A New York-style speakeasy in the heart of Noosa, Nudge Nudge Wink Wink brings theatrical style to its heavy-hitting drinks list served in a flamboyant setting.
Until recently, Noosa Junction was the forgotten cousin of buzzy Hastings Street. But change is afoot, and leading the charge is Nudge Nudge Wink Wink, a New York-style speakeasy that arrived in early 2022. This hidden bar offers style and substance in equal measure, and a serious drinks list delivered with a fun attitude.
A tiny neon sign is the only indicator there’s something worth exploring behind the plain exterior, but inside it’s anything but subtle. A huge blue-velvet banquette hugs the main room flanked by orange tub chairs. The walls, clad in bold floral wallpaper, are dotted with glam light shades and bespoke art. The bar, meanwhile, is where the action happens – nab a stool for front-row seats to the cocktail-making theatrics that draw the crowds.
The 40-page drinks list reads like a love letter to cocktails and wines alike, and covers both familiar and uncharted territories. Each cocktail comes in three versions: the House, the Wink (a more elaborate take) and the Nudge, a reimagining of the classic. Take the Margarita, for instance. The House version amps up the Mexican factor with jalapeño bitters. The Wink gets the smoky upgrade of mezcal in place of the standard tequila. And the Nudge has a base of Pasote Extra Añejo, a tequila aged in former bourbon barrels for 48 months.
There’s a healthy dose of showmanship and kitsch at work here, seen in the likes of kooky cocktail vessels, bubble machines and blowtorches, and cocktails arriving under a smoke-filled cloche, but everything at Nudge Nudge Wink Wink is considered and cleverly executed.
A beautiful glass temperature-controlled wine room is home to a globetrotting range of labels picked with discovery in mind. Special consideration is given to organic and biodynamic styles and those made with minimal intervention. You can take a familiar path with the likes of the 2014 Clover Hill Blanc de Blancs bubbles from Tasmania, or explore the road less travelled with wines you’d be hard pressed to find elsewhere, such as the 2013 Hattingley Valley sparkling from Hampshire in the UK. Wine guru Nicco Fagherazzi and the team can guide you through the extensive list, organised by variety and style, and with a cosmopolitan list of 16 by the glass.
