Welcome to Sidecar No Sugar, a weekly Boothby briefing about Brisbane bars and the people, work and creativity behind them. (You can sign up to get it in your inbox each week, right here.) This week. I chatted to Jianne Jeoung, chef and co-owner of Snug, Jane’s Deli and later this month, Bar Cooper’s, a bar and bistro in the quiet but growing suburb of Coorparoo. We talked about the hurdles of switching between cafe and nighttime concepts, playing to customer desires and who Bar Cooper’s is for.
If you have info the Brisbane bar community should know, please email me contact@beccawang.com.au or send me a message via Instagram (@supper.partying).
Leaham Claydon and Jianne Jeoung earned their stripes in hospitality first as senior chefs at Yoko, Greca, Clarence and Niky. Then, they dreamt of their own place — “a small restaurant with really good food, like Labart” — but ultimately opened Snug, a cafe and wine bar driven by Jianne’s Korean family and travels.
Snug drew customers for their house-baked pretzel and prawn omurice from far and wide, despite being sequestered in the quiet, affluent suburb of Coorparoo in Brisbane’s south. Only they never set out to open a cafe.
Since activating their little corner of Coorparoo, they have recently opened Jane’s Deli, a sandwich shop and deli next door, and at the end of February, Bar Cooper’s, a 45-seater bar and bistro with a woodfired menu and a proper wine and cocktail list by venue manager Samantha Pritchard (ex-Caretaker’s Cottage and Romeo Lane bartender).
Thus far, Samantha’s cocktails at Snug’s wine bar highlight seasonal Korean ingredients while being highly approachable for the average diner: a Gimlet made with house made maesil cheong (fermented green gage plums); a highball with soju, nashi pear juice, perilla and a omija syrup (a native Korean berry); and a charred plum Ramos. The approach will be similar at Bar Cooper’s, only with the addition of charred ingredients from their woodfired oven. “She’s been burning everything – in a delicious way,” Jianne says.
BECCA WANG: How did you go from opening a cafe to opening an evening concept?
JIANNE JEOUNG: When Leaham and I were working together as employees at other venues, we always wanted to open our own venue. A cafe was never on the list because we’ve always worked in wine bars and restaurants during dinner service. When we were planning to open Snug, it was meant to be a wine bar but the liquor license took so long that we decided to do a cafe while we waited. Luckily, everyone really loved it and we were so busy that we had to push our wine bar idea back. But for us, a small restaurant with really good food has always been the dream.
BECCA WANG: Has it been much of a learning curve switching from a cafe mindset?
JIANNE JEOUNG: The workload is similar but the work itself is very different. We are really lucky to have Samantha Pritchard, our venue manager, who has great bartending experience [at Caretaker’s Cottage, Romeo Lane and Death & Taxes] because Leaham and I would have been like what should we do? We love wines and beers but we’re not really into spirits. And with the cocktails, we need someone to help us out. And just because we’re professionals, doesn’t mean we’re too proud to ask for help.
BECCA WANG: What is the cocktail program going to be like?
JIANNE JEOUNG: People in the Coorparoo area are always looking for something classic so mostly classic cocktails – Martinis, Gimlets and Margaritas, but on top of that, we will have three to four fun ones that change seasonally. The food is going to be always changing and cocktails go with food, so naturally.
We have a bloody big woodfired oven that’s been there for 30, 40 years so we’re going to do flatbread with mussels and lots of proteins. Sam’s been developing some of her cocktails with woodfired plums and other ingredients. She’s been burning everything – in a delicious way. It concentrates the flavour of anything if you put heat to it in the right way.
The cocktails, flavour-wise are very straightforward. They’re on trend without losing any of the intended flavour profile. These days, lots of cocktails are really strong, expensive and small but by the time you have one sip, it’s underwhelming and overcomplicated. Sam’s cocktails are a flavour kick and very vibrant.
BECCA WANG: How about the wines?
JIANNE JEOUNG: It’ll mainly be Sam and I but we also talk to people at Cork & Co., Naked Bunch and The Wine Tradition. Leaham and I always like coming up with the wine list because the reality is, we know the food best. The wine reps will give us a little taste and then we go from there, fitting things together like it’s a puzzle. We still need second opinions, though, because when you spend so much time with your partner, you end up drinking something similar all the time and the wine list can end up being all the same flavour profile.
BECCA WANG: Do you plan on offering a wine pairing?
JIANNE JEOUNG: We’ll see what the crowd says. Leaham and I love trying wine pairings because it’s interesting to see how businesses perceive their own venues. It depends on what the people want – for the whole two years that Snug has been running, people have been asking us for things or sharing their opinions with us. It’s pretty funny but people will ask us, a Korean cafe, if we have lasagne or carbonara. And we’ll be like no, sorry, just what’s on the menu. We also get asked for French fries and schnitzels all the time. So we decided that Bar Cooper’s will serve those things for the people who are looking for those dishes. There will also be a small kids menu since there’s so many families in the area – and a few mocktails for the mums that have to wake up early.
The last word
- The Gresham is reopening Friday 13 February at 3pm after refurbishments — with a new cocktail menu in tow.
- Bartenders’ Weekender (June 14 — 16) is just 18 weeks away. The schedule is being finalised — stay tuned, it’s coming very soon! — and right now, applications for the Scholarship program are open. There are 10 Scholarships to grant, which include return airfares to Bartenders’ Weekender in Adelaide, three nights accommodation at the five star Sofitel Adelaide, $500 spending money and tickets to events (including the Boothby Best Bars SA Awards and the Drinks 100 Australia Awards Gala). Apply now at bartendersweekender.com.
