Hot List Update: Autumn’s Hottest Happy Hours

The Hot List is the definitive guide to Sydney’s most essential food and drink experiences, updated weekly. Learn more.

This week’s Hot List activity

• Most trending restaurant: Bessie’s
• Most trending bar: Letra House
• Most trending cafe: Cafe Cressida

Happy hours to put a smile on your dial

Autumn in Sydney might be the best season of the whole year because there’s something for everyone. The first half usually out-summers summer, in terms of both sun and heat. Plus, the water’s generally also warmer. Then, after the midway-point Anzac Day long weekend blow-out, layering-lovers get to throw on their big coats and jumpers. You really get to have your cake and eat it too in autumn.

And speaking of eating, this is a fantastic time to get out there and try somewhere new (or just hammer your favourites). There are no more office parties, silly-season shindigs, hen’s nights or buck’s parties clogging up Sydney’s bars and restaurants. Tables are easier to come by, and a lot of top spots – including plenty of Hot-Listed faves – are wheeling out some stellar deals to tempt you away from the couch.

Here are some of the best Happy Hour deals on The Hot List to try this autumn.

The happy hour that sold 70,000 oysters last year

Jane’s Australiano hour has been a Surry Hills staple since it debuted in 2023. Every place with a happy hour likes to call itself “Sydney’s best happy hour,” but Jane’s claim has some serious numbers behind it. In 2024, Jane sold 4100 Martinis, 7600 croquettes, 70,000 Sydney Rock Oysters and 10,500 Australianos – the neighbourhood restaurant’s signature drink.

We’re willing to bet that the vast majority of those sales came during its happy hour. It runs from 5pm to 6pm from Monday through to Thursday and then an extra hour is tacked on for the weekend – 4pm to 6pm – from Friday through to Sunday. With drinks around the $10 range and heaps of cheap snacks, this is a happy hour you’ll want to book in for.

The hidden Newtown classic

Let’s be real. The point of a happy hour is for the drinks to make you so happy that you keep on imbibing well after the deal’s evaporated. In that spirit, Earl’s Juke Joint’s happy hour is as classic as they come: $8 tap beers, $10 wines and $15 cocktails from Tuesday to Sunday. It’s as if between the hours of 6pm and 8pm we get to time travel back to the early 2010s (and its prices). If for whatever reason you’ve yet to stop by Sydney’s best (only?) speakeasy hidden behind a butcher’s facade, consider this the excuse you needed.

Pints for schooner prices at Enmore’s smallest pub

A few hundred metres away, over in Enmore, Earl’s younger brother The Magpie does a great daily happy hour. Fittingly for a sports bar, it’s all about the beer. From Tuesday to Sunday, from 4pm to 6pm, you can stop by this pint-sized pub for a pint-sized pint – all at schooner prices. It’s a pretty great way to catch the second half of the afternoon’s match on a weekend – or an excellent excuse to skive off work early on a weekday.

Manly vibes without the Manly prices

It feels like Busta’s been a Manly classic since the day it opened. The seaside trattoria fits into the neighbourhood so well and locals have taken to it with extreme gusto. And Busta’s weekend aperitivo hour is one of its most beloved fixtures. Every Saturday and Sunday from 4pm to 5pm, you can get $3 oysters, $5 snacks and $10 spritzes. This is one you’re going to want to book, especially if you’re coming from elsewhere. You’ve got to show up pretty early for any hope of snaking a table from a faithful regular.

The cheapest way to try one of the world’s best cocktail bars

Some places, particularly prestigious ones, steer clear of putting on deals, for fear of tarnishing their premium reputations. But if Sydney’s most acclaimed cocktail bar, Maybe Sammy, can do one of the best happy hours in Sydney, what’s everyone else’s excuse? Head to The Rocks between 4.30pm and 5.30pm from Tuesday to Saturday for $7 mini cocktails including eucalyptus Gimlets, Irish Coffees and jasmine Negronis. Plus, on Saturdays there are $2 oysters.

Pre-dinner drinks in Redfern

Checking out Island Radio, the good times Southeast Asian restaurant in Redfern’s Wunderlich Lane? Then the best way to go is to book after 6pm, because from 4pm to 6pm, at upstairs bar Baptist Street Rec Club, there’s a happy hour worth making time for, with $10 spritzes, and $7 beers and house wines. Careful though, you may not even want to head downstairs once you get started.

How to drink in Double Bay without spending your entire salary

Double Bay being expensive has become a bit of a meme at this point. Until you go and eat there and you remember, actually, yeah, it’s not a joke, spending time here can seriously bruise your wallet. But it’s still home to some of Sydney’s very best restaurants and bars.

Like Bobbie’s, the basement cocktail den from Neil Perry and the owners of legendary New York bar Dante. A drink here is a truly memorable and worthwhile experience. And its golden hour is, frankly, a bit of a steal. Come here from Wednesday to Sunday between 4pm and 5.30pm, or on Friday and Saturday between 2.30pm and 4pm, and you’ll be treated to $10 cocktails and free bar snacks.

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