Hidden above Soni’s Spanish restaurant on King Street, Madame Fling Flong is the closest thing Newtown, and possibly the entire Inner West, has to a Melbourne-style bar. With its old sofas, pictures and lampshades, this cosy and intimate bar feels like a grandmother’s sitting room circa 1970 – provided, that is, that grandma’s sitting room also has a gold padded cocktail bar at one end.

In fact Madame Fling Flong is possibly too cosy since if you come late on a Friday or Saturday night there’s a good chance that all the sofas will be full already – but it’s worth taking the gamble. The music is subdued, the clientele cool, and the cocktails and tapas (which come from Soni’s kitchen) are not only cheap but great for the price – but we’ll get to them in a moment.

Our favourite drink here is the mojito (muddled limes, Bacardi rum, mint, sugar and crushed ice), which is served the Spanish way – namely in a short glass and not drowning in soda water (unlike the Cuban way, which most bars follow, of having it in a tall glass topped with soda). Having said that, we also recommend their negroni (gin, sweet vermouth and Campari with a twist of lemon).

We also order the Madame’s Special, which is made from organic vodka and cachaca shaken with freshly squeezed lime and mint. This is then strained into a sugar-rimmed martini glass and topped with lemonade and Angostura bitters. Our verdict on this is that it’s good – but we wouldn’t order it again, as the flavour that stands out the most for us are the bitters, which are a little overpowering. All the cocktails we mentioned are $12.50. We also have a hazy memory of tasting someone else’s Long Island Iced Tea ($16.50) here a while ago, but quite frankly we’ve always thought this cocktail (a blend of vodka, tequila, rum, coke and lemon juice, and it can also have triple sec or Cointreau added as well) is an abomination regardless of where you buy it.

The tapas here is surprisingly affordable considering the portion sizes are large enough for you to comfortably share them. The Moroccan meatballs, for example, are only $11 and yet are as good as any we’ve had in Madrid’s tapas bars (even though these are Moroccan and we realise we sound like pretentious travel namedroppers just by mentioning Madrid). At $12.50 The Kalamari Zesto is also a steal for chilli-dusted baby squid that’s deep-fried and served on a bed of rocket and lemon.

Classic, cult and foreign movies are shown every Tuesday night from 8.30pm, although we admit we’ve never been here then. We’re told that bookings are essential – email sonisnewtown@iinet.net.au

The room can also be hired for functions, except on Friday evenings.

Now it’s your turn – how do you rate Madame Fling Flong?
(12 votes, average: 3.92 out of 5)
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Madame Fling Flong, Level 1, 169 King Street, Newtown NSW 2042. Open until late. Phone 9565 2471, see the Madame Fling Flong website

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