Food, glorious food. As Englishman Lionel Bart reminded us in 1960’s Oliver! we’re anxious to try it. Three banquets a day (is apparently) our favourite diet. Lyrics past the “…mammoth steak, fried, roasted or stewed” we really don’t want to know about – excepting that there are many, many ways in which in food is marvellous, fabulous, beautiful and even magical.
It’s always been interesting to me that a man who was born and raised in London wrote (among many other ‘fings’) such a recognisable song about food. Those unknowing of its origin probably know it from the animation Ice Age: The Meltdown 40-odd years later. Decades ago, fulfilling the Aussie right of passage to live in London, one of the biggest wtf..? was the unexpectedly poor quality of food – other than Brussels tops (delicious!) apples, and potatoes. Having taken a leisurely palate-awakening route through South East Asia, Mediterranean and the Middle East, I was anticipating the familiarity of ‘ordinary’ food.
And it was indeed ordinary. Less than, is my recollection. Indelibly, it marked the very first time I had a deep, almost religious appreciation for the astounding range, quality, abundance and affordability of food available to the average Australian.
It wasn’t even a country known for its food culture then. Booze, certainly. We wore it like a VB badge of honour while we farmed out Foster’s and waited for boutique ones to be born.
Prior to the influx of WWII immigrants, we were a meat ‘n three veg kinda place. Nary a zucchini or eggplant in sight. Spaghetti that didn’t come from a tin was exotic; dessert was vanilla ice cream and something from Ardmona, Letona or SPC. The red vinyl chairs and white tablecloths of the local Chinese restaurant was the reserve of celebrations: sweet and sour pork, beef and black bean sauce, fried rice and fried ice cream.
Ours was the Sun Wing Wa.
How things have changed since then. It closed down a few years ago after probably 60 years of families and friends spinning those lazy susans, and marvelling at how shiny food could be. Chinese restaurants are as big a part of the Aussie eatin’ landscape as motels were on long car trips north, in a seatbeltless Holden HD station wagon.
Which brings us to Silver’s Motel in Enmore. The only thing you’ll be parking is your bum on a stool or in a booth, and all that will be unpacked is the week that was. Or whatever existential angst demands any one of the more than 350 brands of Scottish, Japanese and American whiskies it stocks.
That’s right. Three hundred and fifty, and then some. “Johnnie Walker Red from the ’70s, Jim Beam from the ’80s and some really cool small-cask whiskies … Building this collection over the last 10-plus years, there’s a lot of bottles you just don’t see anymore,” said co-owner Tynan Sidhu.
Named by its owners Michael Chiem and Tynan Sidhu to recapture that adventurous spirit of old, the twist in this story is that despite the culinary bent in the cocktails it serves, you don’t go there for food, glorious food.
What Silver’s Motel feeds is the soul. From its timeless whisky sour menu, the stories they bring forth, the vintage vibe; and that sense of six degrees of separation from Leonardo Di Caprio in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.
With the basic recipe of a spirit, citrus, sugar and water, the Sour is one of the oldest categories of drinks. During long voyages in the 1700s, the British Navy’s grog sought to ward off scurvy and other ills (including boredom, probably) by adding lemon or lime juice to their diluted whisky rations, it’s become a template for the likes of the Manhattan, Daiquiri, and Cosmopolitan. Thank god for those seafaring sickly Poms…
As the owner and force behind the CBD’s multi-award winning bar PS40, Michael Chiem knows his stuff. In teaming up with Tynan who grew up in the area, came the desire to not be “too fancy”. In the same way you stay in a ritzy hotel, for a lot of people, bars are for special occasions. A roadside motel is somewhere you’ll stay more often – and that’s the foundation these skilled craftsman of inner and outer comfort have built upon.
Formality is dialled down, flavour dialled up.
Everyone needs to experience how much better old fashioned Ice Magic tastes in an Old Fashioned; holding among other treats, the sweet, and earthy delight of cacao nib-washed bourbon.
Marigold flowers from Darling Mills farm are mortar-and-pestled into a paste, to release tendrils of acidic, musky passionfruit throughout one of the favourite drinks on the menu – Gold Rush. The three-day process of making burnt mandarin peel into a syrup to pair with Tanqueray gin, Margan vermouth and aromatic orange bitters, has Silver Motel’s Semi Gloss brighten the hue of painting the town.
When you’re in the mood for a bit of a wobbly boot, Cameron’s Kick will no doubt help that along, with its mix of Johnny Walker black and Irish whisky, laced up with lemon, almond and orange blossom water.
And it wouldn’t be a proper bar without rich and boozy, or bright and bubbly classic cocktails all on offer.
Those who don’t want to paint anything, or fill any footwear are catered for with non-alcoholic choices. Heaps Normal IPA, Drivers lager, and Bees and Flowers: its canvas Seadrift Marine. This multi-award winning, Australian owned and distilled vodka-like spirit gives coriander, Kaffir lime, lemongrass and kelp the intensity of a bracing Northern Beaches surf.
When everything new seems way too much, nostalgia raps on the door of memory. We let it in and sit with it while as it candidly tells us from where it wended its rewalked journey. Time or place that is no longer is fondly urged back to life. The ingredients are always simple; the approach, though sometimes unexpected is never complicated, and always warm.
Closed only on Tuesdays, the rest of the week Silver’s Motel lives a life from before, with its doors open from 5pm ’til 2am.
📍 187 Enmore Road, Enmore
At this point Silver’s Motel website and insta are suffering a glitch. You’ll find them yourself in good time. Meanwhile, have a real life one and turn up at the bar.
