Radio

Radio Bar & Cafe

Clem Bastow, Reviewer

Friday, June 22, 2007

Radio's kit-out has been slowly fine-tuned into the welcoming watering hole it is today.

The Nicholson to Brunswick streets end of Gertrude Street isn't quite the cultural mecca that recent press would have you believe. Shops whose opening hours are as fickle as the wind, painted-in windows, derelict tree planters, shifty-looking characters and the occasional abandoned shopping trolley combine to create an ambience that is a little more Dickensian than Candace Bushnellesque. Such is the regularly desolate nature of the strip - particularly at night - that you could walk right past Radio Bar & Cafe and be none the wiser. Which I'm sure is all part of their plan. Nestled among anonymous-looking shopfronts and "short-term accommodation", the only way to spot Radio is to squint in the darkness (or take off your sunglasses during the day) and look for the glowing boom box perched high in the bay window. Its owners have pitched Radio as a "pre-drinks" destination before the bright lights of Brunswick Street, but that is selling it way short. Perfectly balancing the grow...

Full review on The Age