A beacon of good times, fine wines and craft beer, warehouse bar Paradise Alley is all things to all-comers. It can be a louche laneway hangout or cosy lounge, dance hall or pool hall. (Almost) anything goes.
More than a bar, this two-storey warehouse on Collingwood’s Easey Street is a hotbed of creativity. Previously housing a board-game manufacturer, today it’s home to street artists (Everfresh Studio) and an art gallery (Backwoods). A bike workshop. A knife maker. A café and a fashion label.
And then there’s Paradise, the cult bar opened by hospo star Laura Twomey five years ago. Beyond the new kerbside deck seating and grungy laneway filled with smokers and vapers, Paradise’s industrial interior is a clever space of many moods and persuasions. Cosied up with mirrors, candles and warm timbers (please admire the sustainable Victorian ash bar), there’s also a retro lounge area and pool room with leather booths. Great for groups, it also works for more intimate catch-ups at candlelit tables, a post-work knock-off or a pre-club boogie. Something for everyone.
“Because it’s pretty ghetto on the outside, I wanted people to walk in and go ‘What the f--k is this?” laughs Twomey.
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Paradise Alley offers a far more sophisticated and worldly drinks list than you’d expect, given its backstreet vibe. Yes, there are (regularly changing) tap beers, but they are largely crafty and sourced from lesser-known local heroes. “We’ve got so many good breweries around here so we share that around,” Twomey says. “But it’s also good to have stuff that people can’t get locally.”
These are beers for buffs, and there are plenty more of them on the packaged list (including zero- and low-alcohol options) and a Victorian bias – Burnley, Sailors Grave, Golden Hills – as well as the odd foreign curiosity like Hong Kong’s Gweilo Rainbow Sherbet Sour.
Likewise, the wine list features barely a label you’d know from a high-street bottle shop. There might be anything from a spritzy Basque Country txakoli to xinomavro from the Cyclades Islands in Greece. It’s definitely Eurocentric, but small-batch locals shine, too – the Frederick Stevenson dolcetto from the Adelaide Hills with its Cherry Ripe richness, for instance, or Eminence’s orange, skin-contact pinot gris grown in Victoria’s High Country. There’s also a “Last Chance Romance” list of last-run labels where you might find a Combes natural sparkling chardonnay from the Yarra Valley or a syrah-grenache blend by eighth-generation Catalonian winemaker Jordi Llorens. It’s a vine-led voyage of discovery. Dive in.
Cocktails change seasonally, but might include mulled cider to counter winter chills and concoctions that revive long-forgotten liqueurs, such as the Cachaça Tingle, which reprises both blue Curaçao and grenadine.
Since its inception in 2017, Paradise Alley has been the place to pick up tacos, empanadas and juicy choripán, Argentina’s chorizo hot dog, from long-standing caterer Little Latin Lucy (whose real name is Renee). She’s taken off on a sabbatical, so there’ll be a “hot kitchen” of rotating talents. First up: the Rice Paper Scissors dudes will come in with a fresh menu of South East Asian hawker snacks.
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There are so many perks for regulars at Paradise Alley. Wednesday nights see the epic Meatsmith meat-tray raffle, with proceeds donated to local charities. Thursdays are free pool. There are DJs Friday to Sunday and happy hour weekdays from 4:00pm to 6:00pm (half-ish price taps and $6.50 spirits).
Groups can book out the pool room, the lounge room, or the large table (seats 12) for parties within the party. Twomey has just fitted out a new space upstairs, High Paradise, a former pole-dancing studio, as a private function space.
