What to Expect @ Jimmy Liks

By Nastasia Campanella

European’s have always been known for creating great cocktails. But Sydney’s, Jimmy Liks is proving Asian’s work a cocktail shaker just as hard. It’s a bar nestled in the leafy streets of Potts Point and if you blink, you might miss it as you walk along the busy strip.

Opened by Joe Elcham in 2002, this place is the perfect spot for a first date. Everything is about travelling through unknown territory and experimenting. Architect, Matthew Darwon designed the slender, seductively lit room well. It’s complete with a massive communal table and counter style seating. There are plush lounges too, but you’d better get in there early for one of those. The cosy arrangement of the room means you’ll be getting very friendly, very quickly.

Towards one side of the bar, is the door to the club area. Chilled out house throbs as 20 something vogue lookalikes teeter around the dance floor. Round the corner is the Jimmy Liks restaurant which doesn’t take bookings and is a little pricy. The bar isn’t cheap, but definitely more affordable.

As my friend dribbles over the impressive bodies of the wait staff behind the bar, I flick through the drinks list. My head spins! I decide on a Jimmy’s Saketini – vodka, sake and gin shaken with pickled ginger. Then, I think no! Stop! I want a Kyoto Protocol – muddled cucumber and kiwifruit shaken with white rum, sake and apple schnapps. Wait, what about the Short?! Yes! Yes! That’s what I want! I’m totally satisfied with my choice. The Short is like sipping on a liquid musk stick. It’s a sugary fusion of level 51 fresh muskat, grapes and vanilla sugar shaken with vodka.

All the cocktails are priced between $16 and $17. The huge list takes you from Thailand and Vietnam, right through to Japan. There is even a fiery Asian twist on an old classic. The Mekong Mary features chilli vodka, tomato juice, nahm jim and muddled cucumber. It’s not really my thing, but I turn to beers towards the second half of the evening anyway. The beer selection isn’t huge. I go for a Japanese Kirin Ichiban [$9]. There is a massive selection of rums, vodkas, tequilas and aperitifs too. The wines are just about the only non-Asian thing in the bar. The 15 reds and 16 whites, range between $45 and $120. There’s drops from France, Spain and New Zealand.

Food wise, head chef, Adam Woodfield works a treat in the kitchen! There isn’t a huge snack list, but what ever you do, don’t leave Jimmy Liks without trying the chicken bettle leaf with smoked eggplant and chilli eschalot relish! Put simply, it’s to die for! The steamed prawn dumplings are sharp goodness as well and they’re stuffed with a chive flower.

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