Vanilla Room

It’s a little old, it’s a little tired and I am quite sentimental, so I like it at Vanilla Room. My favour is borne from the fact it’s a small bar (if you just stay downstairs), it smells great (here’s a hint: the name), they do kick ass cocktails and they only charge $ 13.50 for them.
I go there usually for a nightcap, but there is no reason why you couldn’t make an evening of it. There’s a restaurant upstairs and by all accounts, the food is decent. I cannot personally vouch for it, though. The clientele tends to be locals, so it could be a great way to meet new people from your neighbourhood. I like to support local businesses.
Cleverly incorporating dim red lighting and décor, I recommend you go down to Vanilla Room for a schmooze, a smooch and some smooth cocktail action.

Towards the end of the used-​to-​be-​hip-​but dead-​of-​late end of Norton St. in Leichhardt is a cool little joint called Vanilla Room. The place is a little worn but that adds to the charm of it. Also, don’t be discouraged by the seemingly small space as you walk in, there’s plenty of room upstairs (+ a quaint balcony).
It’s got the best cocktails in Leichhardt (probably the inner west) and a wicked value-​for-​money tapas menu. Now unlike other places trying to pass off «small-​dishes» as tapas and serving up a pathetically small amount of food on each plate and charging $ 20+ for each one, this place does $ 5-​$ 12 plates and there is enough on each one to give a group of 4 a taste or, like us; a couple, a hearty bite. The Haloumi, Chorizo and Pear/​Rocket/​Parmesan salad are a great place to start but really just about anything on the menu is a good choice!
Tonight, for a final bill of about $ 60/​pp, my partner and I ate ’til we were on the edge of comfortably full and stuffed (8 dishes in all). We drank 2 cocktails each, I had a starter cocktail which was a Caipiroska variant with Rasberry and Macadamia and my date had the Violent Femme, a wicked dessert-​style cocktail with Baileys, French Chocolate and Violet Crumble. We also had 3 glasses of red ($ 9) between us. The price of the cocktails are reasonable @ $ 15 — if this place were in the cbd it would command 50% more $$$, but as it’s in Leichhardt (down the quiet end), it’s very affordable.