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Marys- Bar- Newtown

Mary’s is a cool Sydney bar - you enter through a small dimly lit hall from the street and you are in Mary’s in very cool Newtown. This bar comes with expertise to boot from Gardels and Bodega. Mary’s can deliver sermons to other bars on how to get that mix right, just add :

+ 1 part great location

+ 1 part the coolest staff this side Brooklyn, NY

+ 1 part good mix of beers, wine & cocktails and food by ex Tetsuya’s head chef Luke Powell

+ 1 part of worshippers that look as if they come from a Fleet Foxes concert or a Rick Owens Paris runway show.

and then turn it all up loud with the best music sliding between folk and hard rock- ‘Andrew Bird’ for reference.

The above recipe is easy as- try it sometime!

View from street - Marys - cool sydney bars - newtown

Looking straight at Marys

Mary Street in Newtown was as boring as a church mouse, but now it’s got good stuff going on with Mary’s, and a following of worshippers that like the fact that this is not for boys in pink polo shirts and girls who listen to Mr J Bieber, and the favourite word is “AWESOME”.

Luschia Porter mural

The four walls looks like it started life as a Greek church or Mosanic Hall, but there’s not much left of the Masons here, apart from the wooden floors and soaring ceiling. Hallelujah for scale in “Houses of Worship”.

Marys Bar - cool sydney bars - newtown - sydneycool

Downstairs – Marys Bar

Downstairs is a long bar with some stools, standing room and a kitchen beyond that. The middle area has a couple of low tables and space for standing and chatting when it fills up later in the night and this place does – there are more high stools and small tables along the wall. At the end of the room, there are stairs that take you up to the mezzanine floor which is more geared for some nice food, sexy cocktails and telling the one you love what you got planned for later! or just a good old gossip session with friends. The murals on the walls by Luschia Porter – including a slayer logo.

Mezzanine floor at Marys

There’s a whole range of beers, on tap and bottled. On tap there’s Young Henry’s Newtowner from the local Newtown micro brewery, Resch’s and Carlton red and black. We went for the Young Henry’s – a bitter style draught that went down well with the help of a whisky chaser of Laphroaig. In the bottled beers, the picks are Peroni Red and Budweiser.

Young Henrys - Marys Bar - cool sydney bars - Mary St newtown - sydneycool

Young Henrys on tap – Marys Bar

The wines – more like you’d see in a modern Sydney restaurant – white and reds from US, France, Italy and Argentina and sparklings – blanc de blancs and cremant including a Clotilde cremant and Perriier Jouet. And then there are exciting cocktails to temp you to sip and sway to some folk rock.

Ex Tetsuya‘s head chef Luke Powell is the chef behind the food, the offerings on the menu are small and tight but this is easy bar food – and very good. We tried the ‘Mary burger’ – perfect and comes with great fries and chilli sauce if you want to turn up the heat. We didn’t but try the Southern inspired deep fried chicken but be assured with Luke at the helm you are in to win.

Luschia Porter Slayer mural

This bar is so cool – in a great space, best music, drinks and food that work together, the right staff that make it all look easy. Love Mary’s bar Newtown Sydney !

Mary’s

6 Mary St, Newtown, Sydney 2042

Colin Fassnidge- 4 Fourteen Restaurant- 414

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Colin Fassnidge – chef, family man, motorbike rider and tweeter extraordinaire! – although of late, his tweets have somewhat turned towards the niceties of daily things in life and less of the hot Irish blood that runs through his veins.

Colin Fassnidge – Dublin born Irish chef arrived in this fair land in 1999, with stints at that very cool fine dining Est restaurant in Sydney CBD and at Banc. In 2004/5 he started at Four in Hand pub restaurant in Paddington and in a short time it became the very good ‘Four in Hand Restaurant’ with a very nice local pub next door. His philosophy on food being that classic ‘nose to tail’ thinking, which is that of many a great chef around the world – Colin Fassnidge has gone on to be embraced as one of Sydney’s, if not Australia’s, chefs to watch!

Colin Fassnidge - 4 Fourteen Restaurant - Four in Hand - Surry Hills - cool Sydney restaurant

Chef Colin Fassnidge

Colin Fassnidge and business partner Joe Saleh now have Four in Hand, Paddington Arms and the latest 4 Fourteen Restaurant in Surry Hills sydney, which in 18 months has become one of Sydney’s “IT” restaurants to be seen in!

Menu at 4Fourteen Restaurant - Colin Fassnidge - cool Surry Hills Sydney restaurant

The menu cover at 4Fourteen

But on a serious note the “IT” restaurant thing is a lot of bull shit! It’s because he’s a great chef with a dedicated and talented team around him, like Head Chef and business partner Carla Jones. But the key has to be great cooking in a well run kitchen in a well run restaurant and to date a well run business and all this has to be led by a chef that has what it takes and Colin Fassnidge has got that. Someone once said that Fassnidge was not media savvy – that really made me laugh out loud, as great chefs know just how to work the media and when. Anyway that has changed somewhat in recent times – with his prominence on ‘My Kitchen Rules’ on Channel 7 which airs 7 March – to name one in a handful of media appearances.

The Food at 414 Restaurant:

Ham hock croquettes - 4Fourteen - Colin Fassnidge - cool Sydney restaurant

Ham hock and cheese croquettes, mustard creme fraiche

Ham Hock and Cheese Croquette, Mustard Crème Fraîche – small bits of ham encassed with cheese in croquettes alongside a tear drop scoop of mustard creme fraiche.

Black pudding - 4Fourteen - Colin Fassnidge - cool Sydney restaurant

Black pudding, proscuitto, apple sauce

Black Pudding, Prosciutto, Apple Sauce – soft luscious black pudding – with hints of dark chocolate and chorizo coming through to balance the minerality of the black pudding – layered on the proscuitto and fine batons of apple.

Citrus cured cobia - 4Fourteen - Colin Fassnidge - cool Sydney restaurant

Citrus cured cobia, frozen fennel

Citrus Cured Cobia, Frozen Fennel and Celery – pieces of sashimi cobia ( known as well as black kingfish) with celery leaves, braised celery sticks and topped with shaved frozen fennel juice. This was such a delightful dish to look at and even better to taste. It showed a lighter more modern take on Fassnidge’s repetoire.

Ocean trout - 4Fourteen - Colin Fassnidge - cool Sydney restaurant

Ocean trout, white beans, fennel

Ocean Trout, Citrus Stock, White Beans, Fennel and kale. We chose the celeriac as accompaniment – cooked 3 Ways – the smoothest of puree, pure smokiness of the baked celeriac with a fluffy white inside and paper thin strips of fried celeriac.

Celeriac 3 ways

Interior 4Fourteen - Colin Fassnidge - cool Surry Hills Sydney restaurant

Interior at 4Fourteen

For dessert – Pain d’epices with fresh figs and ginger beer sorbet

Fresh figs and ginger beer sorbet

4Fourteen Restaurant delivers a warm welcome, sharp attentive service from knowledgeable staff, well cooked food and an interesting wine list – and they can really make a mean Bloody Mary.

Food: 7/10

Presentation: 7/10

Service: 9/10

Wine list: 8/10

4Fourteen Restaurant

414 Bourke St, Surry Hills 2010

4Fourteen Website

The Wild Rover bar- Sydney

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‘The Wild Rover’ – well, this was one hell of a long wait for one of Grandmas’ kids. It felt like a year in the making but The Wild Rover bar is most definitely open and it really is a cool Sydney bar. Grandmas Bar gave the cool Sydney bar scene a kick on how to harness what it takes to create not just a formula bar but to give it that cool factor. The team behind Grandmas is looking for The Wild Rover to do the same, and we will put some money on that!

The Wild Rover - Surry Hills - cool Sydney bars - Sydney cool

The infamous green door entrance

Day 1 and sydneycool went along to give this new Irish offshoot a test run. The Wild Rover is located in the part of old industrial Sydney where wholesale businesses did their trade. The front of the building has been left as is – out front there’s the sign that reflects its past – Gestetner’s Surry Hills Shirt Warehouse. And you never know what lies behind this very ordinary shop front until you open the heavy wooden door.

Wild Rover - Surry Hills - cool Sydney bars - sydneycool - son of Grandmas Bar

Wild Rover bar

But once inside the warm feel of a local Irish pub with its comfy chairs, tables and large banquettes beckon you to sit back and relax. Or be one of the lads or gals and sit at the bar and discuss the day’s woes. And upstairs has a lighter and brighter look with large windows letting natural light flood – making this a perfect spot to spend a Sunday afternoon on a rainy winters day.

The Wild Rover - cool Sydney bars - Surry Hills - sydneycool

Rail indicator boards give you the rundown on beers and whiskies

With a nod to heritage Sydney – the old State Rail train indicator boards displaying the list of beers and whiskies, nice!

Wild Rover - cool Sydney bars - Surry Hills - sydneycool - son of Grandmas Bar

The ground floor bar and entrance

We like the way the guys at The Wild Rover have set out what they believe when it comes to drinks. They tell us their credo is “focussing on the flavour of what your’e enjoying, not simply the ingredients” There’s a whole variety of draught and bottled beers – great to see some NSW brewed beers. We tried the 4 Pines Stout, brewed locally in Manly, a dry Irish style stout – or like a Guinness “light” – OUCH! that will hurt if you are Irish.

The Wild Rover Surry Hills - cool Sydney bars - sydneycool bars

Draught beers on tap

The Wild Rover re-discovers some long lost classic cocktails as well as introducing some of their own. A list of cellar reserve wines including French and local champagnes (sic). And of course, there’s whisky – some rare and hard to source whiskies and Irish whiskies like Connemara from the west coast of Ireland.

The Wild Rover | cool Sydney bars Surry Hills - sydneycool bars

The cocktail list

The bar food keeps the wolf from the door – like spicy lamb sausage rolls and freshly shucked oysters from Coffin Bay, and the word on the ground is in the near future “live music on Sundays” – here’s hoping.

Wild Rover Surry Hills Sydney - cool Sydney bars - sydneycool bars

Upstairs banquette seating

The Wild Rover is the newest cool Sydney bar and we really like the place, the service and the drinks. But above all it feels real and not like all the glossy theme park bars that have been popping up all over this fair land.

The Wild Rover

75 Campbell St Surry Hills Sydney

Kuki Tanuki Sake Bar-cool Japanese

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Kuki Tanuki Japanese bar in Erskineville is cool and has a young vibe with a broad take on Japanese bar food. It’s great to see some Japanese small bars springing up out of nowhere, as Sydney has been slow on the Japanese bar uptake.

Hideaki Matsumoto (Matsu) – chef

The place – a fairly non-descript building in the Erskineville shops – but that changes to cool Tokyo street style inside. Some large tables at the rear of this narrow room with a street art mural on the walls, along with vintage looking Japanese beer ads. And at the front, some low tables, seating on crates, plus a few tables outside on the street.

Kuki Tanuki - cool Sydney bar - Erskineville - sydneycool - Japanese sake bar

Interior – Kuki Tanuki Erskineville

Interior - Kuki Tanuki - cool Sydney bar - Erskineville

Street art mural – Kuki Tanuki

Drinks – the whole gambut of sakes, Japanese beers, Japanese plum wines and cocktails. We liked how the drinks menu had some explanation of sake and how it is made. It’s not the most interesting wine list we’ve seen, but Kuki Tanuki is a winner in sake and beers.

Sapporo beer – Kuki Tanuki

Sashimi

Food – some classic Japanese dishes with some new bar style food additions like the tanuki mini burger ($8). kushiyaki yakitori ($8) – three skewers of large, juicy and generous pieces of chicken – nice easy eating.

Kuki Tanuki - cool Sydney bars - Erskineville - sydneycool - Japanese sake bar

Bar area – Kuki Tanuki

We also tried the curry crumbed squid ($8) – succulent pieces of squid with the with roast garlic mayo, the curry tasted like curry powder in the panko crumbs again easy eating when you are in a bar.

Curry crumbed squid - Kuki Tanuki - cool Sydney bar

Curry crumbed squid with roast garlic mayo

The agedashi tofu was silky tofu in a light broth with rounded flavours. But on this day, it was the assorted sashimi that was the highlight – the fish was fresh and clean tasting served with fresh ginger on a large leaf over ice ($15). The tofu and beetroot salad ($13) was also good. We asked the barperson for a sake to match with our food – and it was on the money.

agedahsi-tofu - Kuki Tanuki - cool Sydney bar - Erskineville

Agedashi tofu

Tofu and beetroot salad

Kuki Tanuki Japanese Bar is a very relaxed and casual place, great bar to meet friends after work and have a drink. It’s a cool Sydney bar with good food, they have just introduced their autumn menue, so check that out as well. Open Tuesday to Friday from 5pm till late and Saturday and Sunday from 12pm – late.

Kuki Tanuki

61 Erskineville Road, Erskineville Sydney 2043

Kuki Tanuki Website

Monopole Bar

in Cool Bars, Cool Restaurants | 1 Comment

Brand spanking new Monopole joins the rubbing of shoulders with some very cool Sydney restaurants and bars to open in Potts Point – like The Apollo and Roosevelt.

Chef Brent Savage and sommelier Nick Hildebrandt who’ve created Bentley Restaurant and Bar have now brought its quality to Potts Point. This is a bar with good food. But as explained to us, they wanted to create a place to drop in and have a drink. There’s no bar at this end of Macleay St, Potts Point – now that Lotus restaurant/ bar has been transformed into The Fish Shop in nearby Challis Ave.

The space – the bar and kitchen on one side as you enter – seating and tables line the wall on the opposite. The room has a dark warm ambience and a modern feel – all cleverly delivered by architect Pascal Gomes-McNabb.

We started with a couple of glasses of wine from their impressive collection of 500 plus wines – a sparkling Domaine du Moulin Vin de Table Bulle Rose – from winemakers in the north of the Loire Valley in France producing natural and organic wines. The rose surprised – more complex than a champagne rose with very fine bubbles and a great match with our food the grilled scampi with hazelnut butter. The sweetness and smooth texture of the white flesh of the scampi balanced with the hazelnut.

The other wine which we asked our somilier to suggest was – Domaine Lucci Noir de Florette from Lucy Margaux in the Adelaide Hills – matched with marinated and grilled pork neck with charred baby cucumbers, The pork neck was cut into three small strips which was crunchy on the skin and the flesh was very moist and quite smoky. This wine was also a natural wine – many of the wines on the 500 plus list are organic, bio-dynamic and preservative free. It was exciting to try some wines we had not tried before.

We love that you can choose 30 wines not only by the glass but also by the carafe – a great balance between single glass but not a full bottle. This is one of those wine traditions that we should pick up more from Europe in particular France and Italy, we think it is slowly starting to happen. The Food: a bit more care placed on the food presentation, but its early days at Monopole.

Next we tried a South African chenin blanc – again a natural wine. This again surprised – not the dry notes of a French chenin blanc – more of a fruity start leading to residual sweetness with unexpected latter notes.

To finish – we went for the nectarine sorbet which was velvety and light – luscious pieces of fresh nectarine with minute meringue halves, caramel and a crumble dust scattered about the plate. A deconstruction going on here and it was good.

Monopole is a wine bar with good food – the menu is well chosen and works well with this interesting collection of wines and will be a good addition to Sydney’s cool bar/restaurant scene.

Go for; Very Interesting wines that you can try by the glass. Good food and a chic cool modern space

Don’t go for; Quiet romantic – it gets loud as it fills up.

Monopole

71A Macleay Street, Potts Point 2011, Sydney

Monopole Website

Vasco Bar-Surry Hills-Sydney

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Vasco Bar in Cleveland St, Surry Hills is the latest cool Sydney bar – location wise, Cleveland St is not the place that immediately jumps to mind for a cool bar but maybe that’s changing?

But Vasco has a strong bar heritage – Max comes most recently from Eau De Vie and Luke from Roosevelt and it shows in their professionalism not in the style of this bar. Vasco is quite a different bar – the cocktail list, cool bar food like Italian hot dogs – this is young, loud with great service, a handshake and smile – very Italian.

Just when you think every bar theme has already been done to death in Sydney – along comes Vasco to prove you wrong. This place is young at heart and very local – sit at tables with high stools, at the bar or on couches. Music is the theme here, in particular rock. Vasco Bar is an homage to Vasco, the Italian rock star from the 80’s – this could easily be his image painted on the wall as you enter. There are old vinyl record covers all around the bar – and not just rock – e.g. Richard Clayderman, Max Bygraves. There’s a whole wall of Ross Halfin photos of famous musicians on stage.

The drinks – inventive cocktails as well as the classics, also beers and wine. One of the favourites of the house has got to be the Campari shots – a very Vasco Bar drink. Always like to try a house cocktail – and this time it’s a“Hendrix Experience” – we were hoping for a reference to Jimmy??? – Hendriks gin, lillet blanc, frangolino. Perfect for pre-dinner – perhaps a little too lingering sweetness at the end.

A cool as touch – the cocktail list printed on the inside of old 45 record covers.

Vasco Bar is the perfect mix of hip cool and very friendly – this is the Sydney bar to check out. It’s open 7 days till midnight, love it!

Vasco Bar

421 Cleveland St Surry Hills Sydney 2010

Paddington Arms Hotel-Dining

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The restaurant at the Paddington Arms Hotel in Oxford St Paddington is one of Sydney’s coolest hotel Dining restaurants. No schnitzel or chicken parmagiana pub food – Paddington Arms restaurant delivers brilliant food presented with the expertise of Colin Fassnidge and the team at Paddo Arms.

The place – you walk through this new fitted out bar with some modern touches – a large pair of leather sofas frame a fireplace, exposed sand stone and brick work and very comfy large booths. It’s modern – with a touch of its Paddington heritage as an original pub.

The food – this is a very well run kitchen and it shows in the menu – updated classic pub food – fish and chips with mushy peas, burgers and ploughman’s lunch with a good mix of some innovative, exciting additions. You can also choose from the grazing menu, so you can eat light if you want – small dishes like Alaskan Crab, shaved fennel and pickled lemon, beetroots, serrano ham and bread salad, crispy pigs tail, celeriac remoulade and apple sauce.

We went for lunch during the Paddington Food Fusion event at Paddington Markets for the Crave Food Festival as part of “Visit Paddington” promotion. For mains, we chose very well – braised lamb shoulder, french peas and mint sauce sitting on wilted lettuce and small white onions. The lamb from the “Riverina” area had a sweet, rich deep taste, from the caramelisation and slow cooking – such good quality lamb comes from southern NSW. Our other main was pan roasted tuna with spring vegetables and tarragon – cooked perfectly pink and moist in the middle with crisp golden edges from the pan roasting in butter, simple with fresh tarragon. This was some of the best cooked tuna we’ve had.

Dessert – ‘Maltesers” deconstructed from the original Maltesers we all know and love, a chocolate mousse with small sweet crunches folded through, a slice of praline on top and shards of broken honeycomb reaching upwards all dusted with bitter cocoa powder. Superb!

My espresso was served with a perfect square of the darkest chocolate petit fours.

Paddington Arms Hotel restaurant is a winner – a cool Paddington, Sydney hotel bistro. Check out the Paddington area and while you’re there check out this place.

Go for= great food in a relaxed atmosphere, sharp but casual service

Don’t Go= for white table clothes and a dressed up look.

Paddington Arms Hotel Restaurant

394 Oxford St Paddington NSW 2021

sydneycool rating ♥♥♥

Paddington Arms Hotel Restaurant Website

Grain Bar at Four Seasons Hotel – Sydney

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Grain Bar at Four Seasons Hotel had us intrigued as to why all the fuss when it opened a while ago. Everyone was saying that they can’t wait to get there – our expectations were high for this bar !

Don’t want to sound like a spoiler, BUT! This is just another hotel bar. It is not a bar like Eau de Vie which has a intimate, sexy feel or Black Bar at The Star where elegance and service is the call of the day or maybe Baxter Inn, York St CBD where they proud to carry the largest whisky selection, or again some of the very classy hotels bars in London and NYC.

But having said all of that it is a smart looking hotel bar – floor staff that are trying hard but not there yet – well stocked shelves and a small number of hard to find whiskies, combined with tasty and good looking bar food.

Now to the real business – WHISKY - I asked one of the waiters about some of my favourite whiskies and if they carry them and I was told that they would get some-one who knew whiskies to come over and have a chat. In minutes he arrived at our table introduced himself and asked if he could have a seat (we loved that personal touch, his name was John ) and inquired about what we were interested in. He was very knowledgeable about whiskies. He then made some suggestions and I got to try this very interesting whisky from Japan, perfect service and we loved that again !

Japan over the years has steadily built up a very strong whisky making tradition. We normally think of Scotland – and that is the true home of some of the best whiskies in the world like – Lagavulin – but Japan is up there now. John recommended three Japanese whiskies – I went for Nikka – this comes from the barrel and tips the scale at 51.4% proof. It’s a Yoichi twice matured blend – the nose is quite sherried – but this whisky is big-boned and bursting with character.

The bar food menu is interesting with some of what you will expect but with some nice surprises. We opted for the fish burger with fries – it was a good fish burger, the bun was superb and the fish had a crunch on the outside with flaky white flesh, lots of flavour. The fries were perfect.

Grain Bar is a newcomer to the Sydney hotel bar scene and a good addition to the Circular Quay bar scene. We liked the whisky and the very knowledgeable barman, John who was cool as – Grain Bar really worth a visit.

Grain Bar at Four Seasons

199 George St Sydney NSW 2000

Grain Bar Website

World’s Best 50 Bar list-3 Cool Sydney Bars in

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The World’s 50 Best Bars list for 2012 is just out – and it’s fantastic to see three cool Sydney Bars up there with the world’s best. Baxter Inn, Eau de Vie and newcomer Palmer and Co made the best 50 list.

Baxter Inn, a Sydneycool favourite, is in at no. 7 on the 50 Best Bar list. Brought to us by the Shady Pines team, this bar has the largest range of whiskies in Sydney, well made cocktails and a location and space that puts intrigue into going for a drink. Baxter Inn also won Best Bar in Asia Pacific and Highest New Entry.

Palmer & Co, the new bar from the Establishment group and Justin Hemmes, made the list at no. 21. Palmer and Co is alongside the Establishment in Abercrombie Lane, Sydney CBD.

One of first cool Sydney small bars – Eau de Vie comes in at no 25. Eau de Vie is no stranger to the 50 Best Bar list from last year – the space and service and, of course, drinks speak for themselves. One of sydneycool’s top 5 bars.

Making to the ones to watch list in the World’s 50 Best Bars 2013 is Shady Pines, the other cool Sydney bar from Anton Forte and Jason Scott – the duo responsible for the Baxter Inn.

Check out these cool Sydney bars – and see why they’re in the World’s 50 Best Bar list. Drinks International, who run the awards say ‘Sydney is fast becoming one of the most exciting drinks cities in the world’ – we know why!

PS Congratulations to Black Pearl from Melbourne no: 17.

Crave International Food Festival- cool Sydney food

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One of the sydney cool food highlights of the year – Crave International Food Festival starts October 1. This year, there are hundreds of individual events.

We always enjoy that Sydney institution – the Night Noodle Markets – over 13 nights. Also World Chef Showcase is always worth a look – and this year, former local boys Jason Atherton from Pollen Street Social and David Thompson from Nahm both in London as well as the respected and world renowed Antonio Carluccio. The lineup continues with some local icons – Matt Moran from Aria and Chiswick, Mark Best from Marque and Alessandro Pavoni from Ormeggio at the Spit, Mosman in Sydney.

This year, we’re checking out the Talks and Thoughts – especially the session – Food writing and reading in a multi-platform world – where next? with David Chang from Momofuku.

And for the Showcase Dinners – Sydneycool has picked The Celtic Tiger Returns – for one night only – Sunday 7th October at 4Fourteen Restaurant. Four chefs collaborating to produce a six-course degustation with dishes and flavours that are reminiscent of their Celtic background. From Sydney Colin Fassnidge and Carla Jones from 4Fourteen and Four in Hand. with Andrew McConnell and John Paul Twomey from Cutler&Co and Cumulis Inc, from Melbourne, very exciting.