Sydney's Best New Bars of 2017
The city's very best boozy additions of the year so far.
Sydney's Best New Bars of 2017
The city's very best boozy additions of the year so far.
Sydney's nightlife is in a bit of a weird spot at the moment, but you wouldn't be able to tell from the amount of bars opening. 2017's newbies have been diverse so far; as well as some top-notch Euro-leaning wine bars, we've had a vinyl-spinning lounge bar open alongside an all-out basement 'Viking luxe' bar mixing sorbet-filled and served-in-horn cocktails with details down to a tee. Yeah, there's just some things you can't recreate at home.
With so many openings hitting the city in a six-month period, we whittled it down to our favourite newcomers raising the bar for Sydney's drinking scene. Well, our favourites so far — there's still another six months to go.
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There’s a fair bit going on at Chippendale’s Sneaky Possum. Part cafe, part bar, part restaurant and part function space, with a multipurpose area upstairs, the Abercrombie Street venue defies easy categorisation — to the extent that even its owner isn’t entirely sure what to call it.
Whatever owner Phil Anderson wants to call it, the corner venue can be easily identified thanks to a pair of distinctive murals on its outside. One, by Fintan McGee, depicts Naomi Mayers, former lead singer of The Sapphires and founder of the Indigenous Health Service. The other, by Scott Marsh, is an ode to Sydney’s ibis population.
Wander through the doors and you’ll find Sneaky Possum is split into a number of different sections. A large, brightly lit front bar leads through to a room full of pinball machines and retro arcade games, while out back you’ll find a casual dining area complete with custom built wooden booths. A large open space upstairs, meanwhile, can be everything from a band room to a communal dining area to a gallery.
But perhaps the most important space of all is the kitchen, where chef Briony Bradford has crafted a menu with a strong focus on local produce. Standout dishes include South Australian kingfish ceviche with avocado, radish and finger lime; roasted lamb with tomato, onion and burnt bread; kangaroo tartare with egg yolk, cornichon and pepperberry dressing; and Wapengo oysters with your choice of either passionfruit and lime dressing or eschallot and black pepper vinaigrette.
Likewise, the drinks list draws heavily from local brewers and winemakers. They’ve got five beers plus a rosé on tap, including their very own Sneaky Possum Pale Ale. Even the non-alcoholic offering has a distinctly Australian flavour, courtesy of a partnership with a local tea supplier. “We’ve got a house blend tea which has river mint, strawberry gum and rosella, which just tastes fantastic,” says Anderson.
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You’re at the bar. You get stuck in with a beverage, and a few minutes later your song comes on. Is there any better feeling? Newtown newcomers DeepGroove are turning that elation into a regular occurrence at their newly opened vinyl record bar where the patrons choose the tunes. The bar occupies prime real estate along King Street, taking over the space of the short-lived Nordic B. DeepGroove is officially open for business.
The joint venture between hospitality veterans Steven Sparshott and Mai Polic follows a simple, yet genius concept: come in, grab a drink at the bar and thumb through the extensive selection of vinyl. Pop your favourite on the turntable and let your song or full record play out. Their collection has something for everyone and spans everything from Beyoncé to The Beatles and Justin Bieber to Guns N’ Roses. For the vinyl illiterate, they also have an iPad full of over 15,000 songs to scroll through — but, honestly, where’s the fun in that?
The small bar is set up casually with high tables and stools, along with the requisite rock posters and vinyl sleeves on the wall. To give patrons an even bigger reason to smile, they’re running a $10 cocktail happy hour everyday from 5pm to 7pm. Their signature, the Deep Groove Yuzu, sounds especially tasty, with the Japanese inspired concoction combining sake, gin and yuzu. For bar snacks, think traditional finger food like sweet potato fries and antipasto platters.
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Dear Sainte Éloise has taken over Potts Points’ Waterman’s Lobster Co. close last month. The warmly-lit wine bar is aglow with patrons and the staff bustle around precisely — it’s already a well-oiled machine. It’s clear the Love, Tilly Devine crew — namely owner Matt Swieboda, head sommelier Nate Hatwell (Mercado), manager Jasmin Natterer and head chef Ben Abiad (co-founder Brickfields Bakery, ex-Sean’s Panaroma and Mecca) — know what they’re doing.
The long, copper bar is the main feature, adorned with racks upon racks upon racks of wine that showcase the bar’s huge selection — all up, there’s 350 plus bottles, which have been plucked from all over the world, from Austria to Portugal, South Africa and Georgia, as well as the requisite Australian and New Zealand bottles. Hatwell somehow manages them all with ease and, unless you’re an expert, you’ll need him to help navigate their extensive wine bible. He pours us glass after delicious glass of some of the best wine we’ve ever had, including a funky white from the Canary Islands, an oak-aged Grenache from Catalonia and a Gamay from the southwest of France.
A section of the wine list titled ‘The Less Popular But Very Delicious Wines of The World’ also includes some more obscure French varietals, along with Greek and Hungarian drops. Really, you can’t go wrong — even their house wine comes from much-loved French label La Ficelle de Saint-Pourçain, which is a steal at only ten bucks a glass.
The food menu too is supremely well-balanced — much like Dear Sainte Éloise itself. Simply put, this Potts Point venue is knowledgeable without being wanky, sleek without being overdone. Plus, we’re all for any place where you can dine at the bar — even if it doesn’t involve lobster rolls.
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While we’ve named Mjølner — the new venue ‘viking luxe’ from The Speakeasy Group, which operates Eau De Vie and The Roosevelt as well as Boilermaker House in Melbourne — as our favourite new restaurant of 2017 so far, it also has a cocktail list that makes it one of the best new bars as well. The leather-bound cocktail menu is extensive and a little overwhelming, but, to help, the concoctions are ordered from lightest to booziest. The Smooth Valley Sour ($20) is a good starter and comes garnished with honeycomb, but is more sweet than sour. If you’re into boozier cocktails, the Highlander Hammer ($22) is their version of an old-fashioned with the addition of turmeric and honey-laced oloroso, and the Kon Tiki ($19) is a super smoky mezcal concoction — both of which are some of the best cocktails we’ve had.
The bar itself is quite small on space, so if you’re got time (and some extra cash), nab a table and order some food. It’s worth it for the table service and all the little details that make this a superb dining experience.
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Since ’50s-inspired bar Hinky Dinks closed late last year, there’s been a gaping, cocktail-sized hole at 185 Darlinghurst Road. But, the good news is, it’s now been filled — and with some high-level Sydney hospitality personnel, no less.
The team behind Darlinghurst favourite Buffalo Dining Club have well and truly taken over the space, launching a sleek new wine parlour Johnny Fishbone last night. The name embossed in shimmering gold lettering on the wooden door is sign enough that the new tenants have changed the whole vibe of the space — inside, the chequered floor has been replaced with understated tiling, the red features have been axed in favour of deep greens and timber, and a long marble-topped wooden bar is the main centrepiece. There’s a solid wine wall too, which should tell you a lot about their offering.
As its pedigree would suggest, Johnny is also turning out some top-notch bar food. Choose from seafood snacks like oysters, ceviche and sardines with tomato jam or bigger options such as the fish with cured fennel and saffron and the spatchcock with paprika brandy. Johnny Fishbone is open from 5pm Tuesday and Sunday, so you can head there and grab a seat at the bar tonight — although, if it’s anything like Buffalo Dining Club, it could be hard to get one.
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