Sample cocktail degustations and Caribbean bites at South Bank’s Barbossa Bar & Bottle Shop
Sail down South Bank’s major thoroughfare Grey Street today, Thursday May 3, and you might spy a colourful new watering hole now open for business. Greystone Bar and Cellar has undergone a significant makeover, entering a renovation chrysalis and reemerging as Barbossa Bar & Bottle Shop – a new-look hotspot with a vibrant Caribbean-inspired aesthetic and menu, plus a cocktail list that packs colour and flavour in equal amounts.
The story
Barbossa Bar & Bottle Shop’s evolution began when Greystone’s owners, brothers Tepil and Tapel Cafer, began exploring the intricate nuances and influences within Caribbean cuisine. Seeing how it had been shaped throughout its history by more than 40 countries around the world, the brothers became enamoured with the opportunities that diversity presented. Not long after, the brothers allowed the winds of change to push them in a new and exciting direction, embracing the vibrancy of Caribbean cuisine and overhauling their venue to match. The brothers secured a neighbouring tenancy to expand and provide more elbow room for cocktail shaking, followed up by a significant cosmetic revamp that pops, with nautical touches and a rough-and-tumble feel that is both eye-catching and comfortable.
The food
Barbossa’s kitchen is dishing up a pirate’s bounty of culinary treasures, with Caribbean influences sprinkled across its menu. Diners are encouraged to sit down to a feast of varied delights that can be hoarded or shared amongst your crew. The menu pivots from spicy South American empanadas and Jamaican buffalo chicken wings to traditional Cuban sandwiches, rum-glazed barbecue pork, chickpea curries and Barbados-inspired fish cutters. If you’re hunting for a late-night snack, Barbossa Bar & Bottle Shop keeps its kitchen open late and serves up smaller bites well after its neighbours close, while also opening early to serve up breakfast classics and coffee.
The drinks
The flair doesn’t stop with the food, as the bar crew are handily capable of whipping up a plethora of tiki-style cocktails that extend beyond the ones listed on the main menu (we hear they can create close to 200). There are enough rums on hand to make Jack Sparrow salivate, with barrel-aged drops taking pride of place in the back bar alongside beer, wine and other fine spirits. Amateur mixologists can put their hands up for an agricole degustation, which allows them to craft their own cocktails. Barbossa has retained Greystone’s cellar, with a boutique array of drops available if you need to swing through and pick up a bottle. Every spirit found behind the bar can be purchased at the bottle shop, while beer lovers can purchase a growler to take home, filled with any of Barbossa’s tap beers.
Barbossa Bar & Bottle Shop opens today. Check out the Stumble Guide for trading hours and contact details.
The Stumble Guide is our comprehensive Brisbane dining guide with more than 2400 places to eat, drink, shop and play.
