Wyno x Bodega

Bodega was a Surry Hills tapas restaurant that, when it opened in 2006, instantly became one of Sydney’s best-known and loved restaurants. Co-owners Elvis Abrahanowicz, Ben Milgate and Joe Valore are also the trio behind Porteño, another Surry Hills institution. In 2019, on Bodega’s birthday, the group decided to call it a day and move out of its Commonwealth Street premises.

Now, Bodega lives on in a new form. It moved into then-wine bar and bottle shop Wyno (also owned by the trio), to create Bodega x Wyno. It’s a hybrid of what both venues did best. From Bodega, come the innovative and inherently snackable tapas plates, and from Wyno, the wine (of course.)

Now, you can take a seat at this seemingly always-busy eatery or browse the narrow bottle shop that takes up the other half of the space. With a strong focus on wine every bottle on the list –which ranges from Australian pét-nats to European syrahs and chardonnays – is available by the glass. If you like what you taste, you can take a bottle home.

The menu changes weekly rather than seasonally. There’s still room for two old favourites though: the fish fingers (raw sashimi kingfish on charred warmed toast rubbed with garlic) and the banana split (the dessert was once removed from the menu but reinstated after a petition was launched) make regular appearances.

Other dishes you might find include pork sausage with cider sauce and octopus with ricotta, pepita mole (a traditional Mexican sauce) and roast tomato.