Tiger Tales

It’s A Small World

Sydney’s liquor laws have loosened and small bars are opening up all over town. Julietta Jameson goes poking down laneways and into hidden corners to find the best new drinking dens. Photography by Daniel Boud

THE FALCONER

Owners: Chris Cobb, Jack Sheen and Ben Ward
Where: 31 Oxford St, Darlinghurst
Capacity: 50
What to drink: Beer and wine
When to come: If you’re after a local vibe, Wednesdays to Fridays are busiest.
Who drinks here: Music lovers and cool folk who dig the quirk. The boys have an extensive vinyl collection.

NAME THIS BAR

Owners: Simon Mercier and Agnes Kumaina
Where: 197 Oxford St, Darlinghurst
Capacity: 120
What to drink: Tiger beer, one of two brands on tap, and a pomegranate kiss cocktail – a vodka, pomegranate liqueur and Chambord concoction.
When to come: Some Wednesday nights are art exhibition nights and there’s free wine.
Who drinks here: Artists who leave sketches on the walls, and arty sorts who like the ramshackle vibe. TV personality James Mathison and his mates have dropped by.

POCKET BAR

Owners: Karl Schlothauer & Christophe Lehoux
Where: 13 Burton St, Darlinghurst
Capacity: 60 What to drink: Bramble, a short gin-based cocktail
When to come: Wednesday and Thursday nights to beat the weekend traffic
Who drinks here: Mostly 25- to 40-year-old creative types. “We have a 21-plus policy so no kiddies,” says Karl, who has recently spied swimmer Geoff Huigell, film director Baz Luhrmann and members of the Australian soccer team, the Socceroos, at the bar.

STICKY BAR

Owner: Michael Fantuz
Where: Level 2, 182 Campbell St, Surry Hills
Capacity: 60
What to drink: “The cocktail list changes every day,” says Michael. “We do four feature cocktails every night: one with a sparkling wine, one a refreshing cocktail, as well as a cocktail served up and a sour.”
When to come: From 9pm–11pm. That’s the crowd who want to kick back with some music or enjoy an after-dinner drink.
Who drinks here: 25- to 45-year-old creative, self-employed and confident folk

For years, Sydney’s night owls looked longingly south as Melbourne‘s 19th-century layout, European vibe and sensible licensing laws spawned a wonderland of bespoke bars catering to everyone from hipsters to rockers, disco kids to geeks. To go bar hopping in Melbourne is to embark on an odyssey into the new and surprising. It seems as if some cool new space serving great wine and cocktails opens every other week. On the other hand, bar enthusiasts in Sydney had to choose between sprawling pubs full of TVs and poker machines and expensively fitted-out glamour clubs where the prices are high and the crowds enormous. If you wanted to serve liquor in Sydney you had to pay dearly for the privilege. And to make that pay, you had to pack in the punters. But something’s happening in the harbour city, something not seen since the speakeasy scene of the 1930s, when sly grog shops opened up in clandestine, underground fashion. Those places sprang up thanks to draconian liquor laws. The new wave of small bar openings in Sydney is due to – sing hallelujah! – a relaxation of the laws. The woman driving the changes, Sydney’s urbane Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, loves the fruits of her labour so much, she recently cut the ribbon at one of the newcomers, Absinthesalon on the CBD rim in Surry Hills. Needless to say, no one is suggesting that Sydney is ready to rival Melbourne when it comes to small bars. But there is no denying that change is in the air. “Sydney is a sophisticated city, and it needs venues that have style and individuality,” says Clover. “Absinthesalon is what I had in mind when I worked with the small-bar campaign to reform the liquor act – intimate spaces that provide an alternative to the large beer barns, where the company and conversation can be enjoyed.”

Clearly, a lot of people in Sydney share her vision and there has been considerable activity in the scene. “Since the July 2008 legislative changes which made running a small bar feasible, the city has approved over 20 small bars across the local government area,” she says, adding that this is “extraordinary progress in just 18 months.”

The Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing has approved double that and is considering an additional 20 bars. The new joints, owned by young entrepreneurs, barmen with passion or people looking to break into the market – Absinthesalon’s owners were importers before they became bar owners – can be found in the CBD and the hip inner suburbs of Darlinghurst and Surry Hills in the east, and in Erskineville and Newtown in the west.

The Falconer is one of a number of hybrid bar/restaurants that happily allow patrons to forgo the food. Set in a 1950’s café with the same booths and layout as the original eatery, only with plusher upholstery he describes as a “third space”. “We’ve got our offices, and our homes and in this part of Sydney not a lot of us live in flash homes, so it’s important to have that great third space where you can go and just be.”

The music at the bar, along with the décor and the bar’s sheer simplicity, create a retro-relaxed vibe that attracts Sydney’s cool crowd (that’s really cool, not just trying to be cool) and Jack couldn’t be happier.

“You’d have to be a bit left of centre to come into a joint like this. It’s got all the wood and the neon out front and that kind of weeds out people who don’t get it,” he says. Another Oxford Street oasis is Name This Bar, so designated because – as of this writing – it hasn’t yet been formally christened. There’s an online competition to name it and the bar has graffiti-covered walls where patrons have offered suggestions. “We had our eye on the property for ages, then suddenly we were in business,” says co-owner Agnes Kumaina of the reason for the missing moniker.

Agnes, along with business partner Simon Mercier, previously managed the über-fashionable White Horse Hotel on Crown Street in Surry Hills. She says they had lots of ideas that they couldn’t use at the White Horse “because of the demographic” so they decided to do their own thing. “When we opened we moved quickly so the place became furnished with stuff from our houses, things we found,” she says. “People loved it and it’s still evolving.” Agnes describes the place as “non-pretentious. You get people in suits and guys in shorts and thongs. We don’t care. But it’s a very creative crowd – lots of artists who draw on our walls. And we have exhibitions and art competitions which attract them.”

Small Bar in the CBD was opened by the appropriately-named Chris Lane. His place spills out onto a laneway that, though historic and protected, was decidedly under-utilised. Enter via Erskine Street and be prepared for three storeys of conviviality in a skinny Victorian terrace. With that overspill into the backyard, it’s like going to a house party, only with a very good bar in place of the living room.

Right next door is Balcony Bar, boasting pretty much the same format – the buildings have identical layouts – and sunny staff members who will carry your drinks down the steep stairs to the terrace if it’s too intimidating to try it yourself. The décor is low-key, and that’s Balcony’s calling card. It’s a casual, comfortable place that let’s you, not the decorations, do the talking.

Other entrepreneurs have gone all out to create something evocative, like the owners of Absinthesalon, Joop van Heausden and Gaye Valttila. The interior of their bar, located in a charming little converted shop and residence on a corner in Surry Hills, was inspired by French art nouveau. Offering nothing but absinthe (if you don’t count water and nibbles) they serve the once taboo drink traditionally over a spoon and sugar cube in cut-crystal-like glasses. It’s a reflection of their passion – the duo continues to import absinthe.

This correlation between an owner‘s tastes and the venue itself is typical of the best of Sydney’s new bars. Says Michael Fantuz, owner of the standout, Sticky Bar, “Our space is quite odd but still a little bit sexy and I think people like that. I’ve been doing this all my life. It’s what I love doing. You should do things that are a reflection of you and who you are. All my guys have had input into how the place looks and feels.”

Sticky is truly one of a kind, a hard-to-find sixty-seater with mismatched furnishings and walls covered in blackboards featuring an Italian-skewed wine list. And there’s always something fun going on. “We’re always evolving. What are we going to do different tonight? What are we going to do this season? That’s what we’re always asking ourselves,” says Michael.

At Sticky Bar, live music emanates from Michael’s restaurant below, the equally bespoke Table for 20. Trademarks include no cocktail list – “If there’s a classic my guys can make it anyway. There’s no point in being a barman if you need a cocktail list, in my opinion,” says Michael – and a midnight closing time. “The reality is that nothing good happens after midnight in a city that has a binge-drinking culture.

So the idea is to make our customers feel good, appreciate the drinks you make and serve and after that, well, they can go to other places.” Other highlights of the new scene include Pocket in Darlinghurst, where there’s a “no-posers policy”, but you’ll still see an Australian Idol contestant or two. Pocket reflects its French owners’ heritage by serving crêpes.

In the same vein of owner-inspired uniqueness, Low 302’s Aref Jaroudy decided to address what he saw as a dearth of good eating in Sydney in the wee hours – his place serves sustenance until 2am. But Low is more about a slamming cocktail list carried out expertly by one of Sydney’s finest mixologists and dark, sexy surrounds. The music – live on Sundays – is blues, rock and jazz. This is a no doof-doof zone.

“We attract a lot of musos and production people because of the late eating,” says Aref. “But it’s a really eclectic mix that comes here. The other night we had an eighteenth birthday party and a fiftieth on the same night. By the end, they were all mingling.”

That’s sweet for Aref, who lived in New York’s East Village and took inspiration from the neighbourhood joints he loved there. “You could say we’re like the Statue of Liberty. We welcome everyone.”

Just down the road on the other side of Oxford Street is one of Sydney’s newest small bars, the kooky Shady Pines Saloon, a little bit of cowboy country where they play Johnny Cash and serve whiskey.

Over on the other side of town in Erskineville, The Hive Bar is a great place for music. The Wednesday night Vinyl Club invites patrons to bring their favourite records in for a spin and Sundays are all about reggae. The walls are covered with works by established and emerging artists.

And this is all just for starters. At the rate Sydney’s new small bars are opening, you’ll likely be able to find twice as many before the year is out.

LITTLE BLACK BOOK: SYDNEY’S BEST SMALL BARS

* STICKY BAR, Level 2, 182 Campbell St, Surry Hills, tel: +61 (0)416 096 916  

* SMALL BAR, 48 Erskine St, tel: +61  
(0)2 9279 0782, www.smallbar.net.au  

* BALCONY BAR, 46 Erskine St, tel: +61 (0)2 9299 8821, www.balconybar. com.au  

* SHADY PINES SALOON, 256 Crown St, Darlinghurst  

* ABSINTHESALON, 87 Albion St, Surry Hills, tel: +61 (0)2 9211 6632, www.absinthesalon.com.au  

* POCKET, 13 Burton St, Darlinghurst, tel: +61 (0)2 9380 7002, www.. pocketsydney.com.au

* LOW 302, 302 Crown St, Darlinghurst, tel: +61 (0)2 9368 1548, www.low302.com.au  

* THE HIVE BAR, 93 Erskineville Rd, Erskineville, tel: +61 (0)2 9519 9911, www.thehivebar.com.au  

* FICO WINE BAR, 544 Bourke St, Surry Hills, tel: +61 (0)2 9699 2133  

* THE FALCONER, 31 Oxford St, Darlinghurst, tel: +61 (0)2 9267 8434  

* MILLE VINI, 397 Crown St, Surry Hills, tel: +61 (0)2 9357 3366  

* NAME THIS BAR, 197 Oxford St, Darlinghurst, tel: +61 (0)416 649 156, www.namethisbar.com.au

For more bars, visit www.timeout.com/sydney