The Croft Institute

Friday night drinks this week dwindled as the young ones left the office on a bar hopping mission, and Jenny's crew had their end of financial year party...which left just MJ and I to depart from the office and find The Croft Institute.

The card, and reviews on the net suggested that if you were planning on trying to find this bar, you should tell someone you are going, and when you should be back! Walking down through Chinatown, passing alley after alley, we finally found the one with Croft mentioned on the sign - as an appendage from this alley. Walking down the narrow alley, turning the corner and walking past all the big industrial bins, and then past backdoors to restaurants of the area, we turn another corner and we are in the middle of the city block, in a little alley, with red lights overhead, little seats bringing us to the nondescript doorway of the bar.

Once inside, we were greeted with a dark space filled with science-y bits and bobs all about, glass cabinets of glass bottles and jars of things, and weird instruments. A couple of seating areas here and there, we grabbed a couple of beers and sat at the high school lab bench, which included the sink fixture. I think the drinks could have been served in beakers!

After reading all the reviews, we ventured upstairs for a peek before leaving, and whilst there were any other rooms open, the Dept of Hygiene was very interesting, complete with hospital tiles, stretcher and lights on extendable arms jutting from the cubicle walls.

Such a cool and different themed bar, hidden at the end of two very dodgy feeling and dark alleys in the middle of Melbourne.