An Injection Of Croft

No one likes a trip to the doctors. Or hospitals, for that matter. I, in particular, don't like overpaid old dudes in white coats trying to sell me drugs I don't need and waiting rooms that smell like detergent...they make me sneeze. So, if you told me that your idea of a good Saturday night out meant drinking in an old abandoned city hospital, I would think you were a crazy person. But that was before I discovered this particular Melbourne bar.

Located down the seriously dirty and graffiti covered (like, seriously dirty and graffiti covered) Croft Lane is the weird and somewhat creepy, Croft Institute. The only way you can tell there's anything down this lane way-apart from rats and old Chinese food containers still dripping with MSG-is the string of slightly eerie red fairy lights criss crossing their way to the door of the bar. Once an old hospital, the atmosphere of the place is a smidge disconcerting with it's super low lighting and displays of old test tubes, syringes and glass beakers, but it's also seriously cool...in an unconventional way of course. If you have a phobia of needles then I would stay away from the cocktails which are served, not with a traditional mini umbrella but instead with a syringe. As you do. But really, even if you do have a phobia you should still try the cocktails...after a couple you'll feel as comfortable drinking from them as if you were Kurt Cobain. The music's pretty good too, with DJs playing on both the top and bottom level, but really, it's the vibe and general unconventionality of The Croft Institute that make it something special.

So if you want to inject a little weird and wacky into your night (or you're just craving a cocktail of some sort) head down that dark, ominous lane way and follow the red lights. I promise you'll be chucking down tequila test tube shots in no time.