Poly

Mat Lindsay and his team changed the dining game with Ester, one of the city’s most acclaimed restaurants. Poly, a wine bar and restaurant, is less formal, looser and complements Ester. It’s housed in the Paramount House Hotel and so also serves food to hotel guests.

This is not the place to drink big-name legacy wines. As at Ester, the list by co-owner Julien Dromgool is populated with small-scale producers, usually employing organic and/or biodynamic growing practices paired with minimal intervention in the winery. Organised under useful headings such as “light and fresh” and “rich and textural”, it includes bottles from across Europe and Australia, plus a smattering of sake.

Joining the 160-plus rotating list of bright, tart, fizzy, bold and beautiful drops (with a good range available by the glass) is a shorter but similarly geared list of beers, spirits and cocktails. For example, you might find Wildflower beer from Marrickville on tap.

The succinct, wine-friendly menu is made up of snacks cooked in a custom-built hearth, with all of the flair you’d expect from Ester. Signatures include a fried potato dish, topped with a salted egg yolk and a crown of chives. Other highlights might include dry aged beef tartare with horseradish and fried bread; smoked and glazed eggplant; and Moreton Bay Bug served with fermented hot sauce butter.