New Brisbane

Having received a mysterious SMS to my phone telling me of a ‘new’ RnB / Hip Hop club in the Valley, I decided I’d check it out. After the majesty that was Mystique @ The Arena, I was up for some more RnB and was quite looking forward to the promised ‘old school’ hip hop & RnB that Bar 388 in Fortitude Valley claimed to offer.

Bar 388
388 Brunswick St
Fortitude Valley

M: 0412 638 496
E: scott@profyle.com.au
W: www.bar388.com.au

Located just past the end of the Brunswick St mall, not far from Zuri, Bar 388 was relatively easy to find and we were soon at the door. A little surprised that the club was charging cover, given its size and the fact that it was a new club, there was still a decent crowd inside that was willing to pay for the privilege of being there and we soon joined them.

Entering the club, I was relatively pleased with the club setup. Comprised of a single room, with a nice, long bar spanning the entire back wall, a dance floor to the right and some seating along the near wall, Bar 388 had the fixings of an awesome RnB cocktail lounge. In fact, if they added a few more low-backed, U-shape couches, focused the music on the right side of the club and made the left side for lounging & conversation, that’s exactly what it would be.

Impressed by the reasonably priced cocktails, I was also glad to see a blisfully simple menu, filled with cocktails that people know and that people enjoy drinking, as well as a few tasteful originals. Having sampled them all, I felt that the menu had a distinctly summery feel to it, with lime present in all of the cocktails except for one. The result of this is that the drinks were very ’sippable’, but not ‘quickly drinkable’ - The Cosmopolitan being the exception to this, which the girls in my entourage fought over until one snatched it up and downed the remainder in a gulp. Still, everyone loves a cat fight and we were all quite satisfied with the cocktails on offer.

After wetting our palettes a bit, we decided it was time to dance and so got up to bust a move or two on the dancefloor. Though described as ‘old school RnB / Hip Hop’, I felt the music was more remixed classic chart hits than RnB / Hip Hop and I was a little disappointed. I was really looking forward to hearing some Naughty by Nature & Dr Dre, or even some more pop-esque old school artists/groups like Fresh Prince or House of Pain, but alas it was not to be. Nonetheless, the music was very danceable and we had a great time kicking up our heels.

The general crowd at Bar 388 was pretty mixed, although everyone there seemed really friendly and seemed to be having a great time, with most people setting themselves up on the dancefloor. The club was busy, but not packed, which gave a really laid-back vibe to the venue and, much to my pleasure, it was relatively easy (and quick) to get a drink. While downstairs in a smaller, Valley-sized room, the venue was nonetheless quite open and roomy, and didn’t invoke the same feelings of clausterphobia as venues like The Bowrey do.

Overall, I was rather pleased with what I saw at Bar 388 and definitely see a lot potential for them to become a niche Hip Hop Cocktail Lounge. I’ll be stopping in there every now and then to see how they’re going and I definitely recommend that you do the same. Brisbane needs more clubs like this, where you can go out to have a good time, with good drinks, good people and good music.

– Ross