Recently we sauntered down to 1806, a Melbourne bar which won an award for the best cocktail list at an international cocktail festival in 2008. We had high expectations and were not disappointed by the decor, the theatrics of the cocktail making and the presentation of the beverages. As always, the cocktails we sampled fluctuated between tasty and vomit-inducing. But that's all part of the fun!


One of the first we tried was the Espresso Martini. Having tried martinis before and concluded that they taste like dog faeces drenched in ethanol, we were all eagerly anticipating the espresso version of this famous cocktail, to see whether a coffee hit could numb the overwhelming taste of diesel.

The presentation was excellent. Despite arriving in a foreboding feral glass, we immediately noticed that it gave good coffee head. With the strategic placement of coffee beans on the crema, it looked like Miss Latte 2008. Would the taste match the appearance? Almost certainly not.

Our conclusion on the taste was: "I paid for a cocktail, and all I got was Nescafe blend 43". It simply tasted like cold coffee, and not even a particularly good one. It was as though the cocktail had dripped out of a cheap instant coffee machine in a youth hostel three years after the beans had been ground and two hours after the water authorities had switched off the hot water main.

Nonetheless, since we're all rather fond of coffee, and since I was tired and needed a caffeine hit, an overall rating of 3.5 out of 5 seemed appropriate (especially given the outstanding presentation).

Posted by David