Naked for Satan, Fitzroy by Big Fil

The name 'Naked for Satan' always takes me a little aback. While many bars take slightly 'naughty' names to titillate and bring in the punters this one goes a bit further with its religious and sexual connotations. It's all quite playful but I'm not quite sure what sort of image it is supposed to provoke - nuns in suspenders doing the can-can? We'd always meant to check out Naked for Satan though for its cheap pintxos and finally, on a Friday afternoon just before Christmas Bureaucrat, Snooze and I finally got around to paying a call.


First thing you notice when entering is this fairly large space with tables on one side, a bar on the other and an enormous copper contraption (still) in the middle. For weekday lunches and dinner early in the week the numerous pintxos are only 80 cents each and this attracted a fairly disparate crowd of office workers out for a workday drink, university students after a quick feed and on our visit a surprising number of mums with kids.

The pintxos are lined up along the bar and you can select as many or as few as you want. There's quite a variety of both meat and vegetarian options, with a small dessert available as well. They come served on toothpicks and after you have finished you simply take your toothpicks up to the bar to be tallied up.


At that price we were all keen to sample as much of the range as we could. While I wouldn't describe the pintxos as amazing we all had our own personal favourites - the chorizo, the asparagus, the mussel - and at 80 cents each they are much better than you've really got the right to expect. Best of all are the hot ones brought around by staff, there aren't so many of these so it's best to keep your eyes open for them wandering around. Winner of most pinxtos sampled on the day by one toothpick with 15 was Bureaucrat, although I pleaded my excuse of having had a late breakfast.



As I understand it the food is meant to be a complement to the bar and is partially subsidised by the drinks, so if not an impoverished uni student it's probably good form to get a drink while you are there. After forcing Snooze and a sensible shoed but sockless Bureaucrat to walk out from town I felt guilted into buying a carafe of sangria. Even if not the best I've ever had still one of my favourite drinks and felt like an appropriate complement to the food.


Overall
Naked for Satan fulfils probably the most important criteria for a good bar. With good food, good company, an interesting setup and unpretentious staff and patrons it's just a lot of fun and a much cheaper alternative to the fairly pricey tapas places around town.

Verdict
Food - 7.5
Service - 7.5
Ambience - 8
Price - 8.5

Address
285 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy VIC 3065
Tel: (03) 9416 2238