Colourful take-over

By Jacklyn Yeong

Experience an extension of the summer musical EVITA at Stomping Ground La Boca, a pop-up beer garden celebrating the spirit and delicacies of Argentina.

Both theatre and non-theatre goers are welcomed to immerse themselves in the colourful Latin American culture.

The installation is now serving local brewed beers, including an exclusive Argentinian-inspired lager and wine to pair off with foods from both sweet and savoury flavours.

Look forward to a menu with Argentinian classics beef or cheese empanadas to street food choripan – chorizo roll with chimichurri, lomito – a grass-fed steak sandwich, ensalada – coal roasted vegetable salad with ancient grains and chickpeas and Argo style fries with chipotle called papas.

Polish off your meal with dulce de leche served as soft serve ice cream, sandwiched between two shortbread cookies – also known as alfajores or indulge in both, just because.

Visitors could enjoy occasional Argentinian inspired performances or participate in tango lessons.

When visualising the pop-up with Melbourne illustrator and muralist Justine McAllister, co-founder of Stomping Ground Brewing Co Steve Jeffares wanted to infuse the colourful and vibrant streetscapes of La Boca to Melbourne’s arts centre.

“Given the inspiration behind La Boca for us was the town of La Boca in Argentina which is famous of its brightly coloured buildings, we felt that that would suit Justine’s style very well so we decided to ask her to get involved with creating something special with us at La Boca,” Steve explained. “She will be hand painting shipping containers that we’re converting into bars and she will be painting further elements to the exhibition.”

The two shipping containers will be stacked on top of each other featuring Justine’s well-known bright and vibrant colour palette.

“I researched the La Boca area and we’re playing on the really bright colours on all the buildings and the blocky geometric shapes,” Justine said. “I had a bit of a look into the Italian culture that has settled in the La Boca area so we sort of took those elements and apply it to the shipping container but still got that very modern twist, so I guess it’s a new digital spin on the traditional La Boca aesthetic.”

The eye-catching beer garden will be open until February 24 2019 at Arts Centre Melbourne’s forecourt.

artscentremelbourne.com.au