Located in the centre of the Intercontinental Hotel, apparently on the site where the first grape…read morevine was planted in Australia in 1788. The classic decor is lovely with various seating options including lounge booths. Pleasant ambient lighting and music. A good option for a bite to eat as they offer tapas plates, share plates, salads and even more substantial meals. There is a three small plate deal for $41 / four small plate deal for $50 which is quite good value. The drinks menu is extensive. Prices are quite expensive. I had a $16 mocktail but it was tiny. Cocktails are $19-26. Beer is $9-12. Coffee is $7! They do a cold drip coffee for $3 which is quite nice. They also offer high tea $55-$75 and high coffee $60 during the day. Quite nice to stop in for a drink before going out or before heading back to your room.

The high tea is amazinggg. It's buffet style but very classy. Picture all sorts of little pastries…read moredecorated with precision lined up perfectly. Great selection of yummy savoury options like finger sandwiches, quiches, savoury pastries. And of course lots of sweet dessert goodies! There were a lot of chocolate options and also a chocolate fountain. The setting is beautiful. The Cortile Lounge is on the ground floor and in a grand, historical building with luxury furnishing, which make for a calm and relaxing atmosphere. Service is as expected of the Intercontinental.

Great chips brought to start up - very smooth prohibition vibe Tge service was fast, attentive,…read moreand upbeat attitude. Loved the atmosphere, very New Orleans, easygoing positive and Rey!

I love all things NOLA. I mean, I had been there 3 times and still had my bachlorette's in New…read moreOrleans. We did not have a reservation, but they fit us in as a walk-in at a small coffee table with 2 ottoman seats. Not the most comfortable set up, but I appreciate the cozy atmosphere, almost like you are sitting in someone's very posh and dimly lit den. All the NOLA classics were featured, like Vieux Carre (no likey), old fashioned (likey), and hurricane. There were some twists on the classics as well. I liked the newer house specialties, and ended up having 3 drinks, more than I intended. We snacked on some popcorn chicken, which was nothing special, but very satisfying when hungry. We were also lucky enough to be there when the live jazz band played a brief set, which really set the mood. I took off a star because not every drink was a homerun, and the service was a bit too impersonal for a speakeasy. We had a different server each time. One of my favorite parts of going to a speakeasy is to watch the bartenders work their magic and ask them for recommendations, and if I'm lucky, maybe get an off menu drink. Not quite set up that way here.

I probably have been to this place a few times, namely because it happens to be a bar on Kings…read moreCross, and sadly, and I found myself wandering around there on occasion. Well, this bar is pretty tacky, and it certainly isn't anything that I would want to return to. The beer selection is pretty limited, and the bar itself is, well, not sleazy, but it certainly isn't all that great. Yeah, there really isn't anything that would attract me to this place.

After a long 14-hour flight from California I arrived in Sydney at 7:30am on a Sunday morning. My…read moreGF and I had hotel reservations in King's Cross and her flight had been cancelled and rescheduled for the next day, so I made my way out to KC to get the hotel check-in done. I arrived around 10am; check-in time at our hotel was noon so I had a couple of hours to kill. The hotel stored my luggage for me and I set out on a leisurely Sunday morning exploration of King's Cross. After a bit of seriously jet-lagged, zoned-out strolling I noticed on a corner an enclosed patio area open to the street, empty but beckoning. It was attached to the Empire Hotel, an historic-looking building with a very cool art-deco facade. I crossed the street and walked in and met bartender Albert, who kindly sat me down and gave me a sample tour of all the Australian beers the Empire had on tap. All were fantastic; Australia is a kind of beer paradise if you're a golden lager fan like me. I made my choice and retired to the patio with my pint to relax and soak up the vibe of Sunday morning King's Cross street life. Over the next couple of hours (and pints) I met several colorful characters on the patio, notably well-dressed long-time KC local Tim, who was in the Australian Army and was preparing to deploy back to Afghanistan in a couple of days. Tim filled me in on the history of King's Cross, which has through the decades been Sydney's bohemian zone, red-light district, gay-pride zone, and seedy all-night party bar destination. It was easy to see "The Cross" as it's called was currently in transition, undergoing a steady gentrification as befits its gorgeous physical setting amid historic architecture and streets lined with mature shade trees. Around noon I made my way back to our hotel to secure our room and a well-deserved nap, happy to have been so well-received by the friendly Australians at the Empire Hotel and looking forward to our Sydney adventure that was soon to begin.

Fresh out of Hugo's Bar, my intention was just to mozy on over to Santa Barbara but within seconds…read moreout of Hugo's, we were stopped by a promoter. "Free shots guys, come check out this bar!" she said but I said "no, thanks" and continued on my way. I feel like I'll always be led into a shady bar (the only shady bar I'll go to in my books is dear ol' Shady Pines) when the words "free" come into play, especially around the cross. But my friends wanted to check it out and so I went along. Pass the bouncers and up two flights of stairs later was this spacious (it was a Sunday...) lounge. Five large booths line the walkway before you hit the bar and the dancefloor where a DJ (and maybe even a singer) is spinning his tunes. It's quite a nice place and I believe that the giant disco ball and the resemblance of an LA lounge tugged at my heart strings a bit. Oh, yea there's also a bed there for you to sit, and a desk with an old school phone. It's still relatively new after having opened around late September. I'd be interested in checking out the vibe on a busier night like Thursday or so.

Lovely neighborhood restaurant, very clean and cheerful ambiance, attentive service and delicious…read moreeggs Benedict and coffee.

I went here with my husband recently, thinking we'd try something new and hopefully more chill than…read morethe cafe we'd been going to often lately. So we gave this one a go, and were quite pleased with it :) For one, this place is a LOT roomier than most of the cafes we've been to. It's got a nice open plan, with a big round table in the middle of the room for larger groups, and several smaller tables. I suppose it holds a pretty average number of people, but it's just set up nicely so it doesn't feel too crowded. It's got big windows with lots of natural light, which is super nice too. We walked there, mostly uphill all the way, and it was pretty warm out. I start sweating buckets after 5 min in anything over 20 degrees. So we (especially me) really appreciated that they had a couple of big fans in the place :P The decor is pretty great. My husband said it looks like a hip granny's house, which pretty much nails it. Everything is yellow, white, and green, but not like in an overwhelming way. It feels really chill and breezy. And they played cool funk music the whole time, which just added to the "hip granny" vibe. So, on to the food and drinks, which are just a bit important, haha. We got ourselves this strawberry tart to share, and my husband got a flat white. I had 2 drinks (I'm a thirsty lady), an iced tea with lemongrass and ginger and a Belgian hot chocolate. All of it was good. I loved the tart - it was flavourful without being overly sweet. My husband enjoyed his coffee. The iced tea was a bit surprising - you usually expect it to be sweet, but it was kind of savoury almost. It threw me off at first, but once I got over my dissonance there, it was pretty good. The hot chocolate was really nice too, very chocolatey but not overly rich. Also, the staff were nice and seemed pretty easygoing, much more than I usually see at cafes, so that was nice :) The only downside is that, as far as I know, there's no free wi-fi. That would be great, cos really it'd be a nice place to sit down and do some work for a while (something my husband was looking forward to doing). Aside from that, we were really happy with our outing and will probably go back again :)

We happen to stumble upon this place as we walked around the city in search of a good bite to eat…read more We saw the door for this place previously and intended to go back at some point because the art at the front intrigued us. On this Tuesday of random search for dinner, she suggested we "go to that place with the cool art at the front door and see what it's like inside". I didn't object. We got lucky because upon entry we were told by one of the owners, Nathaniel, that they had $10 pizzas with a purchase of a drink! YES! I highly recommend going on Monday or Tuesday for the $10 pizzas or even for after work drinks. They are also setup to host larger groups, which is great! We WILL be going again soon enough.

Came here for a 21st birthday celebration and left disappointed. The main reason is that the…read morealcohol (spirits, beers and wines) was watered down to the point where guests were spending $10 for soft drink. I guess the bar is meant to be in cocktail style because there were dedicated people taking orders and others making drinks, which seemed to take longer than usual bars. The music was overly loud so everyone had to shout to one another. They had this weird licensing issue where all alcohol had to be consumed whilst seated, putting a damper on the night. I thought a more likely story could be previous warnings from the police but I digress. The only positive of this place was the food. The pizza was awesome in flavour, texture and size.

Nice location that offers a great view of the beach, boats and kayaks. The day we visited it was…read morebeautiful and sunny with a wonderful summer breeze. The restaurant area has standard stationary yacht style dining. Surprisingly the food menu was extensive for lunch. I wanted some of everything so I ordered several items the fried calamari being a standout it was fresh not overly fried or salty the flavor was just right. The crispy Brussel sprouts were beyond delicious the steak was not a tender as it could be but worth it. The service was great, food very good and the prices fair. Would I go again? Yes..The next time I'm in Australia!

Great beach... skip Bondi and come here. Lots of restaurants and the equivalent of a dollar store…read morewith cheap souvenirs as well as other things. Rent some lounge chairs and chill, watch kids learn to surf and boogeyman board... and tan that fish belly while you get your 'perve on'...

Great atmosphere and service. Interesting drink menu and the Soufflé (both entree and desert) were…read moredelicious.

Such a lovely experience ~ definitely a special occasion type bar/restaurant however if I worked…read moreclose the bar would would be a frequent stop as the drinks were no more expensive than any other downtown Sydney establishment. The drinks, mine a was poured table side with dry ice presentation, sadly I was so involved I didn't get a video . The showmanship was BRILLIANT Our server was attentive, helpful as were ALL the staff! My dinner started with the crispy zucchini squash blossoms with truffle honey ricotta~ these are a FAVORITE of mine and they didn't disappoint, light, crispy freshness not to mention beautifully presented. My main or entree as we Americans say~ consisted of a vegan porcini mushroom, cauliflower & cheese, soufflé, no I am not vegan!!! This was sooooo DELICIOUS. Creamy full of flavor just EXCELLENT ~ highly recommend it. There were four of us and we all had positive cocktails, starters, entrees & desert experiences. The real STAR is the view as your dining the restaurant revolves slowly so you get to see all of Sydney from the Harbour Bridge, Opera House, which had fireworks this night, such a wonderful bonus, Darling Harbour around back really spectacular to see the city from 40 stories high.

- up four flights of a dusty stairwell of a random office building…read more no elevator the trek is worth it - this speakeasy was a amazing - you would never know what await behind those doors - great steak sandwiches - get there early, its not as spacious - drinks are tasty - I love the dark environment - friendly service - hip hop soundtrack

This is one of my favorite bars in Sydney - Great staff that is always welcoming and makes quality…read moredrinks - good vibe and good music