3A York Street,
Newmarket,
Newmarket
Auckland,
1023

(09) 524 2628

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4 out of 5

Things happen when someone puts a faux-veil on a girl’s head … then plies her with shooters.

Toys appear from nowhere (the usual trimmings: whips, ties and handcuffs). Decorum goes out the window. And, the type of behaviour that might normally ensure she’d be busted and booted (out of the impending marriage—and the bar), is deemed completely acceptable.

Soiree knows this. Soiree also knows that if you take said bar, funk it up with a little 80s music—add a dance pole and a mirror—that things will happen. And happen, they do.

Take Saturday night, for example. Soiree, a newcomer to Newmarket’s social scene, was brimming with punters amping for a good night.

A knot of doctors and nurses were holding the fort then the hen’s party arrived. These separate groups had two things in common: both were predominantly from the 30+ set—and both had stacked up a good few years of partying know-how.

As the disco tracks grew louder, the cocktail orders more creative, and the behaviour more outlandish—the two groups combined.

Doctors and bridesmaids played bump-and-grind against the dance pole. The bride was blindfolded (as were a few of the boys). Nurses—one in white from head to toe—clamoured onto the bar to slap a bit of skin. And, the party was on.

Now, don’t think this was a night of debauchery; to the contrary. This was just a bunch of professional people letting off steam.

There was no indecency; there was no crossing-the-line; and the night certainly couldn’t be classed as seedy.

What this was, however, was Soiree strutting its stuff to a crowd of people keen to whip up an alcohol-infused storm in light-hearted safety.

Soiree certainly lived up to its name that night. And, I imagine, the interior of this little art nouveau bar will continue to draw a few more ‘get-togethers’.

So, it’s a four-star rating for this party-popper on York Street (one short of a perfect score—for installing toilets that make life difficult for anyone in a wheelchair).