Sydney Road is a pretty awesome place. You can get kick-arse Lebanese pizzas for $1.50, some of the best baklava in the world for less than a dollar a piece and an espresso for 90c. OK, the coffee's not the best but you get the point. Actually I think it's a bit more than 90c nowadays too, but anyway. The first two are real bargains.

And on top of all of that, there's this unbelievable deal: $5 pints of Beechworth Pale Ale at Bar Etiquette. Well, it's actually not Beechworth Pale Ale anymore unfortunately. Supply problems I think. It's currently St Arnou Pilsner, which obviously isn't quite as good but was tasting mighty fine the other night, and 2 Brothers Gypsy Cider.

And OK, they're not always that price, but it's a pretty insanely generous happy hour: 5-9pm each day. It used to be 5-7pm, but evidently they decided they were making too much money. We managed to go out for dinner the other night and still get a couple of pints in happy hour after dinner (though perhaps that says more about the state of my social life than the generosity of the bar).

Plus it's a great bar. The front is a fairly typical, friendly neighbourhood bar with vintage pinnies and a bar guy who's always up for a chat. Out the back is a graffiti-covered beer garden where the uni students and hipsters hang out. Upstairs is just like any inner-north house party you've ever been to.

It's exactly the kind of bar that makes Melbourne's drinking scene so good. Nothing fancy, but what it does it does well. Cheap beer, a handful of really interesting bottles at excellent prices, and a good, cheap wine list.

I'd be there all the time if I didn't have so much stuff to drink in the back room.