Order of Melbourne

The Order of Melbourne

Level 2, 401 Swanston St, Melbourne
www.theorder.com.au

BarAmigo’s two pesos – Decent chilled out rooftop on a mild winter’s night. Great for a Coopers long neck

When visited – Fri 3 June 2011 5.20pm to 8.45pm

The bar on the rooftop at 5.30pm

The Order of Melbourne makes great use of its rooftop space and provides a casual laid back vibe which is great for a Friday night drink. It’s the opposite of pretentious. The walk up the 3 flights of stairs is definitely worth it.

Gotta love starting Friday night drinks at 3.45pm. 3 Little Creatures at Match went down all too well. It’s now time to head to the Order of Melbourne to meet some other friends.

It’s a fair way to trudge up the 3 flights of stairs but make sure you push through the pain… Once you’re at the top you’ll kind of feel like you’re not really in the city. It’s kinda relaxing.

Take your pick of seating areas at 5.30pm

I arrive a few minutes after my friend who has been killing time chatting to the bartender. There was something interesting about her conversation but now I’ve completely forgotten. Thankfully my friend is far more considerate than my mates from last week and orders me a Mountain Goat Steam Ale and not a tequila shot. $17 for a Steam Ale stubby and a Sav Blanc. Reasonably well priced for the city.

The rooftop at Order of Melbourne makes very good use of its limited space. There are plenty of benches around which are great for groups of friends. If you’re organised you can book a space which will seat around 10. At 5.30pm there’s probably 15 odd people around so it’s pretty easy to grab a spot at a wooden bench.

I would have expected more of a uni type crowd being across the road from RMIT and closish to Melbourne Uni but it’s very much a late 20s, early 30s kind of crowd. As its a laid back casusal venue, there’s not much need to dress up. The crowd is rather rugged up in their winter jackets but the marquees and heaters provide some welcome respite.

Around 7.45-8pm is when things start to pick up. All the seats are taken and you’re standing if you rock up now.

A couple of other mates have arrived and it’s time to get onto the Coopers Long Necks ($13 a pop). With my friend on wine, it probably wasn’t a good look to be on the long necks on my own…

Starting to fill out around 8pm

And its also good to get a free long neck… thanks to my mate who copped half a pot of beer on his pants when the staff accidently knocked over his beer. I guess a free beer is the least the staff could do once you knock someone’s drink over but the best thing was they did it automatically without hesitation.

Below the rooftop is a wide open bar area which will have live music starting from about 9pm. Check out the Order of Melbourne website for the acts that are playing. It’s empty around 8.45pm but will be sure to fill out towards midnight.

Before I forget… thank you for smoking… I don’t smoke and don’t care at all if other’s smoke but it’s rather refreshing to see a sign saying “Thank you for smoking” rather than the opposite. It fits the chilled out nature of the Order of Melbourne.

After getting stuck into the long necks, its time to get some food. Bring on Viet on Victoria St.

Salud
Eddie
BarAmigo – Your friend at the bar

Keep up to date with new reviews by clicking “like” on the top left.