The ValiantMelbourne

In an unassuming car park is Melbourne’s newest, and definitely glitziest bar - with no less than 200 disco balls to prove it.

To reach The Valiant from Collins Street you’ll cruise down a little laneway which goes past Melbourne’s oldest pub, and onto Little Collins. Here you’ll find one of those extortionate car parks which charge a small house deposit for a car park each day, which seems as mundane as the rest of them until you clock the painting of Mona – a beautiful AI-inspired woman surrounded by disco balls.

Follow her longing gaze and head up the stairs, and you’ll find a glitzy cocktail lounge with floor-to-ceiling windows.

There’s incredible cocktails, including get lost’s favourite, the Mona’s Secret: gin, muscat, orange blossom, strawberry, raspberry, lemon and pink pepper. It’s pink, its sweet, and it’s got a V for Valiant .  smoothed into the top layer of the cocktail…and it’s god damn delicious.

Others included the Butter Dill Martini – Grey Goose vodka, noily prat, butter and dill – and the Marine Martini – voir, gin, white vermouth and tonic.

If you’re looking to hedge your bets, there’s a bunch of half-cocktail, half-shots, which is an interesting concept. It’s probably less hedging your bets – our own bet is you’d get absolutely obliterated doing this.

The food is great - unique dishes like burrata and mortadella with crushed pistachio focaccia; poached prawn with fennel celeriac remoulade and Saucisse en Croûte, which is essentially a sausage roll with a fancy name.

We were stoked with bumps of Siberian caviar – a refreshing change from doing bumps of something else in a cocktail bar – served straight off the back off your own hand.

And there’s disco balls…there are apparently 200 on the roof. You’re more of a 400 disco ball or more sort of operator? Say no more - apparently there’s another 200 on the way.

Valiant is an upmarket, centrally located place ideal for date nighters, promotion celebrators, after-work drinkers and disco ball and car park enthusiasts.