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Bars in Kings Cross

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There's new bars aplenty and a host of old faithfuls in Sydney's traditional entertainment district - if you can spit on it from the Coke sign, we've included it

First published on 22 May 2009. Updated on 22 Apr 2013.

After Hours Wine Bar

Potts Point

It's the place for rustic share-dishes and maybe a local craft beer. The wine list is live and local. And we mean local – most of the wines on the list don’t stray outside the NSW border. After Hours can be a stepping stone to a big night out, or a night in-and-of itself. 

The Bourbon

Potts Point

Think New Orleans dishes in a dining room of plush electric-blue armchairs, buttery caramel leather banquettes, triangular walnut tables and thick charcoal carpet. The new Bourbon harks back to an opulent Kings Cross of the ’60s.

Dive Bar

Kings Cross

The below-decks, late-night bar is filled with dim-lit back booths and pool tables. The only thing missing is a picture of droopy-eyed hounds playing poker and a cloud of stale cigarette smoke. The jukebox is filled with everything from Kate Bush to the Stranglers, the Clash and Michael Jackson.

Eau de Vie

Darlinghurst

Once you’re here, either sitting at the beautiful long wooden bar or flopped out on one of the scarlet leather banquettes, it’s most likely you won’t be leaving until someone physically peels you away. Such is the draw of this Darlinghurst speakeasy.

FBi Social

Kings Cross

FBi have taken what was a great location and put it to the use that it so desperately needed to be, and put live music back into the Cross where it'd be missing for too long.

Gazebo Wine Garden

Elizabeth Bay

The original Gazebo is good as ever. The late twenties and thirtysomething crowd lacks pretentiousness, the wine list is well priced, and the 80s classics over the ivy-clad speakers is, well, music to our ears.

Hinky Dinks

Darlinghurst

It may technically be located in Darlinghurst, but you can almost spit on it from the Coke sign and this tiki bar's foxy fitout and excellent cocktails will often have us sneaking across the border when we are out in the Cross.

Hugos Bar Pizza

Kings Cross

Head to this bar early in the week and early in the evening, and you’ll completely bypass the weekend's sunglasses at night. You'll also find a relatively quiet bar where you can have a conversation with your bartender. And the team here are never less than amazing.

Kit & Kaboodle

Kings Cross

Look upstairs from the Sugarmill and you’ll find Kit and Kaboodle. Spanning two levels and a staircase, this Kings Cross hotspot boasts some well-decent bartenders who can knock together just about any drink that takes your fancy. 

LL Wine and Dine

Potts Point

Tucked in a laneway once notorious for grime and grot, this little bunker now serves as a respite from the seedier side of the 'Cross. Look closely and you'll see the legacy of the space in its former incarnation as a den of ill repute, but now it's snug bar.

Ms G's

Potts Point

Don’t think of the upstairs bar at this mod-Asian eatery as a waiting area for the restaurant; think of it as a bar proper. In fact there’s no need to eat at all if you don’t feel like it. It’s totally kosher to simply hop upstairs for a few beers, a glass of Champagne or a round of shots. 

Old Growler

Woolloomooloo

It’s an underground bar on William Street where the beer is cold and Carl Douglas’s ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ is the prelude to a whole lot of modern American psych music. Which is an interesting mix.

The Roosevelt

Potts Point

This new bar harks back to the days in Kings Cross when dinner and drinks meant something more than a taco and a shot. A time when nightclubs were places where you sat down for cocktails after dinner. The Roosvelt is bringing back a touch of old-world class to the 'Cross.

Santa Barbara

Kings Cross

The space is now a little bit Hawaiian and a little bit Blacktown Chinese. And it’s got a Mexican twist – of course – all finished with a some LA-spiked Korean. Santa Barbara kicks off late, and the big balcony is hot property for smokers and free-breathers alike.

The Sugarmill

Kings Cross

Sugarmill plays an important role in the Cross. It's the pub for when you’re in the area but aren’t quite in a nightclub head space, nor angling for seedy strip club action. Located in a former bank, the venue has gorgeously high ceilings, as well as outdoor seating, a rarity in this part of town.

Velluto

Potts Point

Drinking at Velluto is like stopping by the home of an affluent friend – it's cosy, elegant, expensively decked out, and the hosts are warm and charming. Here the Martini sits as an obvious speciality on a cocktail list that classes all other cocktails as "friends".

By Myffy Rigby   |  
 

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