The Classroom

Bicycle wheels twisted into light fixtures. Food and drink menus glued into exercise books. Indoor netball rings. No scratch’n’sniff stickers for guessing where this neighbourhood hangout takes its design cues from.

But while owners Daniel Sterpini and Adam Keane have left no lunchbox unopened in the construction of their walk-in time machine, they’ve also tempered the nostalgia with A-grade eats and drinks that put the class in both The Classroom and the classics: get a load of this Jameson Whiskey Sour spruced up by a lick of bourbon vanilla syrup. Now meet Ms White, a terrifically balanced White Lady served with pipettes of edible “paint” for drinkers to do their artiest with.

Feel like some extra-curricular boozing? A puff of Peterson’s tobacco smoke adds an extra layer of richness to an already hefty Chivas Regal and Antica Formula Rob Roy (and, it bears mentioning, your drinking hand, too).

Or maybe you want something lighter on a school night? Easy. Although cocktails are the bar team’s favourite subject, strong grades in wine, beer, cider and all the other liquid-based disciplines ensures good drinking for all.

The canteen’s menu of smarty updated tuck shop staples should enjoy similarly universal appeal. Think pork and fennel sausage rolls, grilled fish butties and unctuous slow-cooked Bourbon beef short ribs, as big in flavour as they are in size.