Four Sides Bar & Kitchen

Four Sides Bar and Kitchen revels in having multiple personalities. In a twist that will surely delight literature-lovers, the venue is in Hyde Park (get it?). Part bar and part restaurant, this neighbourhood spot from the team behind Bistro Francais serves small plates and mains alongside an extensive by-the-glass wine selection.

Four sides departs from the French flavours of its sibling across the road and instead experiments with other cuisines. The resulting one-page menu is brief but intricate – small plates might include fluffy potato doughnuts filled with smoked oxtail and sprinkled with Japanese furikake seasoning; or salt and pepper prawns with black garlic aioli; a perfect one-handed snack for when your other mitt is wrapped around a cold beer.

For mains, the charcoal oven is put to use on tamarind-glazed pork ribs with “atchara” (Filipino papaya pickle) and whole squid with an Asian-inspired chilli salad and peanuts. A culture-crossing large plate of varenike (Ukrainian dumplings) are served in a coconut curry bisque topped with crispy onions.

Twenty-four (mostly local) wines are on-tap and available by the glass, thanks to an argon gas system souvenired from the venue’s previous life as a wine bar. The cocktail list is stacked with classics, and there’s a new rotation of beers every few weeks.

The restaurant is named to honour the venue’s owners Fabien Streit, Nazzareno Falaschetti and Baz Rampal: three immigrants with different backgrounds and stories. The “fourth side” is the venue itself, representing a space where their cultures can co-exist. It’s multifaceted and complex in places, but cohesive and effortlessly welcoming.