The vibe of this list is plain and simple fun. Which, if we’re looking to sum up what we want from a dalliance with a knockout new bar, is nailing the brief. Only two from this eight-strong clutch are from first-time bar hounds – one family affair in Marrickville, and a double-decker boozer in Darlinghurst that fast became a favourite.

The well-oiled teams are demonstrating exactly why they’re going round again. Among them is a subterranean spot from an authority on tequila, a micro-pub pushing Guinness to centrestage and a spot that does a psychedelic dance between cocktail bar and performance space.

Drinks up, Sydney.

While Cantina Ok has long been the centre of Mucho Group’s tequila-verse, this spacious underground den might realign the stars in a year or two. Hidden off Pitt Street, it’s got the Mucho calling cards in spades. Classic and occasionally bonkers Margaritas poured over snowy hand-hewn ice. Bags and bags and more bags of spicy popcorn. And of course, hundreds of agave spirits sourced from the group’s legendary research trips to Mexico. But it’s the very green aesthetic my Irish roots are crushing on the hardest. I’ve never been to Mexico, but Centro weirdly feels like home.

– Dan Cunningham, directory editor

Why is The Hook on this list? Simple: I love it. I love the horseshoe bar. I love the devotion to oysters. I love the vintage champagne flutes. I love that owner David Spanton is loudly proud of its Kings Cross postcode. I love that I had to ask what a Black Velvet was (a cocktail that mixes Guinness and prosecco, if you didn’t know). The third (and biggest) in Spanton’s stable of neon-lit bars completes a little Bermuda Triangle of drinking dens, and it’s got live piano nights, a theatrical shucking bar and a kitschy collection of oceanic curiosities across the walls. It’s all-in: hook, line and sinker.

– Grace MacKenzie, Sydney food and drink editor

We heard rumours of the Merivale newcomer when it was all but here. It’s a spot for a drink – designed by cocktail lead James Irvine – while you listen to cuts from an expansive vinyl collection in a room awash with pastel pink. While the Spicy Marg-adjacent option taps into the hot honey trend with clarified habanero-infused agave, and the Old Fashioned is sweetened with a koji caramel (and Koko Black choc atop the block of ice), the drink that this editor thinks back to is the yuzu-laced house highball. It’s on tap, sans booze – so you can top it up with your liquor of choice (or take it as is if you’re laying low this month). Hungry? A hefty Filet-O-Fish spring roll or swirl of soft serve are your best bets.

– Grace MacKenzie, Sydney food and drink editor

I’m not really a sports fan – but I’m a big fan of this ’80s sports-bar fantasy on Enmore Road. Players from Jacoby’s, Earl’s Juke Joint and Cliff Dive are involved, and it shows on the drinks list. Chablis by the glass. Grifter and Guinness on tap. An Irish coffee spiked with Shanky’s Whip I’m currently obsessed with. But everything else about The Magpie is decidedly un-serious, from the daggy RSL carpets to the TV screens blaring god knows what footy code. But I’m not parking at the ’Pie to watch State of Origin or see some UFC fighter get their head kicked in. I’m just swooping in for a good time.

– Dan Cunningham, directory editor

Enmore Road’s small bar scene exploded in the past 12 months, with more than one operator doubling (or in The Magpie’s case, tripling) their fun. Fortunate Son’s Dylan Howarth is among them, and he’s opened a refined sequel to his dive-ish cocktail joint directly across the road. Palomino is a different beast, flaunting a staggering green marble bar and boozy slushie machines churning away behind it. It’s giving mid-century-modern saloon. But most of all, it’s got the Son’s knack for five-star cocktails — and surely a few headaches the next day.

– Dan Cunningham, directory editor

There’s nothing quite like Pleasure Club. A bold statement, but one that I think holds true. As with any watering hole worth visiting, the drinks are a focus – look to the riff on Passion Pop (where passionfruit marigold joins clarified passionfruit juice, yuzushu and lemon myrtle Campari), the Chicken Parm topped with a skewered pickle, and the “everything” Martini. Then, drink in hand, watch as creatives of all sorts take to the stage. Perhaps it’ll be Frank Sultana or a flares-wearing band dedicated to ’70s rock. The sword-swallowing Porcelain Alice is in residence too. No two nights are the same at the club, but all of them will be pleasurable.

– Grace MacKenzie, Sydney food and drink editor

Yes, we know. The ’Tah opened last year. But it was just a touch too late to make the deadline for our best bar openings of 2023, and it needs its time in the sun. The double-decker Australiana beauty spruiks everything we love: a snacky menu (hello to the excellent scallops-squared), a wraparound verandah and an ever-changing drinks list that’s as cheery to drink from as it is a showcase of skill. Co-owner Evan Stoeve, a heavyweight in the bar scene, captains an upstairs-only cocktail list that, each season, is dedicated to a different Aussie region. Head in now for a drop of the Hunter Valley in your glass – make it between 4pm and 6pm if you want to nab the cheesy whopper of a burg on happy hour coin, too.

– Grace MacKenzie, Sydney food and drink editor

I would never – not in a million years – open a bar with my mum. But not everyone feels that way, and so we have mother-daughter team Catherine and Ali Gibson Roy to thank for this two-storey neighbourhood bar bringing good wine and Med-inspired plates to an old bubble tea shop on Illawarra Road. Oozing heritage charm, it’s the kind of place you come for a snack and a glass of something skinsy, run into your neighbours and end up staying for a bowl of spaghetti puttanesca. It’s beautiful stuff, as the lore behind the name suggests.

– Dan Cunningham, directory editor

Additional reporting by Lucy Brewer, Callum McDermott and Pilar Mitchell.