360 Bar
A bar occuping rarified heights puts an odd spin on some old classics with dizzying results
Whose round is it? The bartenders can shake, stir and Tai Mai Shu but, somewhere between ravioli and apple spheres, things get muddled
The problem with "room with a view" restaurants and bars is that they're apt to rely on what's out the window for kudos rather than what's in the glass or on the plate.
The views are amazing from this 88th storey behemoth - you look down on Sydney's tallest sky-scrapers and out to sea. Scaling that height though is a bit of a strain on the nerves. And on arrival? "Hi guys, there's a $20 drink minimum at the bar," says a gum-chewing sentry at the ground floor lifts.
"How much are the drinks?" we ask in a pique of hip-pocket vertigo. "Depends how much you wanna spend but it's $20 or over." No worries there, the cocktails are all between $18.50 and $21 a pop. Ouch!
360 has been running for three years but it's only recently they've started to get a little molecular (that gastronomic movement of recent years incorporating food and science) with their drinks. On asking our bartender about "the sphere thing" (those little bubbles of liquid you see in restaurants sometimes) we ask him for a recommendation.
It's a real shame some bartenders make the assumption that all women want fruity vodka drinks without asking what sort of flavours they like. After asking for his pick of the molecular drinks he goes straight to a sort of lychee and vanilla-infused vodka concoction finished with violets and lychee ravioli.
So after explaining to him what we actually enjoy drinking (i.e. nothing with fruit in it unless it's citrus), he recommends the Tai Mai Shu (ha!) - a spicy mix of Bombay Sapphire gin, green apple and ginger liqueurs, all muddled with chilli, basil leaves, ginger and chilli sugar and served with a stick of lemongrass that the bartender instructs us to "chew on" (yes, really).
The "ravioli" is served on a Chinese-style spoon and it's not great. The whole point of spherification is to capture the essence of something in a skin of itself with a series of chemicals. The skin should be so thin that it pops in your mouth. Here, the process looks like it had gone on too long - the skin is glutinous and thick and the chilli-studded centre oozes rather than bursts.
The drinks themselves take half a revolution to make. We start off overlooking the Australian Museum but we don't have our Miss Pennyapple in hand until Blackwattle Bay. And talk about muddled - there are so many elements in these drinks it's plain confusing. A mix of Hendricks gin, Grand Marnier, pomegranate liqueur with muddled lemongrass and ginger, double strained and served in a champagne flute topped with mineral water with a spoon of kiwi and apple spheres on the side isn't a drink, it's an essay.
There are so many cool sphere opportunities in the world - why not make an olive sphere in a Martini?
Or a burnt orange sphere in a Negroni? Or a Maraschino cherry sphere in a Gimlet? These would be exciting. Sadly what these guys are doing here isn't so much exciting as overstimulating. MR
Level 1, Sydney Tower, 100 Market St, 2000. (02 9235 2188) Mon-Fri: 6pm-11pm; Fri-Sat: 6pm-midnight; Sun: 6pm-11pm.