If Freaky Tiki’s stint at the old Newtown Hotel taught Sydney anything besides the fact that it’s easier to remove beer stains from AstroTurf than from carpet, it was that people freakin’ love tiki bars.  Freaky Tiki opened as a pop-up bar at the beginning of last summer, and people actually began to make the Newtown a destination thanks to an array of cocktails with names like Donkey Punch and Zombie and a mish-mash of décor even more eclectic than the clientele — and in Newtown that’s no mean feat. 

The place managed to stick around slightly longer than six months before it sadly closed for renovations a couple of weeks ago, but fear not, fellow tiki fanatics — there’s a new bar in town. Kongs Jungle Lounge opened its doors around the same time as Freaky Tiki’s closed, and already it’s drawing sizeable crowds. But Kongs is a little different. You won’t find drag queens yelling the C word at the top of their rather powerful lungs, and the elegant fit-out is AstroTurf free. In place of rowdy quiz nights they have a line-up of local DJs spinning exotic sounds, and the interior mixes that endearing tiki kitsch with sleek floorboards and ambient lighting.

And at Kongs, food isn’t just something to break up the flavours of Passion Caipirinhas and Marama Rum Punches. Kongs calls its fare “Poly-asian diner style food”, an amalgamation of diverse kinds of deliciousness crafted by Adam Dundas Taylor of Nobu and Hugos fame. Think Japanese potato salad with mustard miso and pickled ginger, and dumplings filled not with fatty minced pork but with shitake, tofu, garlic and yuzu. But the island life isn’t about picking at appetizers — it’s about beer battered barra burgers with house made sweet chilli, and it’s about crispy pork belly with watermelon and pomegranate salad.

So, back to those cocktails. Crafted with a skill to rival Dundas’, drinks range from the classic Old Fashioned to the more avant-garde of alcohol. Whoever deemed the banana the fruit of love wasn’t being crude, they were probably just referring to Kongs’ Lovers Daiquiri. It’s a fruity blend that’ll give you a good buzz minus the unwanted sugar rush — for quality rum and too much cheap cordial do not a loving relationship make.

My only gripe with Kongs is that it’s located all the way out in Bondi Junction, but if tiki bars can make Easternites venture into Newtown then they can certainly convince me to take on Bondi Junction’s crowded streets and large numbers of tourists. And for those seeking respite in a form a little more unique than the Westfield food court during those hot summer months, Kongs should provide a very satisfying solution.