Cocktails and oysters are on the menu at the new venture by the Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall team.
Should Satan’s Whiskers be straight or curled? This is the kind of wild speculation that can follow a visit to Seymour’s Cocktails and Oysters, a grown-up New Orleans-inspired sidekick to Lefty’s Old Time Music Hall that recently landed next door.
Seymour’s is the latest foray from the team behind Lefty’s – Jamie Webb, Simon Shearer and Jason Scott – and while it has its own personality, the lineage is clear. Here Satan’s Whiskers is served predictably kinky, the cocktail arriving blended with Triple Sec (rather than Grand Marnier) in a London Dry gin-fuelled mix of sweet and dry vermouths with orange and bitters.
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It’s right in tune with the ambience – a narrow, low-lit room cocooned in cherry velvet drapes. Red patterned carpet is laid underfoot and striking garnet and gold bird of paradise wallpaper is almost obscured by mirrors and vintage posters. A replacement for the short-lived Ginger’s Diner, Seymour’s feels reassuringly classic, with comfy booth seating down one side and a long brass-topped bar with bentwood stools on the other. There’s even a piano.
The menu, which features oysters, continues to evolve under the stewardship of chef Jonathan Bryant, who previously led the kitchen at Webb’s dearly missed Cabiria. Snacks range from the likes of duck rillettes with quince and baguette or duck parfait with croûtons and cherries to char-grilled quail with pomegranate dressing and a crudo featuring grouper, capers and lemon. The house drink is a barrel-aged Sazerac made on a 50-50 mix of rye and Cognac. Prefer to keep things straight? There’s a healthy line-up of apéritifs, digestifs and liqueurs as well as a decent selection of wine that includes the quirky likes of Grace Koshu from Japan and a txakoli by Basque producer Gorka Izagirre.
Seymour’s Cocktails and Oysters, 15 Caxton St, Petrie Terrace, Qld, (07) 3369 0555, www.facebook.com/seymourscocktails
