Old Memories in New Places

7:45PM - Friday Afternoon on the 2nd of January 2026.

Wandering down Enmore Road in Sydney in that early evening light that espouses the first few days of any given year. It seems that the whole world is out and doing their level-best to enjoy every morsel of what a new year brings. Enmore and Newtown have always had that certain casual vibrancy about them that has drawn me into it. Whether they are milling about waiting for a gig at the Enmore Theatre, wandering from restaurant to restaurant hoping to get a last minute space or just getting from A to B, the air is filled with a low humming energy. Is it exhilarating? No. But its not trying to be. Its an excitement that finds itself at home in the common place. But that is a discussion for another time.

Bar Demo

It is with that energy that I find myself walking into Bar Demo. It immediately feels warm, with the natural hues of the timber coming to life in the warm glow of the candles and lights scattered about the place. It reminds me of a classic diner, with several intimate booths for two by the wall, each with a mirror, its reflection providing an embracing illumination surprises in its subtlety. The bar has a assortment of stools along its length, leading to private room that is ensconced in a colour that can only be described as a dappled maroon. The bar itself is, for lack of a better turn of phrase, jam packed with essentials. A range of spirits in varying sizing (with an exceptionally large bottle of Vermouth that surely cant be used regularly), a wine collection that could have been chosen for their labels as much as their taste and a broad amount of records. Richard Hell & the Voidoids is spinning on the turntable, it’s a vintage sound for some, and a reassuring sound of days gone by for others.

You might conclude that this bar was made for a Wes Anderson film, with its abundant visual symmetry and a colour pallete against which any indivual can decide to stand out, if they so choose. But a bar can only provide so much, it is up to its patrons each and every night to make the decision on how they wish to avail themselves of its libations.

But enough philosophising about the bar, onto things that matter; drinks. Specifically martinis. Coming into a renaissance as of late, it seems that a bar does not cut the mustard unless they have a martini of their own. As such, my first drink is the Demo Martini. For $24, I can tell you that it is a Martini. Served with a twist and ice cold. Few things in life are as simple as that, and it needs nothing else.

I had another cocktail known as a Left Hand. A variant of an old fashioned, it featured Bourbon, Vermouth, Campari and Chocolate Bitters. Unlike a martini, this was made to stand out. It was bold, with a familiar bouquet that joins a new sort of flavour. Another blend of the old with the new. You can almost sense a theme there.

The Left Hand Cocktail

So there I sat, drinking and contemplating the bar and its ever-present theme. A taste of the old with the new. All of the opportunity and anticipation of the new year, and the reassuring comfort of nostalgia. It’s heartwarmingly morose. It feels like the kind of bar that you meet an old flame at. The world has moved on, and each of you have changed. There is tension in the air that invites you to bathe in old memories and relive the good times. Will it go anywhere? No. But it doesn’t have to. A bar like this doesn’t concern itself with those decisions. Just focus on enjoying the moment.

So, when all is said and done, would I recommend Bar Demo? Yes. If you are looking for a cute and cosy spot for 1-3 drinks with that special someone, its hard to deny. Alternatively, if you just want to sit back and think on days gone by, its not a bad place to find a solo stoop and inundate yourself in memories of old.