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Bar Economico

Michael Harden
Michael Harden

Behind bars: Staff work behind a cage to complete the dive-bar theme.
Behind bars: Staff work behind a cage to complete the dive-bar theme.Eddie Jim

Address 438 Church Street, Richmond, 9428 0055

Website bareconomico.com

Open Wed-Sun, 5pm-1am

Bartender's choice: Jamaican Black Strap.
Bartender's choice: Jamaican Black Strap.Jason South
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Wheelchair access No

Cheers Matt Bax does it again

Jeers But we still miss Der Raum

News that Matt Bax was packing up his much-lauded, multi-awarded cocktail laboratory Der Raum and shipping it off to Munich came as a devastating blow for cocktail geeks throughout the city. It also blew a sizeable hole in Melbourne's slightly complacent claim of having a well-rounded bar culture, stripping said culture of its most insane, creative, boundary-pushing and, at times, slightly annoying outlet.

But then more news came that Bax would open another bar where Der Raum once stood. And he has. But anybody expecting Bar Economico to be just Der Raum reloaded will end up tearful and pouting because the new bar is essentially its predecessor's exact opposite. And it's great.

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Exit hushed darkness, massed bottles of ridiculously obscure liquor hanging from the ceiling above the bar, precise glassware and meticulously crafted cocktail degustation menus. Enter a Central and South American-theme dive bar, complete with bartenders working behind a cage, a Latin and reggae soundtrack, bins as design features, deliberately misspelt signage, a Madonna shrine and cocktails served in plastic cups that are exchanged for tickets that you purchase from a small booth at the back of the shop.

Enter rum, rum, rum and more rum. Sure, you can choose to drink something else - there are a couple of tequilas, a single gin, bourbon and vodka - but with a place that looks, feels and sounds like this you'd be best served by putting aside your Bundaberg-fuelled preconceptions about not liking the stuff, grabbing a handful of tickets (at $5 a pop) and plunging into the list of more than 50 different rums.

The cocktail menu has changed accordingly, morphing from wordy tome chained to the bar to texta-scribbled, roughly torn pieces of cardboard stuck up on the bar's cage, listing around five rum-based cocktails at reasonable prices. A really well-made mojito of Havana rum and generous amounts of ice, lime and mint will set you back just two tickets (or $10 for those not yet with the picture), while for something a little more complicated, say a Don's Zombie with a blend of aged rums sharing space with some fruit (pineapple, passionfruit, citrus) and caramelised sugar (flamed behind the bar in one of Bar Economico's few nods to party tricks) you'll be required to hand over four.

There's a single beer available (one ticket), which at the moment is the thirst-quenching Mexican Tecate. This will change regularly, but whatever is sloshed into your plastic tumbler will stick to the same geographical region.

Apparently, some bar snacks are on the way, but at the moment there are (free) brown paper bags of peanuts in the shell, which, in this setting, feels just about right, especially with the shells scattered across the terrazzo floor.

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Bax's other Melbourne bar, Bar Americano, has already shown that he's not one to worry too much about being overly specific or eccentric. And, as with Bar Americano, Bar Economico will probably annoy some punters who will mistake tight focus and a sense of humour for arrogance. But go in looking for a rum-hazed good time rather than cocktail worship and you'll soon agree that opposites really do attract.

Bartender's choice

Bax says the theme of Bar Economico is doing ''all of the things we're not supposed to do''. For him that means a shaker-free bar, the use of ''taboo'' blenders, cocktails made in plastic cups and a laid-back attitude.

''Sure, we have a lot of different rums behind the bar,'' he says. ''But we don't want to be wanky about it. It's about enjoying the place, having a good drink in hand but not about trying obscure rums just for the sake of it.''

Bax's drink of choice is the Jamaican Black Strap, Bar Economico's take on the Dark and Stormy, sweet and fun to drink and not to be taken too seriously.

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Jamaican Black Strap

60ml dark rum

10ml pomegranate molasses

10ml spiced gomme (or sugar syrup)

2 lime wedges

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Ginger beer

Put all the ingredients into a tall glass (or plastic cup) with a heap of crushed ice. Give it a stir and garnish with the lime wedges.

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