Get us in your inbox

Search
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
Advertising

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

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 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

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...

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

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...

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

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

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

Big Poppa's

Big Poppa's

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • price 2 of 4

Sydney bar royalty have opened a restaurant on Oxford Street. But have they pulled it off?

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

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

Oxford Art Factory

Oxford Art Factory

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • price 1 of 4

Where would we be without this Sydney institution that refuses to let the music die?

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

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...

Blue Spinach

Blue Spinach

Blue Spinach sells high-end designer labels and contemporary fashion fit for a second life

What's on in 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

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...

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...

APY Gallery

APY Gallery

This Indigenous artist owned gallery showcases work from the APY lands in remote Central Australia

Cement Fondu

Cement Fondu

This Paddington exhibition and live arts space is committed to exploring creative possibilities