Scout, One of London's Best Cocktail Bars, Is Opening Inside Surry Hills' Dolphin Hotel Next Year

Opened in early 2017, London cocktail bar Scout quickly made the World's 50 Best Bars list. It stands out for two main reasons: every ingredient in every cocktail comes from the British Isles and every leftover ingredient (every straggling bit of garnish) goes into the food. To put that in more trendy terms, Scout is hyperlocal and closed-loop.

Yesterday, Sydney hospitality heavyweight Maurice Terzini — founder of Icebergs, Bondi Beach Public Bar and the Dolphin Hotel — let slip that Scout founder Matt Whiley is coming Down Under. More specifically, he's going to set up a Sydney outpost of Scout in a disused section of the Dolphin's top floor.

That means you'll soon be drinking highly unusual cocktails made with native ingredients in — if the original Scout is anything to go by — a minimalist, Scandic-inspired room. Whiley hasn't revealed any of his Aussie recipes yet, but we can look to the current London list to get an idea of what to expect. It features the Apple of God (a savoury concoction of butternut squash liqueur, disarmed chilli, coriander and sparkling wine) and the Black and Yellow (bee pollen, sunflower seed, Deawars 12, meadowsweet and liquorice).

Although Scout will share space with the Dolphin, the two will operate as independent businesses, with separate entries and aesthetics. Slated to launch in 2019, Scout will be Sydney's latest venue-inside-a-venue with Mary's Pizzeria recently opening inside the Lansdowne Hotel and Terzini opening Bonnie's Wine & Food inside Bondi Beach Public Bar.

Scout Sydney will open inside the Dolphin Hotel, 412 Crown Street, Surry Hills, in early 2019.