Cushion Bar

For a bar called Cushion, you’d think there’d be more comfortable seating. But no. Instead it’s bar seating, hard banquettes and blue backlights. In fact, with the blue lights and the stainless poles sticking out from the long snaking bar, you might think you’d entered a gentleman’s club.

Cushion boasts a fairly south-of-the-border influenced cocktail menu with a large section devoted to rum or tequila elixirs like the rare anejo highball – pampero rum, orange curacao, lime, bitters and topped off with a spritz of Bundaberg ginger beer – which is frisky enough to drink through the evening but light, tangy and fun enough to work as a mid-afternooner.

They’ve also got a wide and impressive range of liquors behind the bar that aren’t on the list and a group of staff confident in the fine art of mixing drinks. There’s Averna – that bittersweet Italian digestivo – as well as Pisco (Peruvian brandy) as well as some interesting beers on tap. If cocktails or beer aren’t you thing, there’s also a wine list with a few nice drops by the glass and a plethora of well-priced bottles.

If it’s the classics you like, you won’t be disappointed – they do a Hemingway Daiquiri (here with rum, white grapefruit, lime and maraschino liqueur and a dash of sugar syrup) and a very exciting looking drink that’s a mix of Don Julio tequila, pampero rum, vodka, cointreau, lemon, sugar syrup and Coke. They call it a Texas Iced Tea.

There’s a proper woodfire oven here, so on a Friday night you can have an $8 mojito with your basil, prosciutto and olive pizza or maybe the basil and goats cheese pizza. Or just some lip-smacking chilli fries.

All of this is under the slightly gaudy Coogee Crown plaza but don’t be put off by the façade – the interiors have their charms and during the day it looks over the beach. The banquettes outside are the best place to catch the afternoon sun, hence the bar filling with a more refined crowd on weeknights than on weekends. Saturday nights are a moshpit though.

At $15 a pop, the cocktails are a little pricey but considering it’s the only place in Coogee to drink a cocktail that doesn’t come in a plastic shot glass, we’re happy to pay the price for a well-made drink in cosy environs.
It may only be a few doors down from the threshing pit of the Coogee Bay hotel but it’s light years away when it comes to drinking in style.