A bar hop in Surry Hills is not much of a workout. In just a single square kilometre, you can find tiny cocktail nooks, neighbourhood perches so cosy it feels like nobody but you and your closest 45 friends have heard of it, minimal-intervention wine bars with better snacks than most restaurants, and unique beer courtyards. Surry Hills has a bar for every mood and drink preference. Here’s our top 10.
Most publicans try to evoke the taverns of yore in their decor, or at least nod to it. With its graffitied and intentionally “unfinished” interior, The Dolphin looks like the pub of an avant garde, lightly dystopian future, albeit one in which the pizza is good and the wine is funky and natural. But hey, it works. 412 Crown St, Surry Hills.
The second venue by Rob Sloan and Tim Philips of top-notch Sydney bar Bulletin Place, Dead Ringer has the delightfully creative cocktails of its sibling, and there’s an evolving and sharp wine list and all-local collection of beer and cider, plus a seasonal food menu. It’s a shoe-box sized 45-seater room, making it feel very much like a neighbourhood bar in the city. Dead Ringer is whatever you want it to be – neighbourhood restaurant, boozy brunch spot, after-work hangout. 413 Bourke St, Surry Hills.
The younger sibling of celebrated Ester in Chippendale, Poly combines the clever, honest food of chef Mat Lindsay with a seriously impressive wine list. While Marrickville’s Wildflower beer flows on tap, it’s really about the wine here, which are mostly European, often biodynamic and natural, and always good with the food (and with the Paramount Hotel upstairs, you know where to go when the vino takes over). The interior is unpolished and raw, wine bottles lining one wall, big windows to the street, and an open kitchen housing all the flame-heavy action in the corner. 74-76 Commonwealth St, Surry Hills. polysurryhills.com.au
Once upon a time, before the modern world forced us moviegoers to pay a premium to sit stiffly in synthetic chairs encrusted with ancient popcorn, the cinema exuded glamour and romance. The bar inside Golden Age Cinema on Commonwealth Street does just that, providing cushy banquettes to sink into and enjoy a well-made Negroni (you can stock up on single-serve bottles to take home while you’re there), served with a neat brick of good ice while discussing your favourite auteur. 80 Commonwealth St, Surry Hills.
The Porteno crew moved their Latin-leaning Bodega into their Wyno wine bar in 2019, just behind their Argentinian restaurant Porteño. Wyno x Bodega retains the bottle shop side of the enterprise, the shelves running the length of the slender room, while the famous mural now features in segments on the opposite wall. This is moody, smelly, snacky, European-style drinking food at its best: sardines, anchovies and crisps, small pastas and sausages from LP’s Quality Meats. Wines are excellent, featuring lots of natural and Italian drops. 4/50 Holt St, Surry Hills.
Named after Tristian Rosier’s grandmother, Jane is a neighbourhood restaurant and bar where the food and drinks come with a generous helping of nostalgia. Central to the dining room is a marble bar adorned with flower tiles, where you can order a mint slice cocktail by former Bulletin Place and Re bartender, Evan Stroeve. The wine list, curated by Arthur and Jane sommelier, Kyle Reno Lenci, focuses on small, cult producers with 80 options by the bottle and 25 by the glass. No booking? No worries. Just like at your own grandmother’s house, you can turn up unannounced. Jane welcomes walk-ins with open arms. 478 Bourke St, Surry Hills.
Tio’s Cervecería, the older sibling of Cantina OK!, is all about the after-work vibes. Communal tables, a couple of booths, loud tunes and cold beers. Fun, colourful and noisy, the capable bartenders at Tio’s can whip up any cocktail on your mind, including a variety of margaritas. Also, the spicy popcorn is free and does a great job of prepping your palate. Another margarita? 4/14 Foster St, Surry Hills.
A good-time Irish bar set against walls of exposed brick and a lot of bottles. Drinks are all listed as light, medium or heavy, and cocktails include classics like the Aviation or the less obvious Kilpatrick Bloody Mary made with bacon-washed vodka. The star is of course whiskey, supported by an ensemble of rotating international beers. 75 Campbell St, Surry Hills.
A yakitori bar as good as anything you will find in Japan, but with cocktails spanning a yuzu spritz – vodka, yuzu juice, sake and orange – and a Japanese negroni – Roku Gin, Campari, Punt e Mes sweet vermouth, orange umeshu (plum wine) – as well as an excellent beer list. This small bar houses one of Australia’s biggest Japanese whisky collections, including some rare bottles. Add a date or some good friends, and you’re set for hours. Commonwealth St & Belmore Ln, Surry Hills.
You’ll get pretty quickly that this bar is a tribute to the divisive, grungy, 1980s Italian rock n’ roll star, Vasco Rossi, as his name and face are plastered throughout. The cocktails are more elegant than the aesthetic of the place, and actually Vasco is as much a nod to refined aperitif and Italian food as anything else. There’s an extensive menu of gnocchis worth exploring. 421 Cleveland St, Surry Hills.
