Big Poppa's | Italian Restaurant | Cocktail Bar | CBD | Broadsheet Sydney | Broadsheet
Updated: 23 May 2024

Tuesday
5pm3am
96 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst
Temporarily Closed

The Latest

May 2024 update : Big Poppa’s is closing temporarily due to ongoing development of the block around the venue. The team plans to reopen as soon as possible – until then check out these excellent bars and restaurants nearby.

Features
tick-imageDj
tick-imageItalian
tick-imageDine At The Bar
tick-imageLate Night Dining
tick-imageSet Menu Option
tick-imageTakes Reservations

Since 2016, Italian joint Big Poppa’s has been proudly flying the flag for late-night dining and dancing in a city that’s not necessarily renowned for either. Upstairs is a mostly Italian restaurant, with a classic black-and-white look and some Chianti bottles around for character. Downstairs has more of a cocktail-bar-meets-nightclub vibe; enhanced by dim lighting and leather booths.

The main menu sports about a dozen options, more than half of those containing cheese. But things get really serious in the dairy department on the chef’s cheese selection – which might include anything from a French cremeux de bourgogne, a soft triple-cream cow’s milk cheese, to a pecorino il predicatore, an Italian semi-hard sheep milk cheese pressed with Tuscan grapes.

Springing for a couple of pastas is a very good idea here. The hand-cut pappardelle with lamb shoulder ragu has been a hit from day one, and seasonal options might include a pink peppercorn cacio e pepe featuring curly mafaldine. Other mains range from a hunters chicken to a hulking pork chop with Jerusalem artichoke, caper and sage brown butter.

Amazingly, you can partake in a few cocktails and drops from Big Poppa’s extensive, multinational wine list right up until closing time. But if you roll in early, there’s one hell of a happy hour in store.

Fair warning: you’d better like hip-hop. That’s mostly all that plays at Big Poppa’s, which is named after The Notorious B.I.G. track of the same name.

MORE FROM BROADSHEET

VIDEOS

More Guides

RECIPES

Never miss an opening, gig or sale.

Subscribe to our newsletter.