24 February 2017

Maple bar at the Treehouse

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Ladies, looking for a stylish, upmarket place to enjoy cocktails and not get hit on? Try Maple Bar.

Cocktail at Maple Bar

Maple Bar, formerly known as upstairs at Treehouse Bar, is a new, elite bar area opened by owner Mike Kadinski.

Owner Mike Kadinski and fiancee Sophia Carlini

The bar does killer cocktails, made with pizzazz by its bartenders, for whom nothing appears to be a problem.

Bottles on display at Maple Bar Two bartenders working together at Maple Bar

If you were wondering (and I was), no Mike is not Canadian. The Maple theme ties in with the orange hues of the tree lights in the nightclub, a theme that is carried through with bronze and muted brown throughout. It is skillfully done, making the most of the view down below on the nightclub crowd and of the natural light out to the back alley way. It feels like a high rollers club.

Looking down from the Maple Bar
Light and mirrored reflection

You cannot help but feel rich, or at least one of the beautiful would-be-rich mob. Mirroring this theme is my new favourite cocktail, the Millionaire #4 made with apricot brandy. OK, the Maple Bar admits the cocktail won’t make you rich, but they cheekily say it will make you drunk enough to forget that you are not. Or what about a cocktail dusted with golden sugar? Or, go off the menu entirely – at Mike’s suggestion, I tried a refreshing lime-vodka infused Caprioska.

Cocktail in the making

Mike, is also part owner at 3 Degrees Coffee and a local security company. He also formerly part-owned Kremlin Bar and Kennedy Room, and which means he understands the importance of setting a scene that is not, well, sleazy. I have a younger, single friend who regularly shares her interactions with the opposite sex at Canberra nightclubs. Let’s just say not everything she experiences is pretty. The whole pick-up line thing might look glamorous when Ryan Gosling does it in a movie, but it is rarely empowering when women want to go out and enjoy themselves while feeling safe.

“We have just launched house rules at the Maple Bar,” Mike explains to me. “Under these rules, men are not allowed to approach women directly in the upstairs Maple Bar. Should they be lucky enough for a woman to approach them, we ask that they treat her respectfully. Sometimes it can be intimidating for women if they are approached by a man, especially if he is with a group of guys. This measure is designed to set a respectful scene.”

And the rules are clearly enforced, albeit in a stylish rather than in your face way. Positioned at the base of the stairs are two security staff; one a burly guy, the other an attractive female (Madi, Maple Bar’s hostess). Designed, Mike explains, to vet and make tactfully clear what behaviour is expected on ascending to the Maple. This ensures that say, a group of guys can come here after a long week at work and know they are coming to somewhere where they can relax.

When I visited a hens night in the Maple Bar was just concluding and I couldn’t help but ponder how much fun it would be to organise a group of girlfriends for a cocktail get together. My friend who came with me said she came here on her birthday bash, also with a group of mostly female friends.

Food is served at the Maple Bar until late; a range of bar snacks is served from 10pm even after the kitchen is closed. I enjoyed an antipasto plate with prosciutto, salami, brie and olives – just the thing to soak up cocktails.

The Riot-ACT participated in the launch party at the invitation of the owner.

What: Maple Bar (upstairs at Treehouse)
Where: 32 Northbourne Ave, Canberra
Opening:

  • Mon – 5pm to 11pm
  • Tue & Wed – Closed
  • Thu & Fri – 4pm to late
  • Sat – 6pm to late

Website: www.treehousebar.com.au
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/treehousecanberra
Phone: 6162 0906

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The issue I have with this is this place is that it’s meant to be classy right? people show manners ect… ok, I get that. I do however think it is really dumb to say it’s o for men to hit on women but not the other way around especially when in a recent news article the owners even confirmed women can be just as bad… They stole this exact rule from another bar… and when another local club poked fun at it (which was going to happen…) they blew up. calling the club jealous and having constant digs at them with the female owner even going to great extents to publicly shame the bar saying they had a drug bust there ect and just continued to carry on and abuse everyone else who poked fun. That’s just as bad. Then I see news articles and they are making out it’s a classy joint ect but the way the owners handled this situation was a joke. being classy means you suck it up and show people how successful it is, not go on the back hand attacking everyone who doesn’t agree. A lot of people have lost respect for this place due to the one sidedness. Here’s a suggestion… way back in the day, if a man liked a women he would give her a card asking if she would like to dance ect… why not have the same rule here? you could easily have cards sitting the bar and then each sex could use the cards. no one would feel hit on in a gross way and it’s fair and protects everyone. (Maple Bar, if you would also like to steal my idea, you can pay me). I’ve lost all respect for this place after that. You could have made it something great and I would maybe believe you were looking out for people until I seen some pretty disgusting behaviour from the owners. needless to say, this place is getting way too much attention from taking someone else’s idea and not being able to handle the back lash. Probably should have spoken to the owners of the rocks and asked how they handled it.

I understand where they are trying to head with this… but why make only one section of their bar adhere to these rules? What does that say about the other section of the bar – that the owners know that women may not feel safe there? How about making it a blanket rule to the entire bar? Maybe the owners are too scared to drive away their most profitable patrons.

One of my fav bars has a no d#@!$head policy (yes, that is actually written on a sign upon entry). That seems to work.

Maya123 said :

Amazing (or not) how the comments here have gone along gender lines. The females appear supportive of this, while the males don’t. I’m guessing this is because many females find being ‘hit upon’ tiresome, while all the males…well ‘they’ don’t do such things, and therefore it’s no problem.

Interesting how you can apparently determine gender from a comment…..

I’m a bit old fashioned in that I find discrimination tiresome.

No issues with the bar doing this. Lots of issues with the stereotypes. Yes I know there are sleazy guys out there and women don’t deserve to be hit on by them. But this is the kind of attitude that we seem to apply too often in society. Instead of the policy above, how about just a policy saying all people attending the bar should respect other people and the bar is to enjoy drinks with friends and not for picking up in.

Amazing (or not) how the comments here have gone along gender lines. The females appear supportive of this, while the males don’t. I’m guessing this is because many females find being ‘hit upon’ tiresome, while all the males…well ‘they’ don’t do such things, and therefore it’s no problem.

bearlikesbeer9:21 am 25 Feb 17

‘For the men, the rules stipulate that if a woman does in fact approach you, ‘treat her as you would your mother”.’ http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/canberra-life/new-maple-bar-opens-upstairs-at-treehouse-bar-20170216-guenya.html

So if a woman offers to take you to a hotel for some fun, are you expected to turn beetroot-red and yell “Ew! Mum! That’s disgusting!” then call your dad to come and collect her because she’s clearly had too much to drink?

JimmyRustler3:42 am 25 Feb 17

It’s going to be hilarious watching this place go out of business when women realize all the attention that they soo desperately want is going to be non-existent. Any dude with more than half a brain and a sense of decency is going to avoid this place like the plague.

Serina Huang said :

Thank you Jane. I must admit I don’t regularly have an issue with good looking guys coming up to me at a bar, LOL. Maybe it’s because I have girlfriends who are much better looking! But one of my friends is totally over being hit on all the time. It can get to a point when it is really demeaning, and when you don’t want to really go out and socialise because of it. I mean, often if a woman likes a guy, she will give some kind of signal. And if she doesn’t like a guy, then definitely she will give a signal. But the problem happens when guys (perhaps because of alcohol?) don’t get the signals. Then it can just feel creepy.

I remember being on an offsite training course once when I felt a guy was just getting that wee bit too close. Everyone went out for drinks after a long day of learning but I just went back to my room and locked the door. But I wouldn’t want to spend my life locked behind a door because I was worried about feeling unsafe.

Those ugly guys should know their place. How dare they try and do the same things the hot guys are doing.
Most guys arent this shallow.

Maya123 said :

Jane Speechley said :

gooterz said :

Seems stupid, rough survey of guys and none feel comfortable attending a place like this.

Did anyone say *why* they wouldn’t feel comfortable? I can understand why a lot of guys might not like the option of approaching women taken away from them, but not sure why this would actually make them feel uncomfortable there … interested to know?

Good question. I wondered the same thing.

Discrimination based on gender?
The assumption that every guy is a creep that has to be put on a leech.

Reverse the roles, women have to wear bikinis and not talk, you’d get your doors and windows smashed in by protesters.

Its exactly nothing to do with the need to pick up and entirely avoiding going back to 1950s sexism.

Can’t wait ’til they bring in the rules about not being able to approach people of different races.

This stereotyping and discrimination thing should be more widely used.

Serina Huang8:01 pm 24 Feb 17

Thank you Jane. I must admit I don’t regularly have an issue with good looking guys coming up to me at a bar, LOL. Maybe it’s because I have girlfriends who are much better looking! But one of my friends is totally over being hit on all the time. It can get to a point when it is really demeaning, and when you don’t want to really go out and socialise because of it. I mean, often if a woman likes a guy, she will give some kind of signal. And if she doesn’t like a guy, then definitely she will give a signal. But the problem happens when guys (perhaps because of alcohol?) don’t get the signals. Then it can just feel creepy.

I remember being on an offsite training course once when I felt a guy was just getting that wee bit too close. Everyone went out for drinks after a long day of learning but I just went back to my room and locked the door. But I wouldn’t want to spend my life locked behind a door because I was worried about feeling unsafe.

Jane Speechley3:09 pm 24 Feb 17

Thanks Serina, and kudos to Treehouse – I’m really excited about the new venue overall, and including these intriguing house rules.

It’s a sad-but-true fact of nightlife for many women, that going to a bar or nightclub means being hit on by a lot of guys – whether you like it or not. So this will be welcome relief for many.

Gentleman need not fear – if the woman is interested, I’m sure she will talk to you. Don’t you get sick of having to do all the work anyway? 😉

searcher34892:29 pm 24 Feb 17

They need a new cougar joint since Galaxy Nightclub closed down at the Casino lol!! The free advertising for this on Tim Shaw’s program on 2cc is getting to the point of being annoying

Jane Speechley said :

gooterz said :

Seems stupid, rough survey of guys and none feel comfortable attending a place like this.

Did anyone say *why* they wouldn’t feel comfortable? I can understand why a lot of guys might not like the option of approaching women taken away from them, but not sure why this would actually make them feel uncomfortable there … interested to know?

Good question. I wondered the same thing.

Jane Speechley12:04 pm 24 Feb 17

gooterz said :

Seems stupid, rough survey of guys and none feel comfortable attending a place like this.

Did anyone say *why* they wouldn’t feel comfortable? I can understand why a lot of guys might not like the option of approaching women taken away from them, but not sure why this would actually make them feel uncomfortable there … interested to know?

Holden Caulfield10:08 am 24 Feb 17

gooterz said :

Seems stupid, rough survey of guys and none feel comfortable attending a place like this.

Maple Bar’s objective achieved then, I would suggest.

Seems stupid, rough survey of guys and none feel comfortable attending a place like this.

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