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Herbs Taverne is led by the Mucho Group, the team behind Cantina OK!, Centro 86 (winner of Time Out Sydney’s Best Cocktail Bar Award 2025), Bar Planet and the much-loved and muy loco uncle, Tio’s Cerveceria.
The group has a cult following in Sydney, as evidenced by the fact the basement bar is packed on a blustery Monday evening. At first glance, the underground Negroni bar looks like the kind of den of iniquity that might feature in the Netflix series Black Rabbit. Tucked away on Clarence St in Sydney’s CBD, it’s as dark, brooding and ruby red as the signature Herbs Negroni. And it comes highly recommended by the lovely Lizzie, who rocks the staff uniform of durable Dickies, orange socks and Dr. Martens. The overall effect of hunkering down at Herbs Taverne for a few hours is that it primes you for an assault on the senses – from the glittering disco ball throwing out shards of light to the chrome accents, dark brick walls, checkerboard ceiling and retro-inspired tables and chairs. So far, so vibey.
Herbs Taverne is being billed by the Mucho Group as the bar with the maximum “ahh…”. And it’s got you covered when it comes to offering a different perspective on bitter drinks like the Negroni and amaro.
Just as the bar balances gin, vermouth and Campari, Herbs Taverne blends theatre, hospitality and experimentation
But what really resonates is what Lizzie explains about the greater (Mucho) group after she delivers a Left Hook (alpine amaro, mezcal, burnt orange and whites): “Herbs Taverne is about making great drinks that focus on bitterness. But behind that, the whole ethos is about being welcoming. That’s really what we want to be known for.” Muchas gracias.
The food
Complimentary popcorn is a Mucho Group signature (there are no other food items on the menu at Herbs, so you’ll need to head somewhere else for dinner – Sydney’s best restaurants are a good place to start). And man, does it pop. So much so that we ask another friendly waiter, a dapper dude named Hunter, for the secret recipe. Apparently, the plus-sized popcorn is coated in a fairy dust mix of powdered onion, cheese, chilli, tomato and MSG. It’s also designed to taste like deep-dish American pizza drizzled in honey. After inhaling one-and-a-half bags, I decide it should be called crack’corn – the most addictive snack in all the land. It’s packed with so much flavour, crunch and salt that the craving for a drink becomes overwhelming. Enter the Negroni: the last relic of hope.
The drinks
The Negroni is, according to the 2025 Drinks International Cocktail Report, the No. 1 most consumed cocktail in the world – for the fourth year running. Although the Italian cocktail is classically made of equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and Campari, Herbs Taverne spits out a few riffs on the OG.
The Negroni was created more than a century ago, and Herbs is here for it
The menu in this dinky den doubles as a notepad, and Lizzie tears off a page and starts scribbling. She draws a crown next to the Herbs Negroni (to honour the ‘queen’), scribbles ‘Ribena’ next to the Purple Negroni (thanks to the addition of Raspberry EDV), and scrawls ‘Passion’ next to the Gold Negroni, redolent of the pulpy fruit. The Herbs Negroni is beautifully balanced, featuring a blend of two red vermouths. Our senses are kicked into overdrive with the Purple Negroni, by which time the room seems to have been rendered in an even richer, borrowed-from-a-bordello hue. We also try a few bracing pairings that sound whacky on paper – amaro and parsley, a case in point – but are utterly delicious.
Behind the bar is a growing selection of amaros from Italy, as well as a standout pineapple rum-based amaro from Milwaukee. All up, Herbs Taverne offers 12 drinks across four sections: three riffs on the Negroni, a trifecta of aperitifs, three ice-cold digestives blended in-house, and three seasonal cocktails.
The Mucho Group’s mission statement is “to push past pretty good and into the psychedelic – with an emphasis on fun.” We’re on the same notepad, as it were.
Time Out tip
Arrive via the 100 bus bound for Taronga Zoo, which stops right outside the bar.
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