Say g’day to The Rye Room – the newest boutique bar coming to Adelaide’s South-East. After opening late last month, the Rye Room – sister business to much-loved local café, Melon & Rye – hopes to provide a platform for SA cellar-door-only wine and spirit labels.
“My husband and I have always wanted to one day become publicans and we felt this was an excellent opportunity to step into this space,” said owner Sally-Jane Nelson.
“The idea of the Rye Room is to offer as many products as possible that are cellar-door-only. This gives the supplying businesses some exposure to our audience. If they enjoy their experience and tasting, we can direct our customers to their cellar door. This gives exposure to businesses that they may not otherwise been able to achieve.”
The Rye Room opened to the public on 1 April, after a soft opening event on 31 March. After approximately three weeks in operation, the little bar is already a local favourite.
“Our local community is very excited to have the Rye Room within a walking distance,” said Sally-Jane.
“We have been very lucky to have the support from our local community and hope that the word spreads fast and that we will soon start to see people travelling to visit us from other areas.
“Our cocktails have been a massive hit. The most popular cocktails at present are the Rye Room Sour and the Orange Blossom!” she said.
Melon & Rye first announced that a sister business would be opening back in February. The Rye Room now utilises the space next door to the café, offering guests an easy transition from day to night.
What makes the space even better is the amount of care Sally-Jane and the team have taken to ensure renovations wouldn’t cost the earth.
“We made a firm decision to not create any landfill during the makeover process. We spent many hours on second hand sites and stores seeking items that could be refurbished,” said Sally-Jane.
“We sometimes travelled for hours to locations to collect with our trailer. My father is a master of many things and assisted us with making the furniture repairs.
“He spent hours sandblasting and preparing wrought iron & cast iron for new paint, he made our display shelving, some of our tabletops and assisted in the whole process. This would be our favourite part of the space as we love the rustic combination of wood and leather.”
In addition to quality interiors and a superb drinks menu, the food menu is also something to watch out for.
“Our Evening menu consists of a Mezze board, cheese platter and Tapas. We consider the ‘must have’ items to without a doubt be our haloumi, pork and veal meatballs and our Sardines on toast,” she said.
The Rye Room also prides itself on having a “very well priced” Tapas menu that easily caters to a group of friends without hurting your pockets.
The boutique venue is welcoming its first bout of small functions this weekend and has received many function enquiries since opening – much to Sally-Jane’s delight!
“This is something we are keen to offer. The space is perfect for small private functions of around 40 for cocktail event, or 30 for a sit down meal event. Perfect for milestone family occasions, Christmas functions, etc. We are currently working on the function menu and will have this available very soon,” she said.
Opening hours are currently Thursday to Sunday from 4pm with the kitchen open from 5.30pm. The Rye Room is open until late or as required. Bookings are preferred.
To make a booking, call Melon & Rye on 8379 2131. Follow The Rye Room on Instagram for long the latest updates.
Melon & Rye and The Rye Room are located at 365a Glen Osmond Road, Glen Osmond, 5064.
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