Martin Place Bar

Popular with finance and management types during the week, this white-collar hideaway has plenty of seating, a few lounges, polished concrete floors, a super-long marble bar to accommodate the after-hours rush and plenty of flatscreens showing sports. Squares with rounded corners are another big thing. You heard us – the design of the ceiling, the bar, various fittings and even the venue’s logo feature these nods to the modernist 1960s architecture that colours the mid-city pedestrian plaza outside. And with the outdoor smoking area leading straight into Martin Place railway station, the outside world’s kind of hard to ignore. That this place is so popular with the big end of town is no surprise either. Rather than simply offering a massive range of great wines, which it certainly does, MPB has its own private cellar and offers sought-after drops that other bars are unlikely to have – at $79, a 1995 Thomas Hardy cab sav from the Coonawarra is a huge bargain compared to what you’d pay in a restaurant. There’s a great bistro menu too, with prices no more expensive than your average pub eats. For the real high rollers, there’s a private bar down the far end of the joint, all luxe and leathery and stocked with fine single-malts, cognacs and other high-end tipples. DJs spin discs Thursday and Friday, then the whole place turns into an urban r’n’b club on Saturdays. Go figure.