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Shady Pines interior
Photograph: Anna Kucera

Darlinghurst area guide

Hit up hidden bars, intimate restaurants and happening clubs in Darlinghurst

Avril Treasure
Caitlyn Todoroski
Written by
Avril Treasure
&
Caitlyn Todoroski
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We're not meant to pick favourites, but if we had to, Darlinghurst would be one of our most loved Sydney suburbs. Sandwiched between Surry Hills and Kings Cross, this eclectic rainbow spot is home to many excellent bars like Love, Tilly Devine, Shady Pines Saloon and The Cliff Dive. There’s also the new neighbourhood boozer The Waratah, and old favourite the Darlo.

If it's a feed you're after, Victoria Street is choc-a-block with great eats and home to one of Sydney’s most popular ice cream shops, Messina. Pick up brilliant baked goods and coffee at Shadow Baking. You'll find seriously good pizza and a banging set menu at Dimitri's Pizzeria. Plus, we love Italian hole-in-the-wall Sagra, charming diner Bar Vincent and killer wine bar Paski Vineria Popolare. You can spend your time hopping in and out of art galleries, perusing high-end furniture shops, catching a show at Darlinghurst Theatre Company or dancing at a live gig at Oxford Art Factory. Take our word for it: Darlinghurst is where it's at.

Darlinghurst highlights

The Waratah

The Waratah

A table on the terrace at The ’Tah, as it’s affectionately known, is considered prime real estate for people-watching long after the last of Mardi...

Australian Museum

Australian Museum

The country's oldest museum (established 1827) is the custodian of 21.9 million specimens and cultural objects, including the permanent 200 Treasures...

Bar Reggio

Bar Reggio

There's a lot to love about this classic red sauce joint, not least is that if you split the bill you can get out without hitting the $20 mark.

Big Poppa's

Big Poppa's

  • price 2 of 4

Where can you go and eat a full, delicious restaurant menu until 3am every night of the week? Big Poppa’s is open 'til the wee hours on Oxford Street.

The best restaurants in Darlinghurst

Bar Reggio

Bar Reggio

  • 5 out of 5 stars

This cheap-as-chips red sauce joint in Darlinghurst is perfect for long lunches with hungry hordes

Chaco Ramen

Chaco Ramen

  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • price 1 of 4

Keita Abe’s tiny Darlinghurst restaurant is leading Sydney’s new wave of ramen

Bar Vincent

Bar Vincent

  • price 2 of 4

The mood might be old-school Melbourne laneway, but this classy Darlinghurst diner feels like a Sydney institution

Indian Home Diner

Indian Home Diner

  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • price 1 of 4

The orange neon signage and lacklustre shopfront may not look like anything special, but anyone who’s tried an Indian kebab from here knows that this...

Bill & Toni's

Bill & Toni's

  • price 1 of 4

Bill Chiappini learnt to make coffee in Kings Cross after emigrating to Sydney from Sicily in 1957. When his boss lost his café in a high-stakes poker...

Lankan Filling Station

Lankan Filling Station

  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • price 2 of 4

It doesn't matter whether it's morning, noon or night, O Tama Carey’s Sri Lankan food always delivers the goods

Dimitri's Pizzeria

Dimitri's Pizzeria

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • price 2 of 4

A Surry Hills pizza stalwart lives on in bigger, bolder Darlinghurst digs with old favourites, new additions, a banging wine list and spot-on service

Tenacious Bakehouse

Tenacious Bakehouse

  • 5 out of 5 stars

Tenacious’ brick-shaped Portuguese tarts give Sweet Belem and Tuga Pastries a run for their money

Nomidokoro Indigo

Nomidokoro Indigo

  • 4 out of 5 stars

Pull up a stool at Darlinghurst’s intimate sake and Japanese snack bar

Shadow Baking

Shadow Baking

Three of Gelato Messina’s top chefs have opened their first bakery in Darlinghurst – and it’s killer

The best bars in Darlinghurst

Shady Pines Saloon

Shady Pines Saloon

  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • price 2 of 4

In it’s sixth year this Darlo saloon is still going strong. Now that’s stamina

Love, Tilly Devine

Love, Tilly Devine

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • price 2 of 4

A new chef with a flair for elegant invention steps things up at the laneway favourite

The Waratah

The Waratah

  • 4 out of 5 stars

A double-decker bar in Sydney’s Darlinghurst has quickly become a cornerstone in the community

Shopping in Darlinghurst

Stoneheart

Stoneheart

This colourful, street-front space is an easy ten-minute walk from Town Hall Station and it’s open seven days week. The current roster of...

My Plants and Garden Centre

My Plants and Garden Centre

This tiny shop front on a corner opposite the National Art School packs a lot of  lush greenery into very limited space. The savvy use of footpath and...

Floreat

Floreat

Find fresh blooms in their purest form at this Darlinghurst florist

What's on in Darlinghurst

Dale Frank: Growers and Showers

Dale Frank: Growers and Showers

Get lost in this brightly colourful, vividly viscous and wildly absurd showcase from one of Australia's most important contemporary artists

Darlinghurst
Drag Queen Walking Tour

Drag Queen Walking Tour

Do a walking tour of Sydney's secret queer history led by a famous drag queen

Darlinghurst

Arts and culture in Darlinghurst

National Art School

National Art School

Housed in the historic walls of the old Darlinghurst Gaol, the National Art School is the oldest, most prestigious visual arts institute in Australia, with...

Chalk Horse

Chalk Horse

This contemporary art gallery was started by artists Jasper Knight, Oliver Watts, Julian Meagher and Dougal Phillips in 2007, and showcases emerging...

Eternity Playhouse

Eternity Playhouse

The Eternity Playhouse is situated in a restored and renovated heritage-listed building from 1887, formerly operating as the Baptist Tabernacle. The venue is...

Stanley Street Gallery

Stanley Street Gallery

This multidisciplinary gallery is owned and curated by artist pals and former SCA students Liza Feeney and Merilyn Bailey – who also run their...