"Gold" Drinks

My favourite trashy read, 9To5 had a promotion as part of their special gold issue, for a free at Mint. So that's how I found myself wondering to the stylish and exclusive Inter Continental Hotel on a cool Thursday evening. Mint is dolled up to look very sexy, with silver, beige and chocolate being the colour scheme. The atmosphere is enhanced by low lighting and a lot of velvet seatings with scattered cushions. This Thursday night was pretty quiet, with some couples, friends, hotel guests, and, I am sure of this, 2 people on first dates enjoying a drinks.

The bar is split over several levels of little inter-connected rooms. We settled in the main room, on some comfy couches next to the faux fire place. There is table service and we were immediately brought the menus. Thursday also happened to be 2 for 1 drinks night, with 5 drinks on their menu qualifying for the deal. We tried the Vanilla & Lychee Martini ($16) - vanilla vodka mixed with Pariso lychee liqeur and lychees - quite sweet, doesn't taste much of alcohol, but looks very pretty with a single lychee resting at the bottom of the martini glass, and definitely a girly drink. The Mango Dash ($16) - mango juice with mango liqueur with bubbles and a touch of cranberry juice - was served up in a big bourbon glass. I think the champagne must be pretty bad quality, as I didn't enjoy this drink at all. I thought it was a bit off balance, hey, but that looked pretty too!

I think I must've been the only person to spot the freebie in 9To5, (hehe I have a talent for these things), because when I asked the bartender, they had no idea about it, but said I could have any cocktail on the menu on the house anyway! I chose the High Roller ($16) - grey goose wodka mixed with tuaca and orange curacao combined with muddled lemons and oranges - and it was a great combination of sweet orange, bitter lemons and alcohol. The drink was very refreshing and great for summer.

This is a great spot for some mid-week drinkies. I don't know how crowded it gets on the weekend. There's a great sounding nosh menu too, but we didn't try it because we were heading to Ceci for dinner. The bartender was polite, so I even gave him a generous tip when we left. Now THAT'S a sign that I enjoyed myself.

Info

Mint Bar & Dining
62 Bridge St
Sydney
NSW 2000
Phone (02) 99240 1210
Website