Dry Land Bar

Welcome to Redfern, home to such watering and snack holes as Eathouse Diner, the ‘Fern and now Dry Land Bar - the first small bar in the neighbourhood to serve great cocktails as well as the usual beer and wine offerings.

Owner Roy Leibowitz ran into some trouble when he was first trying to open Dry Land. The bar was to be called Roy's Milk Bar (cute) but the licensing fuzz thought it was misleading, promoting alcohol to children (lame). We suggested just reversing the letters so it read Boy's Rilk Mar, but that didn't fly with Leibowitz. So Dry Land it is.

You may well have been served by the handsome and effervescent Leibowitz before. His beardy face was last seen at tiny Darlinghurst wine bar Love, Tilly Devine. These days, he has quite the team under him. Micky Dhinse, ex-bar manager of CBD small bar Grasshopper, is mixing the drinks while chef Marc Cartwright (ex-Koi) is pumping out the bar snacks. Order the cheeseburger - it comes with a whole pickle on the side and all the sauces you can handle, from tomato and barbecue to mustard and mayo - take some of each and go heavy on the mustard. There's also an excellent parfait on offer (great with a beer on the side), and Roy also puts down house-made pork scratchings for regulars. Look out for the pickled eggs in jars, coming soon.

We quite like the entrance to the toilets, too. You have to push a big industrial-looking safety button and wait for the door to swing open. Adventure! And it's vinyl only at Dry Land. Leibowitz flips and switches whenever he thinks of it - which is often - so expect lotsa blues, lotsa soul and lotsa rock.

While the wine list is accomplished and interesting, it's also very approachable - something that some of the other more wine focused bars around town might not be able to boast quite so readily. Leibowitz and friends also stock a pretty good selection of rum and tequila and you can be confident in the cocktail skillz behind the bar, too.

The only problem we have with this great bar is that it's not exactly super comfortable and it gets incredibly packed, so you start to feel more like a sardine than a soak. But that's a small price to pay to drink at Dry Land.