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Gin
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Ok, lets face it, Joburg nightlife as we (referring to me and my arty,trendy, creative-type friends) know it, seems to be grinding to a halt.What with Fuel closing down and Melville increasingly becoming 'dodge'-ville?we're on the lookout for new places to party.
Gin is a new(ish) bar and restaurant in Greenside nestled comfortably between Fratelli's and the Wild Olive. From the looks of the crowd gathered here, this seems to the place everyone's at these days. However, I'm not entirely convinced by this place.
The music is at best nondescript - mostly mediocre dance music redeemed occasionally with some Jameroquai. I suppose it's an eating and drinking place as opposed to a dancing place but some decent music wouldn't hurt.
The dcor somehow doesn't 'gel'. Its sort of arty and trendy with cool pop art on the walls and a colour scheme that makes me feel like I'm in a bar in Berlin, but then there is a random solar system hanging from the roof that looks like it should be above a little boy's bed.
A moosehead adorned with a glowing red headdress watches over all the drunkenness from above the bar. I like this. It's sort of a modern, trendy take on the old stuffed moosehead above the bar in country pub in deepest, darkest England. There is certainly lots to look at in Gin. The knife and fork holders are awesome - old records melted and moulded into shape - and the salt and pepper holders are orange cactus (cacti?) which look great, but getting salt and pepper out of them is a different story. The upstairs balcony is a wonderful place to sit and drink cocktails on a summer evening. However, my overall feeling was that the place is a mishmash of different styles and feels like it's trying a little too hard to be trendy and hip.
Nevertheless, the cocktails - almost all made with gin - are FANTASTIC, and for R35 each they'd better be. Girls, if a guy offers to buy you a drink, try the Gin mojito or the Super C?mmmm. They don't have a cocktail menu (the waitress tells me they have a live one behind the bar), which means you have to get the barman to tell you what cocktails they do and then sheepishly ask how much they cost. Not sure how this works on hectically busy nights?personally I like to have an actual menu to look at while I lazily decide which concoction tantalises my taste buds and what the damage will be. The food isn't too pricey and the smoked salmon and wasabi salad is to die for.
In our desperation for new places to frequent we've settled on a bar that almost hits the spot. With some good music, a few cocktail menus and some tweaking of the dcor, this place could be awesome.
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Gin
Gin is a bar and restaurant in Greenside, Johannesburg nestled comfortably next to Fratelli's. It's hip and happening and serves fantastic cocktails. It's arty and trendy with cool pop art on the walls and a colour scheme that makes you feel like you're in a bar in Berlin. It's the place where...
