Recipe: The Southerly

The long anticipated Coogee Pavilion middle floor reopened late last year, featuring three new unique spaces. They include Will’s, a cocktail bar named after Merivale CEO Justin Hemme’s grandfather, John, who’s given name was William.

The Southerly is one of Will’s signature cocktails, and is described as “the embodiment of a day at the beach.” It’s also uniquely symbolic of the bar’s surrounds, with ingredients foraged from the local area.

Bar Manager Ben Wainwright said there are over 100 botanicals they could have used between Clovelly, Gordon’s Bay and Coogee, with foraging learnt with the help of Diego Bonetto of Wild Food Store.

“We know certain areas, and we try not to hit them all too often and have it depleted,” Wainwright said.

“We know through [Bonetto] they’re safe to use and don’t have any pesticides. But some of the stuff we usually get through him… it’s all beautiful produce.”