There’s a particular corner in the Valley that’s turning into quite the Italian escape, and it’s ideal for a weekend venue hop. You probably know the one we mean—it’s home to the stunning Cielo Rooftop Bar, La Costa Restaurant and La Valle Wine Bar already, and now The Parlour is here to join the Riviera-themed line-up.
Sitting side-by-side with La Costa, The Parlour is a glam, Gulf of La Spezia-inspired cocktail bar, adorned with curved booths, cocktail trolleys, vintage photos and marble tiles, all of which create a setting you’d almost expect to find Ernest Hemingway or Virginia Woolf—regular holidayers in the Gulf of La Spezia when it peaked in the 50s—sitting in.
Just like upstairs at Cielo, the cocktail menu here has been created by the team behind Sydney’s Maybe Sammy, which was named the world’s 11th best bar. You can order up signature sips like the Fenhurst, with gin, peach liqueur, Lillet Rouge, citrus, coconut and a citrus bubble that pops theatrically in front of you, or The Tilted World, which combines Scotch whisky, ginger liqueur, citrus, egg white, pear and spiced red wine ice.
While you sip (and yes, there’s plenty of wine, beers and spirits too), you can nibble away at a late night menu of ‘cicchetti’, or Venetian snack-style plates. Think beef carpaccio, daily arancini ball specials and of course, plenty of cheese and charcuterie boards. Every Thursday in June and July, The Parlour will also be dishing up $1 oysters from 5pm–7pm—the perfect after-work activity. You can order them in flavours of Bombay Raspberry Gimlet Mignonette, Bombay Fizz Vinaigrette or just natural, and pair them with a curated selection of gin cocktails.
We’d suggest not going all out at just The Parlour though—with four venues to hit in one place, you’ll want to leave room for all the others. We recommend kicking things off at La Valle with wine and freshly baked focaccia, moving on to The Parlour for a pre-dinner cocktail and cheese board, settling in for a meal at La Costa and finishing things off with a rooftop cocktail overlooking the Valley skyline at Cielo. It is the closest we’re going to get to Italy for a while, after all. Find out everything you need to know about The Parlour here.
If you want to keep the Italian vibes going, here are Brisbane’s best Italian restaurants.
Image credit: Supplied