A classic Euro-style deli seen through the lens of the Porteño crew, with star bartender Michael Nicolian on the tools; perch at the bar for supreme deli fare and a glass or two, or slip into the bistro and get lost in the retro charms for a little while longer.
Don’t miss the canned cocktails, maybe a mar-tini or can-hattan? You can also load up on a few tins to go.
Function rooms: 14-25 guests
Down on the ground level, the vibe is oriented around drinks and snacks – think a glass of Manzanilla Sherry or a spritz made from the extensive collection of vermouth and amaro to pair with conservas from the shelves or local and imported cheese and cured meats sliced to order. Canned cocktails are a speciality, too, with punny classics (mar-tinnies, cosmopolo-tins and can-hattans) all batched and packaged on site. Upstairs, things are more restaurant-like, with a series of quaint dining rooms and a bistro menu that runs from steak tartare with potato gaufrettes to roast chicken with braised lentils and vadouvan sauce.
The wine list occupies two A5 pages and isn’t restricted to any one style. “We just want the best wines we can get and have a broad enough range to please our guests in terms of style and price,” says Nicolian. That means you’re just as likely to find a skin-contact blend of insolia and grecanico from COS in southeast Sicily as you are a bottle of Rockford Basket Press Shiraz. Interestingly, almost everything is available by the glass – ask the staff, and they’ll kindly open most of the bottles on the list, top you up and price it accordingly.
In 2018, a second spin-off opened on Philip Street in the CBD with a similar nostalgic feel and deli offering, but a more sizeable menu featuring pastas made in-house and a larger wine list packed with Australian benchmarks from the likes of Dalwhinnie and Henschke.
At Geralds, the early arrivals dictate the open bottles, which can be switched around once exhausted, with ten typically open at any one time.
A natural-leaning wine bar that ventures deep into the night – a rare thing in the ‘Gong – with a pan-Asian menu keeping everything nice.
WyNo x Bodega is a merger of two of Ben Milgate and Elvis Abrahanowicz’s businesses. The pair, who gave Sydney dining a fair shake with their fire-fuelled homage to Argentinian barbecue, Porteño, first broke onto the scene with Bodega in 2006. Today, their stable of restaurants – exclusively run or as partnerships – is an…
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