Welcome to the Happy Palace, where a suspicious stairway leads to a hot pot that’s boiling over with babes, cocktails, deep fried parcels of yummy goodness and the kitsch charm of old school Chinese.
When Couturing attended their launch, we were greeted on arrival with a ginger laced cocktail, served by a bow tie baring babe who went by the name of Nigel. In fact everyone’s name tag read ‘Nigel’, just one of many quirks you will come to observe when visiting the Happy Palace. This is all part of the allure: the ‘in jokes’, the intentional typos on the menu and the liberal use of gold and red, which might be otherwise condemned had they not made the conscious decision to ‘bring it back’.
The venue has all the style and grace of any hip Melbourne bar and Asian fusion restaurant, with an added sense of humour. Staff have been labouring hard over the last few weeks: sanding tables, laying tiles and tasting cocktails; it’s needless to say their hard work has paid off.
This is the latest venture for Jerome Borazio, one of Melbourne’s most successful hospitality entrepreneurs, the man who brought us St. Jeromes, Sista Bella, The Workers Club and 1000 Pound Bend. Yes ladies and gentlemen, he has done it again! No doubt when Jerome cracks open his fortune cookie at the Happy Palace, it’s optimistic.
Here’s mine…
Sweet huh?
Happy Palace
87 Bourke Street, Melbourne
11am-1am Monday-Saturday
11-10:30pm Sunday
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