Best tapas

Winner

Bodega, Surry Hills

Bodega, if you haven't had the joy of visiting it before, is a little restaurant on Commonwealth Street in Surry Hills that plays the rock so loud you'll be tapping along to the Cherry Poppin' Daddies and Royal Crown Revue faster than you can say chimichurri. Chefs/owners Ben Millgate and Elvis Abrahanowicz, along with maîtres d' (and sisters) Sarah and Rachael Doyle, are 50s fanatics with the hairdos and tatts to match and they've been pumping out Sydney's best tapas for more than three years now.

When they first opened it was impossible to get a table - it'd be a case of leaving your number and waiting at nearby pub, the KB. Not much has changed except that these days you can sit in their bar next door, drink a cocktail and eat some empanadas while you wait. There are a few dishes on the menu that don't often vary, such as the raw fish on toast (fish fingers) and the empanadas (both beef and pumpkin). Eggplant escabeche (slow-cooked eggplant with olive oil) is excellent spooned onto slices of sourdough, and if they're serving skirt steak or their house-made chorizo, you're in luck. Their desserts are well worth trying, too.

Don't try turning up past 7.30pm on a Friday or Saturday night - you'd be more likely to get a walk-in table at Tetsuya's - and don't try bribing them (we have it on good authority it doesn't work). Instead, turn up early, have a drink in their bar (the Margaritas are great) and wait your damn turn.

Runners-up

Ash St Cellar, Sydney
It may headline as a bar but it's no pushover as a dining destination either. At first glance you might think eating is the support act but think twice. This is a double billing - Lauren Murdoch's food is a prop for no man's wine.

Delicado, McMahons Point
Inside or out, this traditional tapas-slash-wine bar is a dark little treasure trove of treats, including a bottle shop featuring a stunning range of Spanish wines that you can buy-then-try on the premises.

Sean's Kitchen, Pyrmont
The tinkle of the pokies and whirr of the roulette wheel sound off below as Sean Connolly's tapas bar serves up plates of jamon, rounds of morcilla and long, sugar-crusted churros.

Catalonia, Kirribilli
This Spanish restaurant delivers modern tapas with flair. The staff are great, the cocktails fantastic, and check out the giant spray-painted robot-insect-clown murals on the toilet walls. Freaky.

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