Once you get over the dissonance of an Americana bar situated within a Queenslander, it is easy to get comfortable at Sixes and Sevens, on the corner of James and Arthur Streets. A brother bar to the Cru Bar in James Street, Sixes and Sevens is so crowded on the weekend, with a lively and relatively youthful clientele, it is hard to squeeze past them on the footpath. Lunch on Thursday is a much more sedate experience and a good way to do a leisurely check-out of the menu.
The menu moves from snacks at the bar to share plates, such chicken wings and prawn pick-up sticks, to ‘hungry’ and ‘off the grill-carved’. You can add a number of sides, including potato bake and a green salad, as well as a cheese board and two desserts for those so inclined. We started with one of the bar snacks, a smokey eggplant with white beans a and feta dip served with some warmed sourdough ($9). The dip was like a baba ganoush with a spin. Garlicky and tasty.
For mains, we bypassed the ‘hungry’, and went for the ‘off the grill-carved’ with a roast pork loin with the house coleslaw and a chicken supreme with a cajun rub and a corn salsa ($20). The slices of pork were slightly sweet with a southern glaze, served with a generous chunk of crackling and a finely sliced coleslaw with a decent viniagrette dressing
The servings are generous and the food well prepared and designed to complement a civilised drink in a comfortable bar. Sixes and Sevens feels like sitting inside a whiskey barrel, surrounded by dark, wooden walls and lit by large, metallic lights hanging over the small bar tables. What makes this different from a bar in America is the food. It is way, way better at Sixes and Sevens.
Sixes and Sevens
67 James Street, Fortutude Valley
07 3358 6067
Open 7 days 11am to midnight
http://www.sixes.com.au
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