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[title]There's a lot to love about Paddo cocktail bar El Primo Sanchez. Which is why they win our award for Time Out’s 2023 Bar of the Year, as well as our Cocktail Bar of the Year (cheers!).
It's a bar by the Maybe Sammy Group (Maybe Sammy, Dean and Nancy on 22) and Public Hospitality Group (Oxford House, the Strand Hotel, Lady Hampshire).
Let’s start with the most important bit: the karaoke room. The entry is found at the back of the tangerine-coloured room lit up by no less than 15 glittering disco balls. And yes, we’ve heard it’s only meant to be for two people. But one night when we visited, we counted at least five people stumbling out – smiling, sweaty and looking accomplished, like they’d just run the City to Surf.
Housed in a historic 1940's pub (formally the Rose Hotel) on Oxford Street, El Primo Sanchez is fun in every sense of the word. At night, the ceiling flickers with neon-rainbow lights like the ones from your school disco. As well as the tangerine room, there’s a cobalt-blue room, a shade similar to the colour of Frida Kahlo’s house. Bartenders look dapper in canary-yellow blazers. One of our cocktails was made from tortillas. And there’s a button you can press for tequila in the karaoke room.
El Primo Sanchez is definitely fun. But it’s got a lot more going for it, too.
El Primo’s team is behind some of Sydney’s best bars. And news dropped earlier this year that one of their bartenders – Eduardo Conde – was crowned Australian Bartender of the Year for 2023. So, the chance of having a tasteless, watery and lacklustre cocktail here is about as high as Mr Trump admitting fault.
The times we visited we tried the Gimlet El Maiz made with Los Siete Misterios Doba Yej mezcal, Lillet Blanc aperitif and tortilla cordial. It had a perfect balance of sweetness, with a slightly nutty flavour and smoky undertones thanks to the mezcal, and it brought us right back to Oaxaca City’s cobblestone streets, circa 2019.
Our Slushy Blushy was happiness in a glass. The colour of watermelon, the icy, boozy drink is made from Patrón Silver tequila, watermelon rosé, strawberry gum and lime. It was bursting with summer fruit flavour and was refreshing and not too sweet. And our Horchata Colada – a grown-up version of the traditional rice-based drink enjoyed in Mexico – tasted like a Bounty.
As well as first-class drinks and a rocking vibe, the food at El Primo Sanchez is seriously tasty.
Take the tuna tostadas – three round corn tortillas topped with soy-habanero mayo, ruby tuna, thinly sliced wasabi leaf and furikake. The creamy mayo is packed full of umami, the fish is fresh, the fried corn tortilla provides crunch – and it’s a remix of Japanese and Mexican cuisines that we can get behind.
We also loved the Wagyu torta – a mighty sandwich with black beans, pulled beef that is deeply savoury, juicy and well seasoned, stringy Oaxacan cheese, avocado and tomato. The baguette was fresh with a slight crunch, lime juice provided balance and fatty oil dripped down our elbow.
The story goes that P Sanchez was a slightly mysterious, sometimes loose and always dapper amigo. And while the jury’s still out on whether Sanchez was a real or fictional character, we’d love to say gracias for being the inspiration behind such a cracking bar.
We’re making a beeline to the karaoke room. Let’s go girls.
Read our full review of El Primo Sanchez here.