Sunday, July 31, 2011

EXTREME CABARET LAUNCH | ZETA BAR | THE HILTON HOTEL | SYDNEY



On Thursday, I was honoured to be invited as a VIP to attended the launch of Extreme Cabaret at Zeta Bar, The Hilton Hotel. Zeta Bar pushes the boundaries of extreme cabaret, bringing visual fantasy of burlesque and sexiness of the 19th century underground experience to Sydney's Hilton every Friday night until late Spring. It ideally compliments new Australian Tv series Underbelly Razor and will be perfect for guests who want to relive that experience. On the night, Underbelly Razor stars Gigi Edgely, Conrad Coleby and Jeremy Lindsay Taylor were in attendance.

The night was turned into a theatrical era that has passed, filled with live burlesque performers and extreme cabaret acts such as snake charmers, contortionists, fire acts, clowns and human statue with shock value whilst we indulged in unique cocktails created by Hilton's international bar consultant, Grant Collins, who is the mastermind behind Extreme Cabaret at Zeta. An entertaining Baby Gaga also performed. Any moment is a moment for Gaga!

Grant wanted " to mirror the unique and vibrant ...concept...a menu of cocktails with the same theatre and shock factor as the dramatic decor and extraordinary acts." He indeed achieved so, taking absinthe to a whole new level with edible imbibes, like champagne absinthe jelly served with fizz powder, nitrogen frozen champagne grapes, absinth and champagne ice poles and sorbets plus some old school cocktails with a twist like, moonshine smoking bottle in brown paper bag and extreme (long island) iced tea in smoking teapots. One of my personal favourites was the fizz powder pills, Absinthe filled syringes and Sauvignon Blanc poison bottles which created a champagne in your mouth. It definitely felt quite scandalous and gave me a shock, especially when at first, I thought it was going to be injected into my blood stream and the pill was to help me relief the pain. Yep, I'm that insane.. haha

Being a VIP, meant we had our own private room and bar, which meant I took advantage of trying all the cocktails with the unlimited drink service. I loved the vibe, with the music, red velvet curtains, chandelier lights, feathers and entertainers! It was also great to have Grant talk to us about his cocktails and how it was inspired by the 1920s.

The night could not have been more fun, and I will certainly be going back! I definitely recommend you to go dress up (or not) one Friday night to experience this extravaganza!

Check out 3 videos I made, including one as an overview of the night, one of Grant talking through some of his alcoholic infused creations and one of Baby Gaga performing. Take a look at my Facebook Page here, for 102 images from the night!