Drinking Melbourne is the weekly newsletter from drinks writer Fred Siggins, unpacking what’s happening in Melbourne’s bars (and what you can learn from them), sent every Tuesday to your inbox. Get on the list here.
In today’s Melbourne briefing:
- a three month Basque food takeover at Nobody’s Baby;
- how co-owner Tim Badura fashioned cocktails to match;
- cocktail fights (and how to get involved);
- and beer at bartender prices...
Spain’s Basque country is hallowed ground for the food obsessed. Currently the location of five restaurants with three Michelin stars, it’s also the home of legendary chefs like Ferran Adria (of the now closed El Bulli) and Andoni Luis Aduriz (Mugaritz), doyens of the molecular gastronomy movement. During my trip there back in 2015, it wasn’t the fancy restaurants that impressed me — in fact I often found them fussy and self-indulgent. But it was the tiny bars of San Sebastian, serving sherry, excellent local wines, bone dry cider and the best bar snacks I’ve ever had, that live in my memory like soft-focus daydreams of long lost love.
A little of that magic can now be found here in Melbourne at Nobody’s Baby in South Yarra. Taking over the kitchen for the next three months is a pop-up they’re calling Basque Txoko (pronounced "chock-o") led by chef Aitor Jeronimo Olive with paired cocktails by Nobody’s Baby co-owner Tim Badura. Chef Aitor has a bi-cultural background, growing up in Melbourne but moving to Spain in his teens and building a career working in restaurants across Europe and the UK including The Fat Duck, Mugaritz and Neura. He later helmed the kitchen at Iggy’s, Singapore’s first fine-diner dedicated to Basque cuisine, before opening his own restaurant, Basque Kitchen by Aitor, both of which earned Michelin stars.
Previously, the Nobody’s Baby kitchen has been host to more casual cuisine like Very Good Falafel and Rocco’s Bologna Discoteca. I asked co-owner Tim Badura how the current pop-up came about, seeing as most of us don't have access to Michelin star chefs from Spain.
“We’re incredibly fortunate to be able to showcase someone as exceptional and talented as Aitor,” Tim says. “We were first connected through Jesse [Gerner] and Shane [Barrett] from Bomba. Aitor came in to see the space, and we connected straight away. From there, everything felt completely natural.”
Tucking into a plate of jamon at Nobody’s Baby on a sunny afternoon last week, I’m transported back to San Sebastian by the unmistakable richness of proper acorn-fed Iberico pork, served with breadsticks dusted with seasoning that makes them taste like classy BBQ Shapes. Alongside these folds of shimmering charcuterie, I’m sipping a Slow Night So Long cocktail, essentially a vermouth on the rocks topped with an orange and coffee foam. The toastiness of good coffee liqueur is a wonderful counterpoint to the bright, summery orange and the warm spice of quality Spanish sweet vermouth, the overall experience still light and bracing enough to feel like an aperitif, but sporting the accessories of a craft cocktail with style.
The highlight of the Spanish-inspired cocktails, though, is the Basque, James Basque, a riff on the Vesper Martini.