Bar Fly

ANANAS BAR
18 Argyle Street, The Rocks (02) 9259 566 ananas.com.au
ELEGANCE is when three single girls start the night with a coupe in hand. Legend has it the glass was moulded from Marie Antoinette’s left breast. In ours, we sipped the beautiful Ruinart Champagne. We settled in for more… The Art Deco mirror that hangs above the bar showed us the drink details. So our elegant evening continued with guidance from Jacopo Craboledda in selecting our canapés and cocktails: top picks – Mirabelle Martini ($17) muddled fresh red grapes, cherry plum syrup and Ciroc vodka and the signature Absolutely Ananas ($15). They make a very good Coffee Martini ($21) too. For something sweet BAR FLY finished with La Resistance, a dessert cocktail ($18) of Havana 7 year old rum, raspberries and caramelised green apple, splashes of chestnut and apple liqueur, egg white and lemon – shaken hard. Ooh la la!

STICKY BAR
182 Campbell Street (enter Taggarts Lane), Surry Hills (0416) 096 916 tablefor20.blogspot.com.au
STICKY BEC – their take on an Aperol Sour – is the cocktail the boys behind the bar named after me. Ask for one next time you’re there! While it was bloody delicious, it didn’t beat the fun I had keeping up with the bartenders downing Ferna Branca shots between cocktails. Between us, we – my friends Kari and Chris and the BAR FLY (me) – tried all the daily blackboard list of original drinks. Intelligent as well as tasty, Rodman’s Peace ($19) plum vodka, rosé, finger lime, sour was the choice. Overheard: “There’s the board, all the classics, or describe something and I’ll make it,” said cheeky cutie Yaman. Up the stairs, above community dining icon Tablefor20, the original small Sydney bar (six and a half years on) keeps coming at you – with flavour and fun.