Image (above): Honeydripper
“When these acoustic curtains went up, which was only a few days before we finished, [co-owner] Sean and I looked at each other. We didn’t say anything, we were like, ‘F***, this is it. This is the sound we’ve been chasing.’”
Anyone who’s lived through a build knows construction and chaos go hand in hand. And since opening its ground level in August, Honeydripper – the Frome Street hi-fi bar led by hospo head Raf Thomson – has given Adelaide a vicarious taste of that process, teasing glimpses of its highly anticipated mezzanine level through snippets and social media updates.
For months, we watched and waited, daydreaming of weekends wrapped in the sound of its 3,000-strong vinyl collection. The team kept excitement alive with a series of live sets filmed mid-construction, where local artists – like Lenin of Inside Out Audio and Sharni Honor of Summertown Studio – spun tracks between drills and scaffolding, sound bouncing off raw concrete as the venue took shape around them.
Designed by Claire Markwick-Smith (Africola Canteen, Loc, Chicco Palms), with metalwork by Jim Semple and lighting by Amy Vidler and David Musc, Honeydripper feels high-design, with conversation pits, brushed steel, velvet, and ambient light everywhere. Renew Adelaide helped the team secure the site, which has been packed out since opening night.
Now, the Frome Street hi-fi hotspot has hit “full tilt.” As of Friday, its long-awaited mezzanine listening lounge is finally open, giving music aficionados and nocturnal revellers a new space to move, mingle and listen late into the night.
“This being kind of the crown jewel – the crème de la crème of this venue – we really wanted to take our time with all the little details,” shares Thomson.
“You can see the bar just sunken in stainless – even the cabinetry around the speaker boxes. It’s all built to the millimetre. Exact and perfect.”
He credits carpenter Sam Weckert for the flawless finish. “Sam had the time to get everything right,” he says. “The craftsmanship here is beautiful.”
The mezzanine resembles somewhere you’d find in Tokyo’s backstreets. The space houses a walnut DJ island, intimate leather booths, and a vinyl library curated by Chicago house icon Gene Farris. It’s a space that favours details and connection, seating just sixty at a time – a sonic refuge from the revelry below.
“The listening lounge is something that’s really taken off in New York and Japan, and we’ve really tried to emulate that level of detail and hi-fi treatment,” Thomson explains.
“Spaces that celebrate music alongside intimacy. That intimacy can be your connection to the person playing records and seeing them come off the shelf, or with the people you’re out with. You’re still able to talk, you’re not having to scream to be heard.”
At its heart sits a pair of Klipsch La Scala speakers powered by a McIntosh MC312 amplifier, surrounded by custom acoustic treatment.
“We’re big believers that you can’t just buy the speakers, turn them on, and hope for the best,” Thomson says. “You have to look after every inch and corner of the room.”
The sound philosophy extends to the experience itself. “Downstairs allows for more of that free-flowing energy – people are happy sitting in the big conversation pits, having at it with ten other people and the music,” he explains.
“But we’re treating this level like a restaurant. Drinks are delivered with a description of what’s in them and how they’re prepared. The bar’s a bit more of a stripped-back, higher offering.”
Still, the famed leather-bound list remains – cocktails arranged by sweetness, sourness, and strength, each paired with a song.
Music is the connective tissue between the two floors. “We’ve had DJs every weekend for the past seven weeks,” Thomson says. “They’ve been playing up here, wired into the whole venue – whatever’s played upstairs is what you hear downstairs too.”
It’s a lineup that reflects Honeydripper’s musical soul. A cross-section of old heads and new favourites in a sound Thomson calls “eclecticism.”
“Some are playing low-tempo chuggers, following hip hop with soul, then back to swing,” he says. “We don’t want this place pigeonholed as somewhere that only plays house or electronic. The unexpected is important with music.”
That sense of surprise, he adds, is part of the magic. “You can be wiggling your hips to some soft house, then suddenly – bang – ’80s jazz. It keeps the night exciting. You’re always subconsciously listening, and then you go, ‘Holy f***, they’re playing my song,’ completely out of the blue.”
The launch of the mezzanine also ushers in a new daytime rhythm, turning Honeydripper into a true three-in-one venue. Mornings now bring a tight bagel menu and coffee, fuelling the student traffic (the spot’s just minutes from Adelaide Uni), with salty bar snacks appearing later in the day to carry you through the next glass.
“What we’re aiming for is less high-volume in and out coffee and more of a uni crowd and emulate a uni bar of sorts,” Thomson admits.
“We’ve got power points under every booth, free Wi-Fi for customers – it’s bring your mates in for a group assignment and study for an hour. We’re licensed from 8am, so when you get really sick and tired of one another or the work, just have a pale ale and don’t go back to uni,” he laughs.
Three days into the mezzanine’s launch, the team is still fine-tuning, but Thomson says it’s already been gratifying to see Adelaide embrace something new.
“We felt this niche hadn’t been explored yet, and hearing guests say it’s what they expected, or even exceeded that, is really special,” he shares.
And now that the building dust has settled, the fun begins. “The building part’s been fun – and a nightmare – but now we get to sink our teeth into the sh** we’re actually good at,” adds Thomson.
“Full tilt” means evenings that begin downstairs with a Nonbiri Negroni and end immersed in the sounds of Mehdi El-Aquil and Jacqui Bourne Ultimatum. A little bit Tokyo, a little bit 60s revival, and locally grounded, Honeydripper is Adelaide’s new temple to sound. And now, at last, it’s playing in full tune.
“I said months ago that the mezzanine is meant to tickle all the senses – you hear it, you smell it, you drink it, you see it, you feel it,” Thomson says. “And when people walk in, they get it.”
“Two bartenders shaking tins, a jockey in the middle spinning discs, us running around putting drinks on tables – it’s cohesive, it just makes sense.”
What: Honeydripper hits “full tilt” with new mezzanine and daytime offering
When:
Coffee and bagels, Mon to Fri 7:30am -2pm (3pm Wed to Fri)
Ground level bar, Wed & Thurs 5pm til late, Fri to Sun 3pm til late
Mezzanine, Thurs to Sun 6pm til late
Where: 11 Frome Street, Adelaide
@honeydripper.hifi
