Re- South Eveleigh Bar

Re - is a zero waste cocktail bar in Sydney South Eveleigh dining precinct. Their philosophy is "Waste Nothing, Taste Everything" and along with a range of signature cocktails there's also a delicious food menu that is surprisingly well priced!

This is my third visit to Re -, I went twice when it opened for pre dinner cocktails and always meant to go back for something to eat. It's only during the Winter Solstice Festival that Laura and I visit with food in mind. You see I had pocketed copies of the menu from previous visits because I'm one of those people who LOVES reading menus (they're my favourite bedtime story). "The food menu is totally us," I said to her.

Re - first opened in 2021 by Matt Whiley of Scout and has scooped up awards for their sustainability as well as general bar awards. It is located in a former Locomotive Workshop adjacent to Lucky Kwong. It has outdoor seating as well as two levels of indoor seating. The room is built from recycled materials. The bar, table tops and staircase are crafted using upcycled milk bottles. Complementing this eco-friendly design, the banquettes are upholstered with pineapple-fibre leaf. Service is and everyone is super friendly. The atmosphere is dark and it is a bit hard to photograph things there.

There's a whole section of drinks dubbed 10x10 where they select 10 of the most wasted food items and turned them into 10 new cocktail ingredients that then populate their 100 item pantry. The idea was to create 10 drinks made solely from these 100 pantry items with house spirits. The most well known is the Wholebeast made with Ketel One, Chicken Feet Caramel, Muscat, Black Garlic Vinegar and Cascara. It's an interesting cocktail (and no you don't taste the chicken's feet, just the caramel) with a strong flavour to it. All of the 10x10 cocktails are named after the businesses that they get the produce from. We also try the polar opposite of this drink, the Pornstar Sgroppino, a light, fruity and flirty drink that they describe as "Textural". I adore sgroppinos especially in summer but I was lured by their use of Messina Gelato's passion fruit sorbet. This is paired with cucumber vermouth and ginger wine and has little pockets of gelato. It is utterly delicious, even in the depths of winter.

The food menu is comprised of 11 snappy, snacky offerings all around $15 each. It's freezing cold outside and rainy so while we'd normally go for something light, only carbs will do. We try the toastie made with AP Bakery Bread, kimchi and aged Cheddar. It's fantastic and hits the spot in the way that only kimcheese will do.

One of the things that I love about Laura is that even though she doesn't eat meat she always encourages me to try something with meat in it if it sounds interesting, even if she won't eat it herself. And that Sloppy Joe is one of those items. Rather than a hot dog bun it's two slices of AP Bakery bread with a lamb offal ragu, fries, cave aged Cheddar, black garlic yogurt and hot sauce. It's very rich and almost impossible to eat neatly. It has a very strong lamb flavour to it too but it is very tasty and I especially love the fries inside it and all the sauces.

Because we are trying so much we decide to share one yakitori chicken skewer and it's quite a substantial one. We can spot the Binchotan Charcoal Grill in the kitchen fired up for items like this. The chicken is perfectly cooked with togarashi seasoning sprinkled on top and served with a gorgeous cured egg yolk mayo and shaved cured egg yolk.

For the two night festival the chefs are outside barbecuing some pork and serving it on flatbread. It's a mouth watering koji marinated charred pork neck with mushrooms, a gorgeously creamy macadamia ajo blanco and dill. I'd eat this again in a heartbeat and even mostly vegetarian Laura enjoys this eating around the pork. Also special mention go to the chips ($12 not pictured) that are twice cooked shoestring fries that look to be hand cut. They're served with rosemary and Bloody Mary ketchup. You don't usually get twice cooked shoestring fries, usually fatter fries, and I'd worry that they'd be too dry but these are very moreish and terribly addictive. And because we can't finish it all, Laura and I being no waste sort of gals, we pack up everything we don't eat and take it with us. Introvert Mr NQN loves it when I bring food home because that means he gets to try food without leaving the comfort of his own house!

So tell me Dear Reader, do you take copies of the menu? And do you take things you don't eat home?

This meal was independently paid for.