Located above Kinselas, where Middle Bar used to be. It's a gallery and bar, quite like Oxford Art Factory (just a few blocks down on Oxford Street), only much more stylish and mellow. While I love OAF to bits, Lo-Fi has won me over as my new favorite venue.
Ironically the term lo-fi stems from "low fidelity", referring to a lower standard of music. But this bar has a great (no, outstanding!) sound system. And with the thumping bass comes a great choice of music. All the times I've been to Lo-Fi, an exciting mix of Hip Hop, R&B and electro reverberates through the bar and diffuses through to the balcony. I especially enjoyed the random 90s songs they played, like Blackstreet's "No Diggity" and the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" theme song.
While the sound system and music at Lo-Fi gives it a nightclub feel, the open-air balcony adds a chilled out and down-to-earth atmosphere compared to a claustrophobic club scene. The balcony looks over Taylor Square in Darlinghurst, allowing us to do some people watching while enjoying the fresh (well, the cigarette-smoke infused) air. We sit on mismatched furniture - little stools, bigger chairs, tiny tables.
The venue displays some interesting and artsy wall decorations. One that I particularly noticed during one of my visits was a mirror that has a black shadow of a window-washer on it (this changed the last time I went - the venue seemed to have gone through a makeover or a change of artistic direction). Complementing the arty venue are the patrons. People are fashionably but also eccentrically dressed.
A glass door leads to the bathrooms. This provided endless entertainment for us, as quite a few intoxicated customers walked head-on into the glass door. The next time I was there, those doors were left open, presumably to avoid said embarrassment and injury.
The only downside to my Lo-Fi outings was the service. The first time I popped into Lo-Fi, the bartender who served me was cold and displeased when I ordered a cocktail from the very long cocktail list - it's so exhaustive that it actually took me at least 15 minutes just to read through it all and make a decision.
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