Bimbo Deluxe

Bimbo Deluxe Address: 376 Brunswick St (Cnr Rose St), Fitzroy, Melbourne.

Ph: 03 9419 8600

Website: www.BimboDeluxe.com.au

Bimbo Deluxe could never be accused of being a shrine to temperance with its great vats of infused vodka hovering threateningly over the enormous central bar, but with its nightly DJs, ludicrously cheap pizzas and decor that channels the flea-market bohemia of Brunswick Street’s recent past, there is more to Bimbo than getting legless.

Those who like dim, cave-like spaces will be right at home. The central bar divides the space into the reasonably dim dining area (simple plywood tables, mismatched chairs, second-hand lamps, flocks of old soda siphons hanging in the windows) from the decidedly gloomy lounge area (sea of suspect couches, pool table, DJ booth).

Upstairs, past a slide show and along a corridor that takes you past the loos, is a rooftop beer garden hosting a capacity crowd throughout the summer.

Not content to rest on the laurels of its sticky carpeted predecessor, Bimbo has shellacked its walls and roof a nicotine-stain yellow and included everything from a shrine (complete with gold statuary and strings of coloured lights) to Tibetan prayer flags and lino floors to keep a slightly feral, edgy mood to the place that the fresh-faced, shaggy haired crowd seem to appreciate.

Aside from the infused vodka ($7 a pop), there is a good range of beer on tap (Carlton, $3.50; Asahi $6) and a cheap all-Oz wine list that is mostly really boring (Four Sisters Sauvignon Semillon, $6.50/$25.50).

The pizzas are tastily slapdash and top out at $7.90, but are $4 at other times. Better than the price, though, is the pizza’s ability to attract the kind of young, poor, arty crowd that has few places to call home in Fitzroy any more. For those who feel that one King Street is more than enough for any city, Bimbo provides hope that Brunswick Street may yet survive the onslaught.