Uncle Ming’s in Sydney is an opium den inspired cocktail bar with a solid Japanese whisky offering and cocktails with Asian flavours.
Uncle Ming’s – Photo © Cocktails & Bars
There’s something about Uncle Ming’s. Hidden in the basement of a CBD building next to a suit club, it’s easy to miss the Sydney bar from street level. Yet the bar’s eclectic vibe and vibrant energy draws the type of clientele where no one feels like a stranger, much like your favourite neighbourhood bar.
Legend tells that Uncle Ming was a notorious figure from Shanghai, a sweet potato vendor who began a life of crime as a policeman collecting protection money from local opium traders. When he had to leave China, he settled in Sydney in the 1920’s and set up a space for people to meet and enjoy a good drink.
Step inside the opium den inspired cocktail bar and let your senses get adjusted to the red lighting and the kitsch Chinese fitout that tells you this place plays the theme well.
Uncle Ming’s describes itself as a celebration of Asia in a cocktail bar with a solid Japanese whisky offering. The twelve-strong cocktail list reveals drinks that aren’t strictly Chinese-inspired but with a mix of classics and Asian-inspired cocktails and flavours.
Melon Dramatic is a mix of gin with watermelon juice, pineapple juice, mint and sugar served in a tall and refreshing drink that calls to summer, while Matcha Do About Nothing plays on the subtle notes of Matcha Nigori Sake, along with white rum, Frangelico, Liquor 43 in a sour style drink with a nutty element.
The Martini is transformed in Tokyo Jazz, a drink that’s proved popular with patrons. It brings together floral elements of gin and St Germain liqueur with the freshness of muddled cucumber and lavender bitters.
For a spicy kick that leaves a pleasant tingling on the lips, Cousin Chapo’s Escape is Uncle Ming’s take on a spicy Margarita with blanco tequila, St Germain liqueur, lime, ginger and Uncle’s chili syrup.
With Japanese whisky being one of Uncle’s specialities, you’ll find it in well-crafted cocktails such as the Japanese Bogart where Nikka From the Barrel is stirred with dry vermouth, amaro Montenegro and Peychaud’s Bitters, and finished with an Absinthe mist. Served up in a coupette, this all-season sipper is an elegant cocktail that brings all the elements in perfect balance. For a nightcap, Taketsuru’s Secret Garden combines Taketsuru Japanese whisky, rye whiskey, Grand Marnier, Cynar and smoked fresh rosemary for an after dinner sipper.
Cocktails to Share are served out of teapots and there’s always the theatrical element of the Shanghai Roller with Johnnie Walker Black and Laphroaig 10 yo, brown sugar and bitters served in flames.
Click through the following pages to view images of the cocktails.
