Hightail

The Verdict

Burgers and cocktails for lunch? It’s par for the course at Hightail, the CBD’s latest uber-cool concept bar.

As mouth-watering collab’s go, this one’s pretty exciting. Let’s tick the major players off, shall we? Welcome To Thornbury, Brunswick Mess Hall, Mr Burger, Belles Hot Chicken and Super Taco have joined forces to build an urban oasis on the edge of the CBD (technically Hightail’s in Docklands, but we won’t hold that against it).

“We based the design around this one idea – of Hightail being a watering hole, an oasis,” says co-founder Daragh Kan. “It’s a place that people will hightail-it to when they need an escape.”

Escapism is all well and good, but when you reach that desert island, you want an epic feast waiting for you (coconuts get old real quick). Lucky the food at Hightail comes straight from Mr Burger, Belles and Super Taco. You can order direct to your table via the new 100 Orders app too—laziness never tasted so good.

Hightail’s wine list is pretty parochial: a good mix of boutique local wineries, plus some well-travelled drops from Champagne in the north of France. There are 16 beers on tap, mostly lagers and easy-drinking ales, plus curve-ball bottles like New Zealand’s Jungle Boogie Blood Orange Sour, Portland’s low gluten Omission Lager and Kaiju Krush’s Tropical Pale Ale. The champs behind the back bar will be slinging a massive cocktail list, with a big focus on Aussie and Melbourne boutique spirits. If in doubt, try The Australian Negroni. It’s delicious.

You’ll find Hightail in Dockland’s Collins Square precinct, an area of the CBD that’s been starved of credibility for years. Looks like all that might be about to change...

Image credit: Jenna Fahey-White