New Gold Mountain consists of two levels- the Green Level and the Red Level. The Green Level is the first you arrive at when climbing the narrow staircase. This room is intoxicating, like a tiny emerald city right in the middle of Melbourne. But this Emerald City is so divine no Dorothy would even think of clicking her heels to get home.

Continue up the staircase and you'll find yourself on the Red Level. This intimate and seductive room is drenched in overwhelming red light. It can be quite disorienting at first and takes a few minutes to adjust but when you do it’s easy to get lost in this luxurious red-hued world.

The bar at New Gold Mountain is located on the Green Level. The Red Level is smaller, more personal and has full table service of a uniquely intuitive kind. They don’t bring you a drinks list but instead simply ask what you feel like. Don’t get this confused with asking HOW you’re feeling. This is not a “lonely customer divulges detailed sob story to understanding bartender” scenario. But throw them a few key words, as specific or as vague as you like, and they’ll come up with a cocktail that’s exactly what you were craving without even knowing it.

The old redbrick building that houses New Gold Mountain was once a broken down tailor’s studio. It was refurbished with its proximity to Chinatown in mind and is designed to emulate an opium den from the lavish colonial-era Shanghai, mixed with a modern East-Asian touch. The result is a fantasy world that is set so far apart from the laneway outside that when you do finally stumble into the real world it’s like exiting a good dream- your head is foggy and you are overcome with a sense of wanting to go back.