Odd Culture

If you’re looking for Sydney’s best beer venue, you’ve found a strong contender in Odd Culture. This cavernous bar and diner by the hospitality group of the same name (who’s stable includes Woolloomooloo icon the Old Fitzroy and Newtown dive bar the Duke of Enmore) is inspired by an overarching theme of fermentation.

For the beer selection, that means 12 rotating taps pouring wild-fermented lambic styles from around the world, plus more approachable options like Reschs. Cocktails carry the fermentation theme: spritzes with tequila and house-made tepache (a Mexican beverage made with fermented pineapple rind) and sour Negronis mixing lambic vermouth. There’s also an extensive list of bottled beers, farmhouse ciders, natural wines and interesting spirits.

The menu, overseen by group executive chef James MacDonald (ex-Restaurant Hubert), is built for all day-dining and gives fermented ingredients a starring turn. You could start with some anchovy rice crackers and house-baked beer bread with cultured butter. Then follow up with large plates for the table like koji-roasted chook, and desserts including a dark chocolate pudding with whiskey miso caramel and banana gelato.

The space is bright and breezy, with enormous French windows looking out onto King Street. Timber is everywhere: a bartop made from old railway sleepers, tabletops hewn from recycled French-oak barrels, and floors from an old French barn. The building's past life is acknowledged, with the remains of the old Happy Chef logo still painted on the main wall. A six-metre-high Reschs mural lives upstairs on the mezzanine.