Eight years after taking the bold move of opening Bar None, an underground cocktail bar that wouldn't be out of place in the CBD, in the hitherto underground-cocktail-bar-free suburb of Camberwell, Gen and Michael Cotter decided to open a second venue upstairs. Two weeks later, fire gutted the building.
Undeterred - as you'd expect from a brother and sister team who'd been brave enough to bring high end cocktails, fine wines and craft beer to Camberwell in the first place - they rebuilt. And in 2012, they reopened first Bar None and then East of Everything. The former has always had an excellent beer list, even when such things were rarer than hen's teeth, but craft beer is an even greater focus upstairs, with five of the six taps protruding from a tiled wall behind the bar pouring a rotating selection of Aussie and international beers. Add in a relatively short but perfectly formed bottle list and you've got the kind of offering to which every decent small bar should aspire.
The venue itself is a multi-faceted affair, with elements that variously suggest industrial, homely, British tavern - even hospital theatre - and a veranda that's painted white and, when lit up by rings of light at night, feels like sitting in a cloud. Subdued lighting, a handful of sofas and choice tunes lend East of Everything a seriously laid back charm too.
Given Michael Cotter is the man behind the uber-popular Gumbo Kitchen, there's good pedigree in the kitchen. The menu takes inspiration from the length and breadth of the Americas, with many dishes designed with beer in mind. It adds further appeal to a bar that deserves to have plenty of people consulting their rail map and heading east.
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