Where to Enjoy Your Champagne Tastes on a Beer Budget in Sydney

Oh, Hubert, how we love thee. Everything about this place is pure delight — from the classy fit-out to the beautifully designed menu, and that ridiculously hefty wine list. With its low ceilings, dim lighting and dark tables, this place oozes classic romance in spades. Totally splurge-worthy, there are few better places to book in when you want to celebrate a special occasion.

These days, though, you don’t have to save Hubert exclusively for a celebration. With the introduction of a 4–6pm daily aperitif hour, this delight of a place is now easily within reach for weekday drinks. During this two-hour slice of joy, you can indulge in a whole heap of really affordable tipples, including $5 G&Ts, $10 negronis and $5 glasses of vino. There are also $10 burgers and $3 deviled eggs, amidst other savoury delights. In other words, slipping away to spend a few hours in this Narnia-like wonderland just got infinitely more accessible.  

It’s all about next-level luxury at this glamorous Potts Point cocktail bar. With its cosy leather booths, tables that come complete with a hole in the middle for your champagne bucket and glass cabinets filled with antique cocktail-making equipment as decor, The Roosevelt is the place to go when you want to splash out on drinks that actually feel worth the price tag.

Not keen to spend heaps on cocktails, though? The Roosevelt still has you covered. Head to this buzzy spot on Thursdays for $1 oysters and glasses (or bottles!) of discounted champers that will let you live the high life without breaking the bank. If you’re not big on oysters, go on Tuesdays for $15 mains or Wednesdays for $15 sirloin steaks.

Dinner at the Sydney Opera House overlooking the harbour has to be the epitome of luxury in Sydney. And the stunning fit out of the cathedral-like Bennelong means you’ll have to make a herculean effort to pull your attention away from the views and pay full attention to what’s coming out of the kitchen and onto your table.

Want to get in on these luxe vibes without burning a hole in the wallet? It’s (somewhat surprisingly) possible with the Cured and Cultured menu. This relatively accessible dining option is all about casual bites and local vino. Don’t miss the make-your-own pikelets served with cultured cream, red claw yabbies and lemon jam. The steak tartare of cold-smoked Blackmore wagyu with fermented chilli paste, cultured grains, sesame, seaweed and egg yolk is also a winner.

With its warm lighting and dark timbers, this late-night wine bar is the perfect place when you’re in the mood for one of those long leisurely evenings that stretch into the wee hours. While Dear Sainte Éloise is a wine bar above all else — with a huge selection of nearly 400 bottles, plucked from all over the world — the Feed Me set menu makes it perfect for a full meal, too.

For a highly reasonable $50, you can feast on a constantly rotating selection of delights like burrata topped with smoked oil and charred bread, and a juicy sirloin served with silky fennel and radish butter. In other words, this is the kind of place where you can indulge your Parisian fantasies without the sky-high price tag.

Image: Nikki To.

Think a meal at fancy-schmancy Automata is out of your reach? Think again. In addition to its $95 dinner degustation, this Sydney institution also offers a three-course lunch menu for a not-too-bad $60.

The degustation is regularly updated, featuring a stunningly arranged selection of Asian fusion delights. Think kingfish tartare with yuzukosho, persimmon and shiso, and slow-roasted quail served with fermented pumpkin and spiced tamarind sauce. Dished up in a dining room that looks a little like a luxury spaceship, complete with sleek polished metals and industrial fittings, a meal at Automata is the kind of experience you won’t forget anytime soon.

Glamorous, over the top, expensive — Rockpool Bar and Grill is likely not the first place you think of when looking for affordable post-work drinks and dinner. But for casual — and surprisingly affordable — bites in a grandiose setting, grab a seat at the restaurant’s stunning bar.

The menu here offers nibbles including tuna tartare served with Moroccan eggplant, crumbed Oaxaca cheese drizzled in jalapeno hot sauce and a lovely little selection of bocadillos. There’s also a sinfully juicy cheeseburger topped with bacon available. Yes, the wine and cocktails are nowhere near the cheapest you’ll find in Sydney, but the gorgeous atmosphere, impeccable quality and affordable bar snacks make it more than worth it.

Walking into Bentley feels a little like stepping into a cubist painting. The darkly lit restaurant-bar is fitted out with black metal scaffolding, an assortment of diamond-frosted shades and that rotating cube light installation at the entrance. It’s both a little excessive and totally appropriate, the kind of place to head when you’re in the mood for smart grown-up dining.

Don’t have heaps of money to burn? No problem. Bentley’s new bar menu means you can soak in all the atmosphere without burning a $100 sized-hole in your pocket. Feast on glazed wagyu beef buns spiced with gochujang or barbecued kingfish collar topped with cucumber and smoked yoghurt. Wash it all down with something from the multi-award-winning wine list, and you’ve got yourself a totally luscious night without the ridiculous price tag.

You’d be forgiven for assuming that ‘two-hatted fine dining’ and ‘relatively affordable’ have no business being in the same sentence. But head to glamorous Italian restaurant Ormeggio for Sunday dinner, and you’ll have to reconsider. Offering what must be one of the cheapest dinner degustations by a hatted-restaurant in Sydney, Ormeggio’s Stressless Sunday Dinner menu lets you sample six delicious courses for just $79 a head.

Throw in gorgeous views over Mosman Bay, impeccable service and a glass of vino from the award-winning, all-Italian wine list, and you’ve got yourself a Sunday dinner that will be one for the books.