank you.