Sydney's Best Themed Bars for When You Want to Escape the Real World
Pretend you're somewhere else for a while.
Sometimes life gets tough. Sometimes your bus never arrives, your laptop breaks, you spill coffee down your fresh white shirt and then the government announces it's changing leadership again. Sometimes it gets to a point where you need to (temporarily) escape to a different world — one that's filled with booze, preferably.
Luckily, Sydney has these in droves. You can sip mead in a Viking-themed bar, drink rum in a little slice of Cuba or head underground for martinis and fried cheese in France. Sydney's themed bars can be just the places to disappear to when you need to pretend you're somewhere else for a while.
Image: Bang Bang, Steven Woodburn
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RestaurantRestaurant Hubert
15 Bligh Street, Sydney
High-class French food in a subterranean space on Bligh Street, where the steak is the stuff of legend.
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BarJacoby's Tiki Bar
154 Enmore Road, Enmore
Enmore's 'Twin Peaks'-themed tiki bar will take you to another dimension of bowl-sized cocktails and free banana chips.
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RestaurantBang Bang — CLOSED
14 Steam Mill Lane, Haymarket
Sydney's home of mega katsu, cocktails and karaoke.
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Bar1989 Arcade Bar - CLOSED
22-24 King Street, Newtown
Mash buttons over a burger or hot brew on King Street.
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BarShady Pines Saloon
Shop 4 256 Crown Street, Darlinghurst
Come for the free peanuts and daily happy hour, stay for the moose head and bar banter.
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BarThe Doss House
77/79 George Street, The Rocks
This old-world whisky bar pouring more than 150 varieties is also a fascinating journey into the shady past of The Rocks.
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BarFrankie's - CLOSED
50 Hunter Street, Sydney
Part dive bar, part New York-style pizza parlour, part blast from the past in the form of 80s metal.
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BarUncle Ming's
Lower Ground, 55 York Street, Sydney
This York Street basement bar serving Asian-infused cocktails and delicious dumplings is a little bit kitsch, a little bit mysterious and a whole lot of fun.
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BarPalmer & Co.
Abercrombie Lane, Sydney
A hidden, but well-known, cocktail bar reminiscent of Sydney's notorious past of speakeasies, sly grog and razor gangs.
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BarThe Bearded Tit
183 Regent Street, Redfern
Turn left at the crocheted penises and enter Redfern's brazen art bar.
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BarPapa Gede's
346-348 Kent Street, Sydney
A laneway bar dedicated to the voodoo spirit of "lust, laughter and cocktails", Papa Gede's better be on your Sydney bar bucket list.
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BarStuffed Beaver Crows Nest - CLOSED
419 Pacific Highway, Crows Nest
More poutine fries, burgers, chicken wings and bric-a-brac, in a new location.
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BarRosie Campbell's
320 Crown Street, Surry Hills
Warmth, spice and vibrancy emanates from the corner of Campbell and Crown Streets.
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BarTio's Cerveceria
4-14 Foster Street, Surry Hills
Surry Hills' home of tequila, cocktails and free popcorn.
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BarThe Cliff Dive
16-18 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst
The Tio's boys have done it again. And this time, things are tropical.
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PubThe Duke of Clarence
152-156 Clarence Street, Sydney
Take a time hop at this 1800s-inspired English tavern with over 500 spirits, cask ales and a gastropub menu heroing classic British cuisine.
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BarGunther's Dining Room - CLOSED
180 Redfern Street, Redfern
We can’t keep Redfern’s retro Euro bar a secret, comrades.
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BarThe Botanist
17 Willoughby Street, Kirribilli
Sprightly and whimsical, The Botanist is abloom with good food, great drinks and a fun, furzy mood.
