Caz Reitop’s Dirty Secrets

Delicious cocktails and decent wines, nice for a pre Saturday night drink. Awesome Gunston space in the basement which is perfect for parties

Great little bar for a catch up with friends or a boogie downstairs. Surprisingly broad selection of craft beers at reasonable prices and some enticing cocktails.

This goooOOOOooorgeous cocktail bar is the place to go if you have any Dirty Secrets to share, even if you don’t they make killer cocktails.
Stepping inside the bar feels like steppig back into the ‘glam’ of the 1920’s. The dark interior with red lighting makes you feel that just about anyone could be tucked into a corner discussing the secrets of the universe whilst sipping on cocktails.
The fully stocked bar appears to have the freshest of ingredients and happy hour 5−7pm Monday through Friday offering $ 10 cocktails is an excellent excuse to start off a night or wind down after a busy day. There is also Death Star Comedy of Wednesday nights.
Do yourself a favour and order a dirty martini, delicious!

Weird name, cool little den of a bar. It’s all very 1920s inside Dirty Secrets — the front bar is tiny, housed in dark stone and dimly lit by lamps, and up a few stairs are two large booths that can be closed off to the world with heavy curtains. If you’re lucky enough to get there when one of these booths is free, it’s fairly unlikely you’ll want to give it up — they’re wonderfully ‘secret’ places and make you wish you had some ‘dirty secrets’ to get up to while you’re inside.
As it is, the dirtiest secret about the bar is its cocktail list, which is awesome and full of deliciously strange flavours. I’ve tried just about every cocktail (what?) and my favourites are the Ron Pom (rum with contreau and aperol, grapefruit, pomegranate molasses and grapefruit bitters) and the Jackie Brown (dark rum with choc and vanilla liquers and chilli bitters — but be warned, it really is hot!). The Wake Up Call (an espresso martini, essentially) is also delicious. All the cocktails are made excellently by the lovely staff.
Apparently, though I’ve never been down there, there’s also a cellar for private functions.

Often referred to as simply ‘Dirty Secrets’. Well I’ll let you in on my dirty secret — you can find me here almost every Friday evening between the hours of 5 – 7.
Why you may ask? Cocktails. But not just any cocktails. Happy hour deliciously well made $ 10 cocktails! In fact they have happy hour from 5 – 7 Monday through to Friday, which makes ‘Dirty Secrets’ a great meeting place for a few cheeky drinks before you head out to dinner or to other various drinking holes in the Fitzroy area. Although a word of warning — if you are thinking of doing the latter then only have one or two drinks at Dirty Secrets — their cocktails are pretty lethal.
My favourites are the Tommy’s Margarita (made the proper way with agave syrup for sweetness instead of orange liqueur) and the ‘Wake-​up Call’ (a classic espresso martini with a twist of Frangelico instead of the traditional coffee liqueur).

In a city as expensive as Melbourne it could be considered an achievement to get tipsy for anything less than about fifty bucks. At Dirty Secrets on a Friday that figure is more like $ 20. Its cocktails are that lethal.
A tiny little cocktail bar down the Gertrude Street end of Smith Street, Dirty Secrets has a 1920s vibe, a killer cocktail menu and a rather incredible happy hour on Friday evenings boasting the most potent cocktails I’ve ever imbibed for a measly $ 10 a pop.
Particularly noteworthy is the ‘Jackie Brown’, a rum, chocolate and vanilla liqueur confection ‘finished with house made Chilli Bitters served on the rocks’. Just beware the fresh red chilli served with this baby, I’ve spent more than a few evenings gurning due to a burning mouth thanks to the seemingly erroneous belief that chili + chocolate + copious amounts of booze results in something other than pain.
Dirty Secrets’ best cocktail? It’s incredible ‘Wake Up Call’ espresso martini. Just what you need on a Friday evening after a tough week at the office. I want a drink.