The Waiting Room

JUST when you start thinking there are no more spaces left on Melbourne's bar dance card, another place squeezes itself into the mix to prove that all boozy bases are not yet covered. This time, it's happened at Crown with Neil Perry's first stand-alone bar, The Waiting Room.

The fully fledged lobby bar is attached to Crown Towers' entry hall and channels the grand bars of European and American hotels from the 1950s and '60s. It's different to the bars in other multi-starred hotels in that it's right amid the check-in, check-out area, the trolleys of expensive luggage, the limos pulling up, the sculptural flower arrangements and the heels clacking on hard surfaces.

There are chairs and tables that spill into the hotel's cavernous, marble-clad lobby, uniformed staff gliding around with trays of cocktails and, inside, past the main bar, a series of rooms — carpeted, upholstered and glittering with mosaic mirror tiles and other shiny, reflective surfaces — that become smaller and more intimate the further in you venture.

Despite a slightly chilly soullessness in the design (everything a little too neat and in its place), it manages glamour. It's quite easy to slip into a suave Cary Grant/Eva Marie Saint kind of mood, especially after a cocktail or two. And the cocktails are excellent; the main list is a collection of drinks from great hotels around the world.

At $19 a pop, they're pretty reasonably priced, too, especially given the setting. The Queen of Diamonds riffs on the classic Negroni, the Campari and gin teamed with a savoury, aromatic rosemary and thyme-infused vermouth and garnished with a sprig of rosemary. The Floradora, a refreshing mix of biting house-made ginger beer, Flor de Cana rum, sweet raspberry vinegar and lime, gets the nod, too.

The beer, wine, cider and spirit lists are compact but stuffed full of top-end, often boutique/artisan, labels and, as is to be expected from a Perry venture, there's a fine list of bar snacks and light meals.

Though there is a noticeable lean to the Spanish (pinchos, several varieties of jamon, chorizo baked in cider), there are also excellent toasted sandwiches. The must-try snack, though, is the beef and boiled egg empanadas ($6) served with a slightly toasty/fiery salsa ranchera.

The polar opposite of the grungy Melbourne laneway bar of fame and cliche, The Waiting Room adds another new spoke to this booze-loving city's great wheel of bars.

Cheers: Neil Perry shows that, yes, he can do great bar snacks, too.

Jeers: The grand, opulent design lacks a little in the soul department.