Bodega Bar
Empanadas by day, Margaritas by night. Oh joy, writes Myffy Rigby
If you haven't heard of Bodega by now, you must have been hiding under a rock - or smoking it.
The Surry Hills tapas bar with its rock'n'roll cranked up to eleven, south-of-the-border snacks and psychedelic wall mural has proven so popular in the past two years since they opened that they have now had to create a holding pen for the crowds cramming into the no-bookings restaurant.
And this is no bad thing. During the day, the new space (it opened around three weeks ago, as previewed in our July 2 ‘Bar Revolution' issue) operates as an Argentinean café. It's run by co-owner and chef Elvis Abrahanowicz's parents - Hilda and Adan - doing empanadas, churros (those long, skinny donuts), hot chocolate and chorizo sangas with chimichurri. By night, it turns into a bar.
And what a cool bar it is! Adan Abrahanowicz designed and etched the glass hugging the base of the bar himself (he's been etching glass since he was 13), while the main wall of the room is a huge Varga-style pin-up girl grinning maniacally and fighting a giant bull. The room maintains a similar aesthetic to the restaurant proper, with jailhouse-style stools, nude bulbs and a fat splash of cool. A mix of glass sees retro sherry sets mix it up with fancy Reidel stemware and you can order anything from Spanish beer to a classic cocktail.
There's their version of a Margarita called the Eva Patron (Patron tequila, pomegranate molasses, lime and Citronge-Patron's version of orange liqueur and the only one made in Mexico), but the regular is no slouch either, and bartender Josiah Firth asks you how you want it. Salt, no salt or half and half? Blended or stirred? We like the sound of the Porteño, too - reposado tequila, Licor 43 which is a zesty Spanish liqueur topped with sparkling blood orange. Tasty.
And if beer or cocktails don't delight, you'll find an impressive wine list heavy on the Spanish and Argentinean stuff to tickle your whiskers.
There are also bar snacks to keep you going while you wait for your table at the restaurant next door, such as spiced almonds (very Spanish), mixed olives and squishy, vinegary eggplant escabeche - perfect with some bread and a couple of Alhambra beers on the side. In case you've never experienced the joy of one of these Spanish beers before, they're crisp, a little citrusy, and deadly. So good, you'll be knocking them back like Homer with a plate of pork chops; and so potent, you'll be running into walls like Paris Hilton before breakfast. But they're also $9 a pop - ouch.
While this isn't a bar you can just visit any old time (it's for diners only), the fact that it exists at all means you've got a choice when you're waiting for dinner: head to the KB Hotel on the corner as usual for schooners and Wii bowling (no bad thing, by the by) or have a cocktail here, in Sydney's hottest new small bar.
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