Catriona Jackson reviews The Rum Bar

Bar food. Hmmm... as Homer Simpson would say.

Back in the dark ages I worked in a working man's pub where the menu started with sausages, egg and chips, and ended with rissoles and veg. The sausages were as fat as fat as a baby's arm, and were deep fried - yes, deep fried - by our short order chef.

Back in those days you never saw a coffee machine in a pub.Bars were narrow, dark places in American movies, and meals were taken mostly in the ladies' lounge. Australian pub and bar eating has come a long way since then, thanks in large part to immigrants from places where drinking is not seen as a pursuit on its own.

Leaning on a bar in Rome it has long been the custom to use your Campari and soda to wash down a bite-sized pizzetta or a finger of fried sandwich, golden and oozing with melted cheese. In Spain, no evening out is complete without a pre-dinner trip to the tapas bar, where a sangria cannot be drunk without being accompanied by spicy sardines or crispy chorizo chunks. In Canberra places like Debacle in Braddon have raised the bar on pub grub, but it is still a matter of sitting down to a plate of your own or perhaps sharing a pizza.

Rum Bar, in the slick new Kingston Foreshore precinct, is taking it up a notch. On a rainy night it is glowing as we approach along the still not-quite-finished new eating strip. A well-insulated outdoor area is wrapped around a medium sized space, with the bar at the centre. It is nicely set up, with a number of little spots to sit and observe - or not, as you please. As we perch ourselves on a tall bench overlooking the gleaming bar with its shelf upon shelf of rum on display, a team of highly skilled cocktail makers, swirling, shaking and setting drinks, alight for all they are worth.

Bars are inevitably noisy, and this one is no exception.But at least at Rum Bar there is plenty to look at. Alongside us, a flock of girls on a classy-looking hen's night are making short work of towering pink concoctions and piles of rum-marinated chicken wings. Watching on hopefully are four very neatly dressed young men, rearranging their tall glasses so they can fit long plates of food on the table. Behind us, a couple who seem to have ordered everything on the menu are tossing up whether to have a third cocktail to wash it all down.

Everyone is having good time and, as you would expect, everyone is drinking. But also just about every one is eating as well as sharing the food, as is clearly the intention behind the tapas-style menu. We settle on two meaty options and a plate of arancini balls. The classic Italian risotto balls ($12) have become a staple on cafe and pub menus of late, with mixed results. This simple and magnificent dish should be the sort of treat that has people pushing children aside to grab more. Served on the street in Sicily, stuffed with mozzarella or meat sauce, or pretty much anything, they are a classic originally made to use up leftovers.

The risotto is rolled around a ball of cheese or whatever, crumbed and then fried to crisp perfection. The Rum Bar version sexes up the original a little with pistachio in the crust, and pumpkin and wild mushrooms inside, and it works very well. The balls are rich and subtle inside, with a wonderfully crisp shell providing the perfect counterpoint. The carbohydrate does its sopping up job well, but also teams very nicely with a wonderful tart champagne cocktail enlivened with Bacardi and fresh raspberry. The Rum Bar's take on the Manhattan, the Empire State, is a very fine drink. Flor De Cana dark rum swirls around and through ice with sweet vermouth, Benedictine, orange bitters and huge piece of orange peel freshly zested over the glass. Full and brooding, and almost as substantial as the food, this is a drink to treat with respect.