First Look: Afloat, the Yarra River Pop-Up Bar Next to Flinders Street Station, Takes Us to Capri
The waterside venue is back – this time with Italian beach club energy. Expect uncomplicated Italian classics, such as woodfired pizzas, spritzes and Pidapipo gelato-based frozen cocktails.
by Audrey Payne · BroadsheetExecutive chef James Gibson has worked on seven different iterations of Afloat, the Yarra River restaurant and bar that pops up next to Flinders Street Station each year courtesy of the HQ Group (Her Bar, Music Room, BKK).
While the basic concept is always the same – a floating bar all about summertime parties, refreshing drinks and crowd-pleasing food that pops up when the sun does and disappears as soon as the weather cools down – the theme changes every year.
Gibson’s been part of Afloat variations Miami, Aussie Beach Club, Turquoise Coast, French Riviera, Balearic, and last year’s spicy Margarita-filled Mexican pop-up. This year the theme is Capri, with added inspiration from the Amalfi Coast, Gulf of Naples and the Italian islands Procida and Ischia.
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“This year, the focus is on uncomplicated Italian classics,” Gibson tells Broadsheet, describing the menu.
Gibson’s menu matches the Italian beach-club-inspired decor. Antipasti include Mount Zero olives and a serve of That’s Amore burrata with a burnt grape dressing and focaccia. There’s also a small selection of pastas, a seafood selection and bigger plates including an aged rib eye and a baked risotto.
Along with white-and-sunny-yellow-striped umbrellas, and lemon trees potted in hand-painted planters, you’ll also find a woodfired pizza oven onboard. “Perfect for pumping out our traditional Neapolitan pizzas, with their signature thick, airy outer edge and soft, chewy centre,” says Gibson.
In addition to the 10-inch Neapolitan pizzas, which are made using a 48-hour fermented dough, there are Sicilian-style pizzette (small pizzas) with a focaccia base and double-baked before they’re finished with fresh toppings like white anchovies or mortadella.
Gibson’s favourite is a four-cheese pizzette with black pepper and garlic oil, which he says pairs perfectly with a cold glass of crisp white wine. But this year’s Afloat also has frozen cocktails made with Pidapipo gelato, and six spritzes, all designed by the group’s head of cocktails Tom Younger and the Straight Up Cocktails team.
Plus, when the upper terrazzo and a waterside-beach-club-inspired pool bar open in a few weeks, there’ll be an expanded drinks menu with 30 different Negronis. Salute!
Afloat Capri
2 Flinders Walk, Melbourne
9629 1547
Hours:
Daily 11am–late