What to expect when new bar Deadwax opens

On the Boothby Best Bars NSW Top 50 — which we released Monday night — bars in Newtown and Enmore made up a fifth of the list, comprising the second largest concentration of quality bars outside of the Sydney CBD.

And a new bar is set to join their ranks by the end of July: Deadwax.

Deadwax has taken over the site that once housed Enmore Country Club, and is owned by a trio with deep hospitality roots: Otis owners Conor O’Brien and Dan Teh, and chef Davyd Blacksmith (ex-NOLA Smokehouse).

“The concept is a music bar,” says Dan. “I guess with most other vinyl bars we’ve been to, it’s usually funk, disco, house, whatever.

“While we like all those things, we want somewhere to listen to something outside of that. More fun. We’ve got 90s, 2000s bangers, more contemporary stuff, like your Kendrick, your Tylers.”

The difference, they say, is that they want their take on the Japanese listening bar style to be less serious, and more of a good time.

“We love music and we love sharing music with people,” says Dan. “And it’d be cool to have a bar where customers can share music that they like with other people in the bar.”

They’ll have DJs in charge of the music three nights a week across the weekend, but during the earlier week, will feature song request nights, with guests able to flip through records to find their track of choice.

Oh, and if Conor gets his way, expect a unique song at close. “I have ordered that Wiggles EDM,” he tells Dan. “I gotta put it on at close — as we close it’ll be EDM fucking Big Red Car.”

Speaking of closing, they’ll trade until 2am every night, closing at midnight on Sundays.

Below, find out what’s in store at Deadwax when it comes to food, drinks, and... a karaoke room?

What are we eating?

The Enmore Country Club space didn’t have facilities to cook food, so they’ve built their own, says Davyd. “We didn’t have anything in here,” he says. “We built a kitchenette, we built everything.”

One the menu? The emphasis is on snacky things.
“
We’ll have like small bites,” Davyd says, “like chili butter edamame. We’ll do wagyu pastrami sandos, kind of like that Anthony Bourdain style, [a] classic 7-Eleven-style egg sando from Japan, but all ramped up, all done modern Australian.”

And when it comes to later in the evening, and your sustenance needs turn existential, they’ve got you covered with late night ramen that is served in their own custom-made, Deadwax-branded instant ramen pots.

What to drink at Deadwax?

Expect the drinks to also take a little bit of a Japanese lean, Conor says.

“We’re going to have a list of our own twists on classics and then a short list of a few of our own inventions. A Yuzu Spritz on tap. There’ll usually be a Whisky Highball of some description on the list as well, and we’re doing a Miso Old Fashioned.”

But the spirit selection itself won’t skew to any one particular focus, rather offering what they think is the best representations of different categories.

And they’ll also be pouring gin they’ve had made for them at nearby Lily Fields Distilling Co.

“They’ve got two main gins,” Conor says. “We’re tweaking that and adding a little bit more citrus. Going to try and give it a slight yuzu element to it, without actually using yuzu. So our house Martini will be semi-dry, semi-wet, with a lemon infused light sesame oil on top.

And in more evidence that we’re living through a Japanese Slipper revival, they’re going to emphasise the green stuff.

“We’re looking to champion Midori,” Dan says. Midori is back in vogue, he reckons, so expect a regular, rotating Midori drink on their menu.

“We really want to try and make sure that everything’s just on the right side of a good time,” Conor says.

Wait, there’s a karaoke room?

They’ll also have what they believe to be the only karaoke room in Newtown.

They’ve turned the back area of the bar into a fully soundproofed karaoke room fit for around 12 people. “A big TV, a modern system, modern songs, really good tracking on it as well,” says Davyd.

What will the place look like?

When it comes to the design aesthetic, they’re keen to emphasise that it is Japanese-inspired rather than trying to mimic something they’ve seen overseas.

“There’s a tiny bit of like Japan-y minimalist element in some of the architecture,” Conor says, “then we’re gonna kind of go a bit nuts with some of the colours.”

“The bartop is basically 70 layers of [coloured] denim,” says Dan, “resined on top of each other, and then with little shapes underneath and then we sand it down.”

Who are the people running the Deadwax?

Both Conor and Dan will be spending more time across at Deadwax, and Davyd will be on deck full time. They’ve also brought on Kate Howlett (ex-Bar Planet) as the bar manager.

Deadwax is set to open at 182 Enmore Rd, Enmore at the end of July — follow them on Instagram at @deadwax.enmore.