Island Bar

Last summer it was the hippest, hottest and most extraordinary bar on Sydney Harbour. Now the Island Bar is back – bigger and better – from Friday 30 September.

Located on Cockatoo Island – arts, culture and entertainment venue du jour – the Island Bar is a testament to innovation. 

The bar itself is constructed from recycled shipping containers, the tables are old naval barrels (a legacy of the island’s history as a wartime shipbuilding site) and the venue is bang on the waterfront. 

After a successful first year in 2010, the Island Bar will once again shake up Sydney’s summer drinks scene via mixologist Marco Faraone’s signature cocktails and a host of all-Italian snacks – the perfect recipe for lazy afternoon grazing or night-time sipping overlooking the Harbour. 

And this year, in addition to spuntini platters and bruschetta, Marco and his Island Bar team will be dishing up a new food treat – Italian-style pizzas from a traditional wood-fired oven in their newly-built container kitchen. 

Look out this year for the Tropics Lounge, a VIP area available for private hire that overlooks the scattered deck chairs and tiki umbrellas stretching to the water.

Last year's review: 

Small bars have been dominating Sydney's drinking scene for the last 18 months and as the industry continues to evolve, so do the outlandish ideas from owners and operators. From the dark dens of Shady Pines, Grasshopper and the Flinders to greenery of Garden Brasserie; from the sport at Doctor Pong to the  whiskey walls of Eau de Vie - great new concepts and ideas are being thrown it the city's seasoned drinkers on a monthly basis. If you were to take a number of elements from each of the city's best dives, dens and gardens and added a ferry to the mix, you'd end up with what's been created on Cockatoo Island over near Drummoyne.

The Island Bar, complete with deck chairs, astro-turf, palm trees and a barbecue, would hands-down take the gong if we were to have a 'Sydney's Best Quirkiest Den' trophy at the Time Out Bar Awards. That Award may not exist, but for now we do have a Bartender of the Year Award and the 2010 recipient Marco Faraone (formerly of Bacco and Lotus) is part of the brains behind this brilliant concept.

Having Mr Faraone work the mahogany also means you're guaranteed some of the city's best cocktails while pretending you're in Hawaii or somewhere else remotely exotic. Set you're self up with a Tommy's Margarita (they're $15 a go, or $45 for a jug), which out here is the best mix of tequila, agave syrup and fresh lime juice we've had all summer. Marco's list also features a brilliant Negroni, but watch out because this Italian bartender's version has quite a kick - just like they serve them back in Rome.

On a sunny Saturday afternoon, you'll get tempted by a Blind Beggar Punch ($42), featuring Hendrick's gin, fresh raspberries, fresh lemon juice, cranberry juice, sugar and a hint of rose essence. It's a signature of the Island Bar and it comes in a large punch bowl, so it's got to be good. There are plenty of good nibbles to wash down the cocktails (keep it simple and go for a selection of bruschetta - four slices for $18) and the range of tunes from 80s classics to vocal house will keep you more than entertained.

While getting all the way out here on a ferry from Circular Quay is part of the fun, it's also part of the downfall. The bar has to shut at 8.30pm, so when you're just getting into it, you have to sail away. The solution? The bar's open from 12.30pm from Tuesday to Sunday, so either go on a weekend or sneak out of the office at lunch and say you're off to a client meeting. Odds are your boss won't stumble across you knocking back the cocktails when you're doing it in the middle of the Harbour.