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Meyers Place
A landmark on its namesake street, this is the bar that launched Melbourne's mania for laneway bars. Built nigh on 10 years ago by a group of architects on a tight budget, it makes the most of its limited space. Human in scale and character, it's a hole-in-the-wall, European-style bar with no sign and no shtick - just a straight-up good place to drink.
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Mink
March down the dimly lit concrete stairs to soak in the glory of socialist Russia, while also soaking in the vodka. And with over 80 different distilled delights to choose from, storming the vodka list could prove too much for just one comrade. If you're sharing good company, why not retreat behind the red curtain to your own private booth?
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Misty
Misty is how a 1970s film-set designer might have imagined a millennium bar: requisite white walls, curves and the glow of low-slung coloured lights. Its location does it a lot of favours; Hosier Lane is street-art central, where the walls talk via layers of graffiti and laneway light boxes illuminate local work.
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Mountain Goat Brewery
This local microbrewery's four varieties of bottled beer are available in lots of bars about town, but there's no better place than from the makers themselves to really get your Goat. Open days are Wednesday and Friday, when Cam and Dave answer questions about brewing (and make idle chitchat), cook pizzas and put on a tasting.
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Napier
The Napier is nursing a new generation of pub-goers. Standing on this corner for over a century, it's pulled a lot of pots and seen the changing face of pub patronage. In its history, women rarely walked through the door and Fitzroy had its own beloved footy team (memorabilia of the day attests to that). Worm your way around the central bar to the boisterous back dining room, where forkfuls of well-regarded grub are all that stop the chattering.
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Night Cat
Night Cat is a barn-sized space with a '50s aesthetic, two bars, a stage (for patrons!) and a black-and-white checked dance floor backed by some stellar musicians. Music is generally in the Latin jazz or funk vein. Bands usually start around and play three sets to around . There's a door charge Friday and Saturday.
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Onesixone
If you consider yourself one of the beautiful set, hope that the person behind the peephole does too. Snaffle a couch or a pouf, or have a jiggle on the small dance floor. Chances are it isn't dawn yet - it's just the bright lights emanating from the fish tanks set into the wall. Friday is house till before the recovery takes over, running all the way through to Sunday.
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Phoenix
Offering split-levels of yellow hues, zebra carpet and dimly lit alcoves, Phoenix's retro-safari theme is popular with after-workers on the prowl. Late closing on weekends ensures that most Melburnians have ended up here at some stage. A regularly updated meze- (hors d'oeuvre) style menu is also available.
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Polly
Ornate and regal décor swirl with the character of an eccentric grandmother. Think well-worn antique couches, red-velvet drapes, dramatic Deco statuary, blood-red hues dipped in gold and a cocktail list that'll make you want to lipstick-stain every glass. Polly is affordable and elegant.
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Prince Of Wales
The POW features twilight street seating, a gay pub night with a disco jukebox and dollar pots on a Monday. On Saturday night, upstairs in the Bandroom, One Love straddles the bar-club category. When things heat up, the garage doors open out onto the huge balcony, and there's a little DJ booth in the little ladies' room.
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Retreat
Punters are demanding more with their pots of beer these days. At the Retreat, you get free live music, the option for honest pub food and that beer garden. Its lawn strewn with raffia mats feels like playtime in your backyard as a kid. All that's missing is the plasticky smell of a new paddle pool.
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Revolver
Upstairs at Revolver is like an enormous lounge room, although it can get rowdy. With 54 hours of nonstop music from Friday to Sunday, it's like a revolving door of DJs, keeping the shag-pile rugs downtrodden. The front room is also used for a variety of film screenings and to host heaps of bands. Out the back there's even a Thai restaurant.
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Rue Bebelons
For such a small space this bar's reputation is gigantic. It's been around a while (over 10 years), so in bar years it's considered ancient. But it's no relic. Affordable drinks, great coffee and an in-house vinyl collection never go stale. By day, grab yourself a slice of Brazilian bohemia and a salad roll to die for. By night, grab any space you can and contribute to the hubbub.
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Saint
Good-looking young things crowd the two levels of this cocktail and wine bar. Kittens are smitten with the Saint's nouveau-St Kilda fitout, which is sparsely furnished to optimise space. There are a number of little nooks to settle into and a large number of beverages to choose from. Visiting the Saint feels like crashing a wealthy friend-of-a-friend's home: it's comfy and kind of familiar.
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Scubar
As you descend along polished pine panels to the plush warmth below, this underground bunker is almost reminiscent of a Swedish sauna. Submerge yourself in one of two bars, with plenty of comfort by way of flocked wallpaper, polished-wood floors and a pool table. Just don't feed the fish in the wall-length signature tank.
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Section 8
Located in a laneway you say? Yawn. How about: in a laneway, in a car park, and made from shipping containers? Like the city's street art, which is in part so arresting because it appears in unexpected places, Section 8 is a fabulous surprise. It has makeshift seating made from packing crates, funky music and lantern lighting.
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Standard
The cheerfully dingy front bar is reserved for Fitzroyalty working on their pub suntans. This is where the telly is, and a bunch of knick-knacks collected over many years, including a mounted deer head and mounted Johnny Cash records. Which leaves the dining room and the glorious beer garden (replete with an automatic awning fitted with little heaters - genius).
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Transport
A people-watcher's paradise from any angle, this ultramodern pub is located at the city's transport hub, with views of the Yarra River, Flinders Street Station and Federation Square. It's big, brassy and busy, serving every drink imaginable, utilitarian pub food and entertainment: DJs, bands and beer-tasting nights (from the 150 varieties available). Look up and check out the beer's transport from the transparent elevated keg room.
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Troika
Troika has a loyal bunch of mostly older unconventional followers who get on board for the intimate, gimmick-free surrounds. It's about decent drinks and good tunes, with booths and bar stools set close - conducive to conversation. And if conversation is waning, the walls are usually adorned with interesting art works on which to comment.
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Ume Nomiya
Polite, subtle and neat, Ume Nomiya is the kind of bar you'd feel comfortable taking your mum - not that anyone does. Clean, healthy Japanese food comes from the kitchen upstairs. Locals make use of the Bottle Keep service, buying a whole bottle of their favourite whisky, sake or shochu (distilled alcohol, usually made from barley) brought out from behind the bar each time they visit. DJs make some lovely background noise.
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Union
Many come for a few, and end up making a night of it. There's a pool table and sit-down Space Invaders game, a courtyard and large dining room serving huge helpings of homy fare. Occasional entertainment, such as a wandering transvestite delivering witty repartee, raises money for various causes. It's the community equivalent of the raffle - without the meat tray. Instead, gold-coin entertainment lightens your wallet and your conscience.
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Veludo
It's big, it's brassy, and it's got a balcony. Over two levels, Veludo's relatively late closing means that most St Kilda-ites have ducked in here after everything else has closed. A dark and sultry way to lose a few hours, especially during the cooler months, when you can couch it next to a roaring open fire. Humdrum food runs till late.
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Vic
The masses of regulars who eat at Victoria St's restaurants were crying out for a postprandial bar. Finally, they got the Vic. Prop at the window with a digestif Amaro , or head further back, slouch in a couch and undo the top button to make room for a cleansing beer.
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Vineyard
Sure the bay's close by, but you can't help but wonder what a boatshed was doing on Acland St. The Vineyard, housed in an ex-government boatshed, sits on a too-good-to-be-true spot. From the courtyard barbecue area, backpackers, locals and young things mingle in view of the rickety scenic railway in Luna Park. Inside, there's room to boogie unless it's packed, which it often is.
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Windsor Castle
Those big Hawaiian-style grass umbrellas shading the beer garden out the back make you feel like you're part of a Barbie play set. Inside, cosy nooks, sunken pits, fireplaces and flocked wallpaper make the Windsor Castle well loved. Add to that fabulous food that surpasses the usual pub standards. The Castle gets particularly cramped on sunny Sundays.
