Death & Co Melbourne
The Naked and Famous, equal parts mezcal, Chartreuse, Aperol and lime, was invented at the New York bar this room is a copy of, and it now turns up on cocktail lists everywhere.
Why go
Death & Co opened in New York's East Village in 2006 and spent two decades shaping how modern cocktail bars work, then opened in Los Angeles, Denver and Washington (Concrete Playground). Melbourne, from Friday 14 November 2025, is the first site outside the United States (Urban List). The Australian venue and bar managers were sent to America to train before it opened. Cara Devine runs it, having come from Bomba Bar and Goodwater. The room runs over two floors, a ground bar and a cellar bar, both dim, with marble and velvet, and you get in through an unmarked door and a curtained corridor. The list is split into Light & Playful, Boozy & Honest and Zero Proof, which is a structure built for people who do not already know what they want.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the Naked and Famous. Then the Buko Gimlet, which is the classic rebuilt with pandan and coconut and a little cachaca, or the Telegraph Martini with eucalyptus. If you want the bartender to work, ask for Dealer's Choice. Eat the cheeseburger.
- Avoid: arriving with the New York reputation in your head. This room has won nothing yet, and everything the brand has won it won somewhere else.
What locals & experts say
- Cara Devine, venue manager, setting the register. She runs the place, so this is a statement of intent:
It's not stuffy and pretentious. It's a bar. Leave your worries behind and have fun.
2 - Devine again, on why Melbourne:
Melbourne, with its thriving food and drink scene and little laneway spots, is a natural fit. But it goes beyond the food and drinks, curiosity and connection are at the core of what Death & Co does.
1 - What this address has not got. The America's Best Cocktail Bar and World's Best Cocktail Menu wins at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards belong to the parent and its American rooms. Time Out's 2025 world's-best-bars list names Apollo Inn and Pleasure Club as the Australian entries and not this one. No Melbourne bartender or chef names it in a 74-pick industry corpus.3
Good to know
- Where: 87 Flinders Lane. The door is not signed, and there is a corridor before the bar.
- Rooms: a ground-floor bar and a cellar bar, and this entry covers both.
- Food: a real menu, from gildas and cured kingfish through a dry-aged cheeseburger to a cheese course.
- Sites: a Brisbane Death & Co was announced for beneath the Regatta Hotel. Separate premises, and no evidence is shared.
- Diet: no allergen or dietary statement was found, though the list carries a Zero Proof section for non-drinkers.
- Hygiene: Victoria publishes no venue ratings, only Safe Food Victoria's register of convictions under s.53D of the Food Act 1984, and this venue is not on it.5
Verdict
could-visit — The Naked and Famous, equal parts mezcal, Chartreuse, Aperol and lime, was invented at the New York bar this is a copy of, and it is now on cocktail lists everywhere. That is the pedigree, and it belongs to a room in the East Village, not to 87 Flinders Lane. What Melbourne got in November 2025 is the brand's first site outside the United States, two floors deep, entered through an unmarked door and a curtained corridor, with a bar team flown to America to train and a menu split into Light & Playful, Boozy & Honest and Zero Proof so that a novice can find a way in. Cara Devine runs it and came from Bomba Bar and Goodwater, which is a real local record. Devine's own line is that it is a bar rather than a temple. The food is a full dinner, including a dry-aged cheeseburger and a cheese course. No local critic has ruled on it, no Melbourne bartender names it, and it has won nothing under its own roof. Go, and judge it as a new bar rather than as an inherited legend.