Stay above ground for fun at new “bunker” bar

Posted on 12 July, 2019

New Canberra drinking hole Beirut Bunker Bar is now open in the city, taking inspiration from the Lebanese capital’s underground bars.

The owners of the new Beirut Bunker Bar in Garema Place joke that it looks like a “bomb site.”

That’s fair enough. Soumi and Chantelle Tannous are in the midst of renovating the space, which is strewn with ladders, paint tins, paint drop sheets, brooms, and cleaning products.

In one corner sit stacks of Bentwood bar stools, waiting to be spray painted black. The most important element of the space is already installed—the beautiful, very long bar crafted from Blackbutt wood.

Bronze metallic pendant lights hang over the bar. They’re on and working, but still in their plastic wrappings. Chantelle, holding her three-year-old son who has just woken up from a nap, walks me through the rest of their plans.

A khaki-coloured vegan leather booth will wrap around that cosy corner, offset by the wall, which will be painted a rich navy. And on that wall, street artists Dai Cameron and Dylan Thomas will paint a boy peeling back a curtain to reveal details of Beirut.

One of the bathrooms will have Arabic art and writing on the walls. “I’m also trying to source some disco lights for the bathrooms,” Chantelle says, laughing. The couple also has a three-month-old son. In other words, she’s busy.

Soumi and Chantelle Tannous with their two sons, Sebastian (3) and Elias (three months). Photography: Zachary Griffith

While the space, with its exposed brick and timber slats panelling will be darkly glamorous once it’s finished, the owners also wanted to play into the bar’s name. So the bombsite look is also partly intentional.

There are holes in the wall that are made to look like bullet holes. And they will jackhammer parts of the wall to expose more of the brick behind it. A DJ booth will have a decal with the words “Drop beats, not bombs,” on the front of it.

The couple is also applying for a shisha-smoking licence from the ACT Government. And the musical set list will reflect the international vibe they want to create.

“We’ve been working on a lot of playlists, with like, twenty different languages,” Soumi says.

The couple wanted to capture the thriving, cosmopolitan spirit of Beirut’s nightlife—but without revellers having to go underground to party.

While the new cocktail bar, wedged in between Hippo and Shorty’s Bar, will be well above ground, the Tannous sought inspiration from the Lebanese capital’s underground bunker bars, the most famous of which is club B018.

B018 offered partygoers refuge from bullets and missiles during the 1980s as civil war raged above ground, introduced electronic music to Lebanon and the Middle East, and is still thriving today.

The Canberra bar has been a long time in the making—or at least in the thinking—and when the space became available, the couple jumped at the opportunity.

“We want to create that really vibrant Beirut style for anyone who walks through the door and we are on a mission to change the perception of Lebanon and more specifically Beirut, one cocktail at a time,” Chantelle says.

“We have a real emphasis on the quality of drinks, but a bar that also has a fun atmosphere.

“We’ve found in Canberra it seems to be one or the other. It’s either fun, or it’s really high-quality drinks and quite posh but a little subdued, like with piano bar music or 1920s jazz.

“We want to bring the two together: good quality drinks and the fun experience.”

Credit: Zachary Griffith.

She met Soumi eight years ago when she was backpacking through Lebanon. “It was my very first day in Beirut and that night I walked into a bar and met this bartender,” she says.

She had intended to stay for only two weeks, but ended up staying for six months.

“Beirut was not what I was expecting at all. It’s an absolute mecca for nightlife, which I don’t always think comes to mind for people on this side of the world when they hear Lebanon or Beirut.”

However, she says for Middle Easterners, in a part of the world where alcohol is forbidden in many countries, and men and women are still largely segregated, Beirut has a reputation as a place “to party.”

“Not only that, as a place where a husband and wife can actually go out together, sit in a restaurant together and eat a meal,” Chantelle says.

Beirut Bunker Bar will change its cocktail menu weekly. Soumi, who is from Lebanon, has previously bartended at Akiba and Provini (now Lola’s) in Civic and Sub Urban in Dickson.

Credit: Zachary Griffith.

He says in his travels around the world with Chantelle he’s been inspired by new liqueurs, aromas and spices, and is always thinking about how to create “the un-doable cocktail.”

That is, a cocktail that doesn’t exist—yet—and can’t be replicated because of the secret and surprising ingredients. “I put all the effort in my cocktails in the same way as a chef puts effort into creating a perfect dish,” he says.

He’s inspired by what inspires cocktail drinkers. “I always try to see where’s the niche market, where’s the high demand, what is it at the moment,” he says.

“For example, Japanese bars—everybody wants to drink Japanese whiskeys and sakes and umeshus and yuzushus.

“So I created a really delicious sake-based cocktail called Sumimasen. It means you’re welcome in Japanese and also sounds like my name.”

It’s made from Ippin Junmai Daiginjo Yoshikubo sake, which retails for just under $90 here, the Brazilian national spirit Sagatiba Cachaca that’s refined from sugar cane, a homemade peach purée, and what Soumi calls a “100 per cent Beirut spice mix.”

Not surprisingly, he also uses a lot of Middle Eastern spirits like the woody-flavoured liqueur Mastika, which he says is “quite peppery.”

If you fancy yourself a bit of a James (or Jane) Bond, you can sample a $30 martini with Beluga vodka, Beluga caviar, and anchovies.

He also draws upon seasonal fruits for his signature cocktails. “I just love to go to the shops, see what’s in season and grab it by hand and just feel that it’s ready to make something with,” he says.

“And we have cocktails ranging from the normal mojitos, but we use tangelo, which seems to be a really unique citrus and works really well when you muddle it with some mint and you add some really good raw sugar.”

He and Chantelle also have a vision for the bar to be as close to zero waste as possible. They won’t have plastic straws, for example.

“I like my cocktails to be sustainable all the time, so if we’re squeezing a lime, we’ll use the lime to preserve it,” he says.

Credit: Zachary Griffith.

“Then we dehydrate it and turn it into an essential oil or powder, and we’ll use the powder to infuse the cocktails and to rub the rim of the glass with.”

However, Soumi’s speciality is creating cocktails on demand. He’s so high-energy he’s like the Energizer Bunny as he bounces around the bar, and when he talks about making cocktails he becomes even more animated.

“When you give me a base and your tasting notes … it gives me a good challenge to create something super fast for you, and make you feel comfortable to drink it,” he says.

“This is what I love to do. I love to create cocktails every minute of the hour, and every second of the minute.”

That’s a good thing, as the bar will be open from 4 pm to 4 am Tuesday to Saturday.

the essentials

What: Beirut Bunker Bar
Where: 25 Garema Place, Canberra City
When: 4 pm til 4 am Tuesday to Saturday.
Web: beirutbunkerbar.com.au

Feature image: Zachary Griffith