New-look Joe Taylor brings Thai flavours to Errol St

Errol St’s reincarnated Joe Taylor Bar, which opened with new owners and a Thai theme in July, offers an atmospheric escape and an enticing menu of fresh, creative drinks and dishes.

Walking in off the street on a wintry early evening the front room of Joe Taylor’s is a welcoming space, lit up warmly with a large chandelier, lamps along the wall and tea candles burning in lampshade-styled glass holders along the bar.

Quasi-formal furniture and fittings are belied by the staff T-shirts and the open shelves of wine and records on display.

Co-owner Scott Nottle, who is moonlighting behind the bar, chooses one of these, a Jamiroquai album, and whacks it on the turntable.

A small sticky rice mango cocktail, when it arrives, offers the simultaneous pleasures of a dreamy desert and a mood-improving tipple.

From beneath a pillowy inch of coconut cream and mango puree comes white rum infused with toasted sticky rice, pandan liquor and lemon, leaking slowly.

In developing the cocktail menu, the owners have “focused a bit more on lower alcohol spirits and liqueurs, so the drink's not sort of knocking you to the side or overpowering the food,” Scott says.

An earlier version of this drink, served as a martini, had packed a serious punch.

Meanwhile a snack of spanner crab tart with savoury pandan custard and compressed nashi pear turns out to be a small but amazing bite – packaging up an exciting mix of fresh and contrasting textures and flavours.

The bar is Scott and his wife Pakchima Punapaprasurt’s “first foray into night venues” and a departure from their original plan for the place.

Pakchima, who goes by the name “Minnie”, is a chef who previously worked at Coburg cafés Grounds of Eden and The Glass Den, among others.

She set up the popular Bola Bake in Airport West in 2022, which Scott left a job in customer service to work in.

When the couple took on Joe Taylor they originally planned a pasta-based menu.

But a delay of two years in getting permits in place meant Minnie and head chef, “Chef Tan”, had “a very good think about things” and decided to take the food in a different direction.

Scott says his wife, who he met 24 years ago when she was an international student, is the one with the talent and creativity.

“I decided a long time ago just to trust her plan.”

Whatever the formula, it looks to have paid off, with the new bar restaurant “full-on [busy] from day one” and receiving strong reviews.

“By and large, everyone's loved it,” Scott says.

“It's been fantastic.”

But the operators don’t want to just “rest on [their] laurels,” according to the co-owner.

They plan to regularly rotate and evolve both the wine and food menus.

“We want to give our customers a reason to keep on coming back, so they can keep on trying new things,” Scott says. •