Beyond its excellent restaurant scene, Sydney is always welcoming new bars from CBD basements to scenic rooftops, historic sites and neighbourhood haunts.
Celebrating a work win over wine, sampling the cocktail menu during a long-overdue catch-up with a friend, or kicking on after a lunch or dinner call for finding a bar worthy of the occasion — so these are Sydney’s newest bars that should be on your radar for your next drink.
Aalia Wine Room
A spin-off of Gourmet Traveller’s 2023 Restaurant of the Year for New South Wales, Aalia, this new Martin Place bar offers prime people watching, a wine list designed to encourage discovery, and the modern Middle Eastern flavours for which the restaurant is loved. Downstairs is a cosy setting among wine bottles and the bar, while upstairs offers tables for small groups and views over the Sydney CBD action.
On the menu, you’ll find nibbles like charred lupini or oysters; anchovy toast with muhammara; single-serve fattoush on a cracker; Gildas threaded with basturma, pickled chilli and a quail egg; and the doughnut-like fried khorasan bread with optional foie gras atop. On Tuesday–Friday, Aalia Wine Room also offers a casual lunch menu with a Murray Cod shawarma; steak frites with shoestring fries and café de Cairo butter; and a beef cheeseburger.
What to drink: Try a DIY wine tasting — from $69, you can order a bracket of three wines from sommelier Sarah O’Dwyer’s list, with expert insight on hand to craft your perfect personalised selection.
L’Avant Cave
While it’s existed in some form for a while, Paddington bar L’Avant Cave recently came under the sole direction of Nik Hill (our own Chef of the Year for 2025) from acclaimed upstairs restaurant Porcine. While it’s no longer a wine shop since P&V stepped away from the site, the snack-forward menu and strong wine selection remain, with the charming courtyard a local go-to for a relaxed, outdoor setting steps off Oxford Street.
Some snacks are familiar, like the baked oysters and pigeon liver toasts, with the new menu’s highlight being a daily selection of small seafood snacks priced at $12 each for guests to DIY a platter; our digital editor Georgia Condon chose a trout crudo, sardine toasts and Merimbula oysters paired with a glass of crémant on a warm day. Larger plates include steak frites, or garlic snails on toast.
What to drink: A refreshing Pocito cocktail — Pommeau, lemon and tonic — is a good place to start.
Sakura House
A CBD basement bar open till late Monday–Saturday, Sakura House is the second venue from the team behind popular Darlinghurst venue The Waratah. The Japanese-inspired cocktail list uses elements like yuzu, hojicha and wasabi, and sits alongside an extensive range of sake and shochu. Food by former Cho Cho San head chef Nick Sherman takes after izakaya-style dining, offering gyoza, fried ebi bao and takoyaki skewers.
What to drink: The house Martini blends Haku Vodka, cherry blossom, purple shiso and pickled onion.
Bar Allora
An all-day destination bringing a sense of 1980s Milan to the Sydney CBD, Bar Allora is led by culinary director Rosy Scatigna and head chef Josh Donachie (Jane, Jackson’s on George, RE), and the group behind award-winning bar Maybe Sammy. You can start the day with cornetti and espresso, lunch on spaghettone with anchovy butter and lemon pangrattato, and let aperitivo hour roll into dinner before finishing on a brandy-spiked Shakerato.
What to drink: The Americaniello cocktail is a refreshing take on the aperitivo classic, with added lemon myrtle liqueur and a splash of mango soda.
Folio
Pre- and post-show dining just stepped up its game at Sydney’s Roslyn Packer Theatre, where Sydney Theatre Company launched Folio in late 2025, transforming the theatre’s bar with a rich plum palette, gold and chrome details and a walnut and marble bar. Inspired by New York’s famed theatre bars and speakeasies, the drinks list was devised by award-winning bar consultant Charlie Ainsbury with wines and Champagnes, customisable cocktails and suitably theatrical drinks like a tableside Martini pour.
Folio serves light bites like Yambra prawns with curry mayonnaise, a house burger with Pino’s smoked bacon, cheese and a fried pickle, and late-night bites including cheese plates. Located in the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct, it’s worth the walk from Barangaroo or the CBD even when you don’t have a ticket to a show.
What to drink: The house Bellini blends Prosecco and seasonal fruit sorbet, hand-whisked to order.
