Hindley Street cocktail bar and restaurant Thirsty Tiger has seen the Gang Gang crew expand beyond further burgers, making a menu of considered cocktails and thoughtful share plates aimed at a mature drinking and dining crowd.

At the end of 2022, a new chapter began in the world of popular burger slingers Gang Gang.

While most of the business’s history to date has been told between burger buns, at new cocktail bar and restaurant Thirsty Tiger, the team has created an offering that brings Gang Gang into a new realm.

Their latest venture is Thirsty Tiger, which launched in November last year. It’s located directly above 99 Gang Social, its sister venue on Hindley Street, and in many ways is a reaction to the success of that earlier venture.

So popular was the ground-floor bar and eatery’s mix of R&B and hyped-up burgers, 99 Gang Social regularly reaches its capacity.

“We needed a bit of a bigger boat in order to accommodate the functions and the bigger birthdays and things like that,” explains Gang Gang cofounder Nina Wynn-Hadinata.

“When we took big group bookings downstairs, it would almost take up the whole space, and so we would lose out on that night,” adds Elisha Guglielmucci, a partner in the two Hindley Street venues.

The logical fix for this was to take over the space above 99 Gang Social, but the team didn’t just want to simply expand the existing restaurant. This was an opportunity to create something new.

On a superficial level, Thirsty Tiger has many familiar Gang Gang flourishes – an illustrative mural, a tropical club feel, and a focus on music (predominantly house this time) – but the bar and restaurant has been set up to appeal to a different type of drink-and-diner.

“I actually think it will bring an older demographic into play,” Nina says. “Because downstairs, it’s loud, it’s burgers and cheap shots and things like that. It’s a little bit different upstairs, and we were looking for that little bit of maturity coming into this.”

Speaking with the ownership group inside the venue – which is Nina, Elisha, Morgen Wynn-Hadinata and Joolz Peek – the team laughs when they sense a note of resignation in Nina’s voice as she describes Thirsty Tiger as “more cocktail-focussed” and the food as “just an added little extra”.

“That is so hard for you to say that!” Elisha pokes.

There is wine on offer, mostly from small and minimal-intervention producers, as well as beer and sake, but the cocktail list is the main attraction – which consists of eight ‘classics’ and 12 ‘signatures’.

Designing the cocktail menu was a collaborative process. Elisha set the tone: “quite tropical, and you feel like you’re in Bali or in Miami”, but the drinks were developed by committee.

“[The team] got to have fun and experiment and try things that the hadn’t done before, been given the opportunity to,” Morgen says. “It was like, ‘Cool, here’s your budget, go have fun. Let’s see what works, what doesn’t’. And we got to try things as a team, with the whole kitchen team and bar team.”

An example of this holistic creative process is Pho Sho, a soup-inspired cocktail which brings together a pho broth syrup, lime, coriander and gin, topped with an addition from the kitchen: a chilli tincture.

Even Thirsty Tiger’s Mimosa, the Mandy Moormosa, is built upon layers of thought and effort.

“[It uses] sous vide fresh mandarin, so you get that real big hit,” Morgen says.

“It’s time consuming,” Nina laughs.

Time is perhaps the main distinction between Thirsty Tiger and 99 Gang Social. The latter is set up for speed of service, while the former is made for a clientele who wants to sit a while and sip.

Steak and ramen is the Thirsty Tiger order

Although it pained Nina to admit to Thirsty Tiger’s nature as a bar first and foremost, it would be a mistake to overlook the food offering.

Knowing they were targeting a more mature demographic, Thirsty Tiger became an opportunity to shift focus away from burgers. Aside from a short list of sliders, this is what Nina has done – and not without trepidation.

“I think it’s different, but it still has that Gang feel to it,” she says.

“So far, everyone’s absolutely loved it. It’s given us the confidence to keep going. Because it was nerve-wracking, you know?

“We had trialled it before, with our wine clubs and things like that, but we knew what worked and what didn’t from those nights. We brought all the [dishes] that we really love and that people responded to onto the one menu.”

Everything on offer is snacky in size, priced between $10 and $22, and is designed to be shared.

There’s corn ribs, grilled broccolini served on honey whipped feta, tacos, chicken katsu, and a wagyu steak, sliced for ease of sharing. The menu is modular – if you’re hungry, order a few more dishes – and in some cases the dishes are designed to work in concert, such as Elisha’s suggestion of adding the steak to the ramen dish.

“It’s meant to be more shared and snacky and smaller,” Elisha says. “It’s communal, whereas downstairs is more of an individual experience.”

“It’s a bit more relaxed as well, with your eating. You can just sit there and pick and chat and have cocktails, rather than having a full meal to yourself,” Joolz says.

Gang Gang venues are made of music

The Gang Gang crew was caught off guard by 99 Gang Social’s appeal, and not just its popularity. It’s brasher, louder and more party-oriented than they’d first envisioned, which they’ve acknowledged and now cater to.

But upstairs, they hope to create a counterbalance for a clientele who wants a calmer and more sophisticated experience – a market Nina and Morgen know a lot about.

“We’re getting to that age where we’re not going to clubs… There’s been no small-scale bars that have been something that we’ve gone, ‘Fuck, that’s cool. I’d love to hang out there. The music’s on point, the drinks are tasty and quality’,” Morgen says.

“[Thirsty Tiger is] not club nights, it’s not full on. It’s still good music, we are still having DJs in here doing a mixture of some really nice house, still a few nice R&B elements to complement downstairs.

“Realistically, you can walk in and have a meal at either venue, and go, ‘Ok, I’m sick of house music’, go downstairs, have a boog at R&B, and then go, ‘Right, I’m ready to have another drink, so I’m ready for [upstairs] again.”

Nina smiles as she considers whether or not to reveal her intent for the venue.

“You said that way better than I was going to say it,” she grins. “I was, like, ‘I’m getting old, and I wanted to create a place where I could just sit and chill’.”

Thirsty Tiger is located upstairs at 99 Hindley Street and opens Friday and Saturday nights from 5:30pm.

The bar will open Thursday night ahead of the Easter long weekend and is hosting an Easter Sunday bottomless brunch event from 10am ‘til 3pm.

Book a table at the website and connect with the business on Instagram.