Five By Five

 It rained again. Since rain is a pretty rare phenomenon in Perth nowadays it does seem strange that for the last three Barchivist outings it has rained. But never mind, it didn’t put me off.

But it may have put others off. When it was first announced that the 5Bar would be the venue for our next meeting, I got plenty of enthusiastic responses with many people saying yes, they were coming. However, come the day, Tuesday 31 May, and come the rain, I started getting announcements of “can’t make it”, “sorry”, “not tonight” and so on.

But I had one firm advocate for going out on this night and that advocate was Travelbug. And since she was coming, she inspired a few other attendees so that we were 5 in all; appropriate huh?  And the reason for her motivating others to come along had to do with her big news from the weekend. More on that later.

5Bar is easy to miss. It is along Beaufort St, a few doors down from Clarences but unlike Clarences there is no sign. Also the door is set back. If not for the sandwich boards that I recognised from their Facebook page I could easily have missed it.

Inside, the 5Bar is bigger than it looks and it has plenty of looks. One corner has plush lounges stretching along the walls, another corner has comfy armchairs and an animal skin rug, still another section has a pool table with a cushioned seating area. Then there is the tabled seating area and opposite that there is the bar and in between these two there is the group of wing back chairs and ottomans. This was where TravelBug and I found SJVC and AR waiting for us.

I try hard not to photograph innocent bar patrons so that they can be recognised

We knew that TF was going to be coming later so we got down to the business of checking out the menu. It was long, but our waiter didn’t mind waiting while we decided. He sat down on an ottoman and chatted to us. Let’s call him Beau, as he was wearing a bow tie (as the Doctor says, bowties are cool). Beau was chatty and although on the face of it his actions might seem a little forward he was just friendly and came across as genuine. He let us be as soon as we told him what we wanted.

As soon as Beau had left with our orders, TravelBug and I remembered how it was the last time we had been in Mount Lawley, when we had had the experience of too many waiters. We had just made a joke about this when another waiter came up to ask us if we wanted anything. Maybe he used to work at Clarences? However, this was the only time this happened and for the rest of the night it was Beau who took excellent care of us.

AR, SJVC & TravelBug on the couch

When TF arrived Beau returned and once again sat down amongst us and this time, started to engage TF in conversation. So relaxed was his manner that TF thought that he was a new Barchivist member. It was only after a bit of relaxed chatter about how her day was and how she was feeling tonight that Beau asked her what she would like to drink. It was then that TF realised that this was the waiter.

TF hears TravelBug tell her news

So, what was the big news?

TraveBug got married. In secret pretty much. In fact, I think we can use the word elope. The news amongst those of us at work, leaked out via Facebook. This had all happened on the weekend and since this Tuesday was her first day back at work, this was the official post event celebratory drink, as TravelBug regaled us all with the details.

The ladies had wine for the occasion and I chose a cloudy scrumpy cider, served cold. I rather liked it and the prices were reasonable I thought. Even better they let us split the bill and each of us could pay as we left.

Cloudy Scrumpy. I somehow ordered it with a straight face.

On the food front I ordered olives. TravelBug declared that these were the best Olives in Barchivist history ever. Now the quantity is nothing on what the Brown Fox provided, but the size of these olives was huge. And then, there was how they were served, with a drizzle of oil and a dashing of salt all over and some citrus somewhere in the mix. Delicious!

Possibly the best olives ever. We should give them an award.

TF ordered the chips with curry mayo. For this Beau gave us a stack of serviettes, but for what we don’t know, as the mayo was thick and stayed on the chip. Also, the name of the mayo was accurate. I thought the word curry was added to the description of the mayo to explain the use of turmeric for the yellow colouring but no; this was actually spicy and quite tasty. Maybe the serviettes were for mopping our brows.

"Serviette?" "Yes, I know" This joke in honour of Leslie Nielsen.

Overall the 5Bar was fantastic, and with it having so many distinct little corners we could easily come again and sit somewhere else and pretend it is a different venue.

One of the many little areas at 5Bar

SJVC: I think 5Bar is definitely a place we need to revisit and share with our other Barchivist members.  My favourite things were the comfy seats and the BEST olives I have had in a long time, plus it is nice and cosy in wet weather!

5Bar Bar

One final thing. I don’t often discuss the amenities and even less often take pictures of them but this place had proper hand towels. Classy.

A picture of a hand towel as a souvenir instead of a hand towel as a souvenir

arotulon at 5Bar; scruffy with a scrumpy

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