Overview
What's better than seeing an almost 150-year-old heritage-listed building given a new lease on life, and giving Sydneysiders three new spots to eat and drink in the process? Seeing all of the above happen right next door to the city's newest boutique hotel. Meet Porter House, the soon-to-open five-level bar and dining venue making this very situation a reality — and giving the CBD a new must-visit location.
Come July, a trip to 203 Castlereagh Street will mean choosing between multiple bars and eateries (or, if you prefer, hopping between them all). In a structure that dates back to 1876, has been restored over the past four years — and was previously used as a tobacco factory, warehouse, furniture manufacturer and leather merchant — Porter House will feature a Euro-style delicatessen and wine bar, a brasserie, plus another bar.
At Henry's Bread and Wine, which'll operate seven days a week on the ground floor, an all-day lineup will be on the menu. That'll include tucking into wagyu pastrami reubens with sour onions, prawn milk buns and blue-eye trevalla bagels — and also being able to pick between eating in and taking away for breakfast and lunch. Drinks-wise, expect to get sipping at a central bar surrounded by a four-metre wall of wine, mainly from Australia. And, flowers will fill another wall, all thanks to an in-house florist.
Henry's Bread and Wine
Then, Dixson & Sons — which takes its name from the Dixson family, who originally built the site all those years back — will sprawl across nearly 200 square metres on the first floor. Seating 90, it'll skew relaxed but elegant, with banquettes, tables for two, a couple of semi-private dining spaces and a bar spanning six metres perched in the middle. On Executive Chef Emrys Jones' (ex-Fish Butchery, No 5, Qualia) menu: a big focus on New South Wales produce, and on using every part of each ingredient. As well as seafood, you can look forward to tasting your way through native flavours such as bush tomato, native thyme, lemon myrtle, dessert lime and macadamia dukkha.
A sampling of potential dishes includes salt-baked beets with labna; roast lamb with eggplant and miso puree, brassicas and chocolate jus; and roast potatoes with bush tomato salt.
Finally, opening in spring rather than winter, the 225-square-metre Spice Trader bar will take over the top level — complete with glass panels across more than half the roof to make the most of the natural light. Drinks will come served from a 16-metre sage marble bar, and expect to knock back cocktails aplenty, with the beverage list yet to be revealed.
As for its other two floors, Porter House will fill them with private dining spaces and a number of function rooms.
Dixson & Sons
Fancy making a night of it? That's where the adjacent $94 million Porter House Hotel — MGallery comes in, which is also set to launch in July alongside Henry's Bread and Wine and Dixson & Sons. Featuring 122 rooms, it'll sit across the first ten floors of the 36-storey tower next door, with 131 residential apartments filling the other 26 levels.
Linking the two buildings: a pair new walkways featuring glass balustrades and rails, with showcasing the contrast between Porter House's heritage features and MGallery's modern design a key aim. Actually, that's the overall aesthetic in general, as seen in the hotel's interior decor. Think: leather and pressed tin touches, gold and brass fixtures, wooden flooring, soft pink and grey tones, warm lighting, curves and arches used heavily, and mismatching modern and vintage furniture.
Hotel guests will all get access to a rooftop garden and a 12.5-square-metre heated pool as well.
And, decking out the exterior will be a 335-square-metre mural by Maria Fernanda Cardosa. Reaching up 11 storeys, Ripples and Droplets goes big on arches and circles, too — and is believed to be the largest public artwork by an Australian artist in the Sydney CBD.
Porter House Hotel
Yes, you might've just found your next staycation spot. That said, with Sydney also just gaining Australia's first Ace Hotel, and the Waldorf Astoria also opening its first-ever Australian hotel in Sydney in 2025, your list of places for a night away from home just keeps growing.
Find Porter House at 203 Castlereagh Street, Sydney, from July — we'll update you with an exact opening date when one is announced.
Images: artist impressions.