Not a rebrand. Not a pivot. Not a concept with a mood board. Eden Cloakroom, which
earned New Pub of the Year back in 2008 and quietly slipped from Mt Eden’s grasp, has
returned as a European-style bistro bar and courtyard. More to the point, the original owner
Darren Tolley is back behind the bar he built. In a hospitality landscape that tends to favour
the new, this is a decidedly compelling case for the familiar.

Tolley has brought CTRL Space back with him, the design studio behind the original fit-out,
and the brief was refreshingly restrained: refine what people already loved rather than chase
what’s next. That restraint reads clearly in the result. The room meets you easily. Timber tones have been reworked to feel warmer, softly textured plaster walls and tiled borders lend character without weight, and European cues sit throughout: checkerboard tiling in the courtyard, bentwood seating, leather upholstery that invites you to stay longer than planned. At the centre, a curved timber-lined bar functions as the room’s natural gathering point, its shelves backed with aged mirror that catches the light and gives the space a sense of depth it wears well. “It never felt like we needed to reinvent Eden Cloakroom,” Tolley says. “Just bring it back to what people loved about it in the first place. A good local should feel easy, somewhere you can drop in without thinking too much about it.”

Inside, bar leaners, small tables, and banquette seating handle everything from a solo drink
to a longer evening. The courtyard opens things further with tiled tables and casual seating
arranged for the kind of slow drift from one glass to an impromptu dinner. Lighting does
quiet, important work: bright and unguarded by day, warm and conspiratorial by evening.
“We weren’t trying to redesign Eden Cloakroom, just tune it,” says CTRL Space’s Stevens.
“The materials, the light, the small details that make a place feel familiar and worth coming
back to.”

The menu matches the philosophy: European-leaning, shareable, and built for tables that
order generously. Kumara sourdough arrives with a charcoal butter so dark and savoury it
looks forged rather than churned. The crispy potatoes shatter audibly. Beef shin croquettes
are compact and deeply savoury, the kind you order two of and wish you’d ordered four.
Lighter plates bring contrast: burrata with vincotto, a smooth chicken liver parfait, ceviche,
and seasonal vegetables. Larger plates run to prawn tostadas, charcoal chicken, beef
bavette, and lamb ribs, while a well-judged chocolate mousse and pannacotta close things
out.

What Tolley has recaptured here is increasingly rare: a neighbourhood bar that knows
exactly what it is. No overworked concept, no anxious trend-chasing. Drop in on a Thursday
when the courtyard catches the last of the light. You’ll stay longer than you meant to.

Opening hours:
Wednesday – Thursday, 3 pm till late
Friday – Sunday, 12 pm till late

instagram.com/edencloakroom