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My most discerning friend once said to me: as long as Dave and Carla run Freda’s, Sydney will be cool. The genre-defying institution that’s shaped the city’s music scene for more than a decade has lived many lives – morphing confidently from divinely dingy nightclub to Euro-style café/bar without a stutter. Now, Freda’s 3.0 occupies an intimate two-level venue in the Inner City suburb of Chippendale, and while it lacks the underground charm of its original site, and the centre-of-the-universe appeal of its street-facing Darlinghurst outpost, Bar Freda’s still hits.
When I think back on my top-tier Sydney memories, from chic midweek dinners to 4am dance sessions, Freda’s has been behind a lot of them – and the latest iteration feels like a natural evolution for the ever-playful brand.
The vibe
If your only experiences of Freda’s unfolded at the original Chippendale venue – watching a local band light up the stage beneath the glowing LED love heart, or dancing to techno at 2am on a Saturday – the new version might surprise you. As its owners have grown up, so has Freda’s – with the brand taking its first big step into adulthood in 2020 with the launch of Café Freda’s. Here, though supporting and elevating local artists was still core to the ethos, the offering went way beyond the dancefloor – with a perfectly formed menu of sexy share plates and natural wine served to busy tables that overflowed onto Darlinghurst’s Taylor Square.
Returning to Chippendale (not the original site, but a more sophisticated space attached to student favourite the Abercrombie), Freda’s has maintained its focus on food. Visit Bar Freda’s on a Thursday evening, and you’d have no idea that the warmly lit wine bar can host one of the city's hottest dancefloors. In a way, that’s the main magic trick performed by Bar Freda’s: its ability to go from high-end to high-energy when the moment’s right.
Spread across two floors, the bar feels a little like stepping into a trendy terraced home – a disco ball hanging from the ceiling, and designer light fixtures warming the naive art (much of it by Carla herself) that lines the walls. On my last visit, a collaging workshop was taking over the top floor of the venue – one of several quirky, community-led events that pop up in the space on a semi-regular basis (keep an eye on the Freda's Instagram to find out what's on).
Crucially, music is still at the heart – with the owners (Carla Uriarte and Dave Abram) now managing the music programing at the adjoining venue, and Bar Freda’s itself hosting wildly fun house party-style Saturday nights that couldn't happen anywhere else.
The food
The snackable, very Sydney menu – fresh oysters, focaccia, crab pasta etc – is designed to be enjoyed with drinks, so if you’re looking for a sober dinner, look elsewhere. In for a few plates to pair perfectly with a glass of pet nat? This is your place. Oysters are fresh and arrive with a good serving of zingy minionette, and the lasagne croquettes are piping-hot and perfectly salty. The salad dressing lacks body and the mafaldine is a second overcooked, but everything is well-seasoned and served with care on kitsch mismatched crockery. The hero dish for us is the grilled artichoke on goat's curd – a deliciously balanced side that I’d eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner in a hunk of Freda’s focaccia.
The drinks
Honouring the legacy of the space (formerly Lil Sis, a forward-thinking wine bar and bottle shop), the wine list here is mainly formed of low-intervention drops, with fun, easy-drinking wines from around the world. The Benotti Rosavica ($18.50 per glass) is a perfect chilled red – flowery and gently perfumed – and the Il Brut & the Beast pet nat is dangerously easy to drink. Cocktails are another key focus, with top picks being the pickle-spiked Margarita and the frozen Espresso Martini.
Time Out tip
Arrive between 5pm and 7pm for the daily happy hour – $12 boozy slushies, $15 Tommys margs, $7 schooners of select beers and 10 per cent of bottles of wine.
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