The Beresford Hotel

Former Beresford owner Ashod Nassibian may have made some financial miss steps in renovating this once grungy Surry Hills pub into a polished local popular with the suburb’s well-heeled gay community, but the huge Bourke Street bar now falls under the purview of Sydney bar and dining powerhouse, Merivale. Hemmes and co. have added some Merivale signatures, but on the whole the place remains the same. At the bar you’ll find a mix of classic and signature cocktails, and a selection of fruity four-person share jugs. The wine list covers a lot of ground, both in geography and price points, but there are only one or two options for each varietal available by the glass. Beer drinkers will be glad to see draught brews offered in pints, and the delicious James Squire Orchard Crush is sure to keep cider drinkers smiling. The modern Italian restaurant pumps out middle of the road house-made pasta dishes and wood fired pizzas, and on Sundays you’ll find a relaxed buffet barbecue set up in the joint’s expansive beer garden ($20 per plate). The Beer Garden, in fact, is the bar’s main draw card. It’s leafy and well lit, and oft-filled with very beautiful people. A new live music venue also opened on the first floor of the building last year. It hosts mostly local indie acts, and has gone someway to filling the gap left by the unfortunate close of the nearby Hopetoun some years ago.