Globe Bar & Brasserie

Millers Point was once a criminal breeding ground – a haunt for ne’erdo-wells with filthy breeches, filthier mouths and even filthier blades sharp enough to cut a man from gullet to gusset. Today, you’ll find sweet cottages, knick-knack shops and boutique hotels like the Lagnham (formerly the Observatory).

As hotel bars go, Globe is a find: all plush interiors, heavy furniture and first edition books – all available to read while you sink into one of the big grey lounges with a Kir Royale (that’s Champagne and cassis). While there might be a bunch of silliness on the cocktail list (whoever invented the chocolate martini should be visited by one of the aforementioned ne'erdo-wells), there are serious drinks too: a whisky sour (whisky, lemon juice, sugar syrup) or a gimlet (a martini only garnished with two cocktail onions). They also have Fernet Branca, that incredibly herbaceous digestiv made from an 1845 secret recipe of 27 herbs virtually guaranteed to bring you back from the dead. Ask for it on ice with a slice of orange.

This is a classic hotel bar. Drinks are expensive and the atmosphere is slightly stuffy and you mightn’t visit unless you’re dining in house. But if you do, be safe in the knowledge that what they do, they do well.