Moving from their Potts Point location to the CBD after nearly a decade, Nick Hildebrandt and Brent Savage have recast Monopole from a moody wine bar/restaurant to a bright and airy one, though with their daring culinary and vinous hallmarks unchanged.
Monopole’s first iteration was opened in 2012, housed in a darkly toned terrace house on Macleay Street in Potts Point, with the tone of the exterior continuing into the Pascal Gomes-McNabb designed interior, with a pensive mood of dark timbers, pockets of localised lighting and industrial metals. However, Hildebrandt and Savage decided to up sticks in 2020 and move Monopole. “We’ve been wanting to move Monopole to the CBD for a while and were offered a great site that is ideally suited to the evolution of Monopole,” says Hildebrandt.
Gomes-McNabb may have taken a piece of Melbourne with her when she conceived Monopole’s original design, with the sunny, coastal interiors that Sydney is famous for shunned for a moodier feel. But she has taken a different approach to the Curtain Place site, with American oak furniture and a light-filled interior that is often open air, too, with bi-fold windows very much bringing the outside in, while bespoke blackened steel mobiles, with an Alexander Calder vibe, hover above.
The wine bar tag is taken very seriously here, with the extensive and creative dining menu supplemented by classic wine bar fare: house-made charcuterie and pickles, artisan cheeses, both local and imported, as well as wine-friendly small and share plates. And with Hildebrandt’s list running to over 500 bins, there’s plenty to choose from, with a strong representation of organic, biodynamic and preservative-free wines. It is a list that embraces the classic and the avant-garde in equal measure, just as Hildebrandt always has. There are also around 30 wines offered by the glass and carafe.
Ode, on Bondi Road, Bondi, is very much a local’s haunt that blurs the line between casual restaurant and wine bar, as many modern wine-centred hotspots do. But that notion of being a neighbourhood place (bar, restaurant, wine bar…) – somewhat carefree, familiar, pretence free – shouldn’t be mistaken for a lack of depth. Ode…
A temple to Italian food and wine, with plenty of local options, both familiar and a little wild, all accompanied by a hip-hop soundtrack, with festivities kicking on till deep in the night.
On the banks of the Murrumbidgee River, in a beautiful quiet valley at Jugiong in central New South Wales, The Sir George Hotel stands as an oasis between Sydney and Melbourne.
While this grand old pub was established in 1854, the current Sydney-based owners – general manager and wine buyer Leonie Sassall and executive chef Anthony Davis – bought the business in 2021 and introduced new energy and vision. “We are endeavouring to make this pub a food and beverage destination in addition to offering 5-star accommodation in an award-winning garden setting,” says Sassall.
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