Perch Bar in Shellharbour Village during one of the bottomless brunches. Photos: Supplied.
Two Illawarra venues are redefining the bar scene in the Illawarra, offering everything from Croatian-inspired cocktails and wood-fired eats to events as diverse as honky-tonk nights and makeup masterclasses.
Perch Bar in Shellharbour Village and Bavanda Bar in Wollongong, owned by former tradies and brothers Stephen and Anto, have quickly become community hotspots with their innovative approach to hospitality.
Operations manager Claire O’Brien said each venue offered a distinctly different experience.
Claire said the three-year-old Bavanda Bar transformed from a relaxed afternoon drink spot featuring finger food and mezzo platters to a vibrant club on Saturday nights, while year-old Perch Bar operated more like a restaurant, with a wood-fired pizza oven and handmade pasta.
“We try to keep things as engaging as possible at both venues,” Claire said.
“At Perch, we’ve done Sip Sessions with [former MasterChef] Gillian Dinh with cooking and painting classes, and we recently did the same thing but with a professional makeup artist.
“At Bavanda, it’s a pretty versatile venue, so we do everything from live music, DJs, bottomless brunches and we’ve got honky-tonk, which is a line dancing country night we do monthly.”
She said it was the diversity in the events they offered that was garnering much of the feedback they received.
“We’re constantly trying to have something new and find things that are different from what many other places in Wollongong and Shellharbour are doing,” she said.
Bavanda Bar in Wollongong is renowned for its Croatian cocktails.
She said Bavanda had its roots as a cocktail bar, with the brothers first opening the doors due to their love for different types of beverages.
“At Bavanda, we specialise in different flavours of rakija, because traditionally we are a Croatian bar,” she said.
“So all our signature cocktails have different flavours of rakija.”
She said rakija was a double-distilled fruit brandy native to the Balkan region and popular in Croatia, which was traditionally made from plums, but also often grapes, pears, berries and other fruits.
“We’re known for our pear flavour, which everyone calls the “banana shot”, because it tastes like banana Paddle Pops,” she said.
Claire said each bar had successfully attracted a diverse clientele, with Bavanda initially drawing a strong Croatian community and now appealing to a broader audience.
“When we first opened Bavanda, there was definitely a very strong Croatian community that would come here,” she said.
“We used to do Balkan nights as well at the bar, so that was really great.
“We did close for a little while to renovate and expand the venue, and since reopening, I think it’s definitely a mix of people who come in now.
“We’ve tried to not only expand how many people we can have, but expand what we offer.”
She said future plans included collaborating with other Globe Lane venues to host larger community events, having already successfully come together for the men’s and women’s World Cups and doing large bottomless brunches in the laneway.
Perch Bar is located at Shop 2/30A Addison Street, Shellharbour Village, and Bavanda Bar is at 7 Globe Lane, Wollongong.
