Decidedly cool. Chill out at one of the Victoria Street cafes. Back street art galleries. Liverpool Street. Concept stores. Burton Street. Chic eateries. Stanley Street. This leafy inner city suburb offers stunning residential streetscape. A pocket of pulsating options, the streets come alive at night. Convenient location. Colourful characters. Constantly evolving. Darlinghurst.
Level 2, 44 Oxford St
Mixing things up with themed parties and a claim to be 99 per cent genre-free, they sell buckets of grog for $10 and $4 spirits before midnight. Sosueme Friday nights til late keep the crowd guessing with DJs mashing it up for the dancefloor. Think Surry Hills types, indie kids, cheap drinks and cheap fun....
34–44 Oxford St
Home to several of the city’s favourite venues, the Exchange is the seedy after-party joint for anyone and everyone. At Q bar there’s a dance floor that swirls with funk and house, Spectrum boasts a consistently impressive live music line-up, underground sweatbox Phoenix has a killer sound system and an older crowd, and 34B is home to the best burlesque acts in town. And on occasion you’ll find epic parties that span all four....
Level 2, 3/226 Commonwealth St
Break your marital sex drought by swinging with other bored-to-death couples. This is a safe environment where you can live out your fantasies as a unit....
355 Crown St
Molecular gastronomy doesnt capture the food at Marque. Prog-French, perhaps? "The reason I enjoy cooking so much is because I have a thorough understanding of classic French cuisine and that keeps me grounded," says owner/chef Mark Best of his new wave cooking. "Im a bit of a magpie in that I take these bright and shiny things and integrate them into my food without letting them dominate."
Freshly renovated and reinvigorated since reopening on July 4 (after a spring clean from interior...
320 Crown St
RESTAURANT REVIEW:
One of the greatest collaborations in Sydneys ever-evolving restaurant scene is that of sommelier Nick Hildebrandt and chef Brent Savage. Each on their own a force to be reckoned with, but together, theyre unstoppable.
For almost five years, the Bentleys progressive food, inimitable wine list and excellent floor staff made it the darling of Sydney food freaks. But the rooms always been less than ideal. Not any more, though. The old dining room, which looked like a Play...
248 Palmer St
The Lucio is the pizzerias crowning glory, and its answer to the much-loathed (by pizza chefs) half n half. You really need to see it to believe it, but its half a Margherita (tomato, mozzarella, baby basil) and half a calzone (just like a pizza only folded), filled with fluffy ricotta and strips of ham. Oh, mama!
Best for A casual, easygoing evening with none of the crazy queuing or attitude of a lot of pizzerias around town. You get friendly service, informed advice on wine and pizza and, best...
485 Crown St
You read that right: its a five-star review. And if youre wondering how on earth a little Surry Hills café could possibly stand up to the likes of Quay, Rockpool or Tetsuyas – well, it doesnt. Thats why we have a separate cafés category in Time Out: so we can rate coffee shops, bakeries and other non-restaurant establishments on their own terms. So here it is - our first five-star café review.
Why is this unassuming place pretty much kicking the arse of every other café in town right now?...
358 Cleveland St
Want a side of fun with that steak? Porteño is for you. Smoke; meat; salt; fire; beers; rocknroll and a tonne of Brylcreem all mingle in pursuit of the ultimate good time. And who better to deliver than the dudes behind Bodega? In the kitchen, co-chefs/best mates Ben Milgate and Elvis Abrahanowicz work the grills, so quoiffed and tattooed they look like theyve just stepped out of an especially stylish 1950s prison kitchen. Maitre d Sarah Doyle runs the floor in platinum pin curls....
Shop 1/216 Commonwealth St
Bodega, if you haven’t had the joy of visiting it before, is a little restaurant on Commonwealth Street in Surry Hills that plays the rock so loud you’ll be tapping along to the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies and Royal Crown Revue faster than you can say chimichurri. Chefs/owners Ben Millgate and Elvis Abrahanowicz also have Porteno - South American grillhouse to the stars. So while they may no longer be rocking the kitchen, chefs Nic Wong and Joel Humphreys have taken the reins rocking out...
85 Commonwealth St
Few Sydney bars have weathered storms, fashions and flights of fancy the way Longrain has. Spicy, punched-up vodka drinks hold no currency the way they do here, where they make perfect sense pared with chef Martin Boetzs smart Thai menu. For over a decade Longrain have operated in the Commonwealth Street warehouse, resident DJ in the corner spinning beatz, with the bar and restaurant operating side by side. A very recent renovation, however, has seen this Surry Hills stalwart expand...
Shop 1, 90 Wentworth Ave
If you like your Thai food authentic, spicy and tasty as the day is long, youve come to the right neck of the woods. Their som tum is the best in town as well as being fab value - shreds of green papaya are fired up with chopped chili, peanuts, teeny dried shrimp and cherry tomatoes dressed with a mix of palm sugar, fish sauce and lime juice. Bright and refreshing, its spicy and might just be the best Thai that Sydney offers for tiny dollars.
New opening House is just around the corner....
433 Liverpool St
Wed like to see a Sydney café that hasnt ripped off a Bills dish, or at least been inspired by one. Bill Granger has written kilos of cookbooks, had his own television shows, opened cafés both in Sydney and now in uh, Japan, and is famous the world over. But none of this is news to you: youve seen his face plastered on the rear end of the bus advertising everything from his books and telly shows to toothpaste for years now.
What you want to know is why were mentioning it at all. Its old news,...
113 Reservoir Street
Few people wear two hats as skillfully as Alan Thompson. The international DJ famous for his Ministry of Sound Housexy and Clubbers Guide compilations and tours is fast becoming revered for his brand new homegrown café, Bangbang in Reservoir Street, Surry Hills.
"My plan was to move to Australia from the UK, get my residency and open a café," says Thompson. Clearly this guy likes ticking off his ‘to do list. Bangbang swung open its doors in Reservoir Street seven weeks ago and has experienced a...
2012-05-14 12:00:00 - 2012-05-19 12:00:00
TAP Gallery Level 1/278 Palmer St
As part of the Head On Photo Festival, 19 photographers (The Collective) have created a sort-of photographic mixtape for TAP Gallery visitors in mid-May. She is the Darkness is entirely comprised of photographs inspired by song lyrics, including the lyric that lends the exhibition its title from Fleetwood Macs Rhiannon.
Musical inspiration for the exhibition has been, you might say, more diverse than most commercial radio stations we can think of: Bon Ivers Perth ("Move dust through the light"),...
2012-05-19 12:00:00
Oxford Art Factory 38-46 Oxford St
Come and wish the Ma. Gallery a very happy 3rd birthday, with a eclectic line up of Sydney underground talent, free rum shots on arrival and a live tattoo artist inking up all night. Helping along the celebrations will be La Mancha Negra, the Walk On By, Mother & Son, Kill City Creeps, Glitter Canyon, Atom Bombs, Spirit Valley, Danger Danny’s, the Pieter Van Den Hoogen Band and House Of Beggars. There will also be art murals by Jumbo, Esjay, Bennett, John Hynd & Jaxie Yael....
2012-04-24 12:00:00 - 2012-05-20 12:00:00
Belvoir St Theatre 25 Belvoir Street
Finally, Belvoir has joined forces with Kate Champion and her merry band of genre-defying theatre-makers Force Majeure (whose most recent work was the Sydney Festival hit Never Did Me Any Harm).
From a script by actor-playwright Steve Rodgers (last seen in Belvoirs The Kiss), Food is a story of, yes, food - but also sex... and the glorious though potentially greasy intersection of food and sex.
Kate Box (The Business) and Emma Jackson (Fool for Love) star as feuding sisters who run a...
2012-05-20 12:00:00
The Standard 383 Bourke St
Coming off of a high and working hard on his second album, Australias very own Daniel Merriweather will be playing a very personal show this winter. Melodic guitars, harmonic vocals and lyrics that will entrance, Merriweather is sure to put on a good show. If Red isnt blissful slow pop, we dont know what is. ...
2012-05-20 12:00:00
The Standard 383 Bourke St
Daniel Merriweather is coming back home to hit the road with the gorgeous Kimbra on her national tour and while he is here hell be playing his very own intimate show at the Standard.
...
2012-05-22 12:00:00
Surry Hills Library 405 Crown Street
How do you find a story from amongst your life’s experiences? How do you build a tale? What makes a story memorable? The power of narrative is used in entertainment, art, business and even therapy.
Work with storytellers Campfire Collective to build your own story and become a storyteller. Registrations essential.
...
2012-05-25 12:00:00
Oxford Art Factory 38-46 Oxford St
You may have caught them on their epic M1 tour last year, but thats no excuse to miss the Gold Coast boys playing their new stuff: the first single from their new album, Offer Yourself is a 60s-flavoured bit of thumping goodness. Great stuff!...
2012-05-26 12:00:00
Surry Hills Library 405 Crown Street
Projects including a competition-winning proposal for the Gold Coast Civic and Cultural Precinct and a master plan for the Seymour Centre front of house are on show at this architectural talks series....
2012-06-02 12:00:00
The Standard 383 Bourke St
Sydneys Deep Sea Arcade have scored a coup or two with the release of debut album Outlands: the disc has been a feature album on Triple J, FBi and 2SER and we here at Time Out are loving it – seriously, check it out. Theyve supported Children Collide and are supporting Kaiser Chiefs, but here they step out on their own to officially launch Outlands. The album is an homage to some seriously weird-ass movies from the 60s (sci-fi weird, nothing kinky), so the stage show should be full of...
2012-05-15 12:00:00 - 2012-06-09 12:00:00
SBW Stables Theatre - Griffin Theatre Company 10 Nimrod St
Paul Capsis’s evocative and beautifully staged piece of autobiographical theatre was the sell-out smash hit of 2010. Now, Griffin welcome Paul and Angela’s Kitchen back to the Stables before heading off on a national tour. If you missed it the first time or simply want to see it all again, this is your chance to join the hordes of people who fell in love with Angela and her family in 2010.
A portrait of one man’s relationship with his grandmother and the story of an entire generation of...
2012-03-19 12:00:00 - 2012-12-31 12:00:00
Australian Museum 6 College St
Learn about these fascinating creatures through high-tech interactive displays and get close to eight life-sized models....