Sparkke at the Whitmore owners have a revealed a large new rooftop space in the venue, just in time for summer.
The new rooftop has a significantly expanded bar, which features with ten taps and a bar front made from over 800 Sparkke beer cans. The bar offering includes a specialised cocktail menu including a range of summer spritzes created by co-founder Rose Kentish. Summer flavours include blood orange and vanilla, strawberry and mint, chinotto and cherry. The spritzes will also be available as an alcohol-free option.
But the star of the rooftop is its new kitchen, including a custom-built charcoal grill, which will add a bit of theatre for patrons. The rooftop’s menu has been created by head chef Emma McCaskill and revolves around street food.
“Our new Street Food style menu includes spices and flavour profiles inspired by Emma’s Indian heritage, with her grandma even coming in to teach the team how to make the samosas, which are a beloved family recipe,” stated Kentish.
“Emma’s created a street food menu where you can hold an indie craft brew in one hand and eat dishes from her Indian-Asian inspired menu with the other.”
McCaskill added: “I can’t wait to cook over fire again. Most of my previous cooking experience around the world has been over fire – the Whitmore was actually my first kitchen without it!
“I’m excited about the menu which is very different to our downstairs restaurant; it’s more casual and gives us room to play.”
There is a zero wastage ethos across the operations of the venue, so a nose-to-tail concept drives both kitchens in the venue –for both protein and vegetables.
“We work with small producers that enable us to fully use any of our major ingredients in their entirety. We also talk to our vegetable producers about what we have coming up so they can plant and harvest based exactly on our needs. We’re very farm to plate, and constantly practice and drive our food philosophy of sustainable use. Our entire venue engages in this way.”
Social messaging
On the brewing front, Sparkke Brewery has updated its can packaging for the first time since November 2016. The five new cans are Apple Cider, Ginger Beer, Hard Lemonade, Pale Ale, and Pilsner, and all feature social change messaging around gender equality, sexual consent, racism, climate change, and asylum seeker rights, all available for online purchasing.
Co-founder Kari Allen said the new branding and messaging are reflective of the issues Australians are currently discussing.
“We put social messages on the cans to spark important conversations where they need to happen – with friends, with family, with lovers; at parties, at social events, at political functions,at festivals, or right at home. Our new cans with new messaging reflects our current social climate.”
