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✍️ Time Out Sydney never writes starred restaurant and bar reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills, and anonymously reviews, so that readers can trust our critique. Find out more, here.
It’s bucketing down on my way to Claret Club on Stanley Street. I have an umbrella but still arrive sodden, my jean bottoms and shoes dripping. Despite my soggy appearance, I’m warmly welcomed into this romantic little sanctuary. They give me and my also-soggy friend the cutest table near the window. We look out at the deluge falling on the leafy, fairy-lit pavement, grateful to be in this cosy wine bar drinking expertly made Martinis by candlelight. My socks are damp but my spirits are high.
The vibe
Claret Club is in an old terrace house, so it has lived-in charm despite only opening in December 2025. Some original features have been maintained: leadlight doors and ornate cast-iron balustrades on the balconies. It has a Parisian feel, with outdoor tables under the trees (not in use on this wet night), white tablecloths on small tables, and smiling people seated along the bar. It feels like a happy place, thanks in part to warm, natural service that puts you at ease.
The food
The ground floor is a wine bar with excellent snacks, but upstairs is a proper Euro-inspired restaurant. We move up there to eat. We start with gnocco fritto ($20) – two fried dough fingers topped with a tangy aioli spiked with lemon and sage, an anchovy and fried sage leaf. Crunchy, creamy, salty, and it sets high expectations for what else is to come.
Next is bright red and yellow heirloom tomatoes and with a mild and creamy fromage blanc that they make in house, topped with herby oil, fresh basil and fried shallots for crunch ($22), but the roast chicken main ($55) is my dish of the night. It’s glossy, golden-skinned chicken with mushrooms and charred leek, on a bed of pan juices that we greedily mop up with our potato side ($15). Not to be relegated to the side, though – this spuds dish is a masterpiece itself. I’d never had ‘pommes Anna’ before, but I learn it’s a French dish made by neatly layering thin potato slices with butter, then cooking so that the butter binds the layers back together into a gratin-like potato cake that’s served in wedges. My first encounter with pommes Anna hopefully won’t be the last.
For dessert, we choose pineapple tarte tatin – which they’ve expertly caramelised to near-burnt so that plenty of bitter balances the sweet. Yum. Head chef Andy Buchanan (ex-The Dry Dock) has done a wonderful job with the menu here.
The drinks
The couple behind this wine bar are two well-versed sommeliers: Bridget Raffal from popular Where’s Nick, and Harry Hunter, formerly of Rockpool, the Bentley Group and Dinner by Heston. So the wine is the big focus. They’ve said they want to make fine wine (from Europe but also Australia) more accessible. Yes, there’s good claret (a British term for Bordeaux-style red wine), but they don’t push red; their expert recommendations are wide-ranging. After all, they sell 30 wines by the glass – these change weekly and are listed on the mirror downstairs – and they’re working their way towards a total collection of 800 bottles.
When they first opened, they didn’t serve cocktails, but they do now. Following our ice-cold gin House Martini ($22), we go for a glass of Champagne Henriot (for me) ($30 a glass) from France, which is rich and textural in the way Bollinger is. And a Fighting Gully Road Verdicchio ($20 a glass) from Beechworth, Victoria (for my friend) – he loves it so much, he sticks with that the next time he orders. They also have more affordable glasses, including a $16 pet nat that I try – a Yayoi Par Hasard (a Victorian drop made from Vermentino), which has light fizz and bright notes of lemon, grapefruit and pear.
The somms’ recommendations are all on-point, and chatting with them, you can tell they’re genuinely happy to be here – just like their guests are.
Time Out tip
If you book, you’ll be seated in the upstairs dining room, where you’re expected to settle in for dinner. Walk-ins can sit in the downstairs bar (or outside with four-legged friends) and just order drinks and/or bar snacks.
Claret Club also offers a ‘plat du bar’ – a weekly special inspired by the French plat du jour – perfect for solo diners to enjoy at the bar.
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