This cosy corner spot may be small, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in personality, with charming decor, tables set for two, and Mediterranean-style drinks and snacks to write home about.
Potts Point may be ever-changing, but you can always count on it to host an array of excellent options to quench your thirst and sate your hunger. Among them you’ll find Bar Sopra, a relative newcomer to the neighbourhood (it opened in November 2020) and a stablemate to La Bomba, a Spanish cafe two doors down in Challis Avenue that opened in late 2019. Sopra leans a little more Mediterranean than out-and-out Spanish, and veers much more towards bar than restaurant. It’s a looker, too. Floors are tiled, and seating – from banquette to bar stool – is comfortable, and with room for only 20 or so guests, things stay breezy and welcoming rather than raucous.
This is a place to sink into leather-backed chairs for refreshing cocktails, admire the artfully displayed cured meats and tins of seafood, then order a plate of them, and explore a tight but perfectly pitched list of wines making new friends at the bar. This may be a neighbourhood with no shortage of options, but Bar Sopra occupies its own niche, meaning it’s less about why you go, and more about whether you’re going to get in.
From the tiled floor, terrazzo touches and plush velvet above the bar to the low-slung leather armchairs fronting wide-open windows, Bar Sopra is a very pleasant place to be. Come for one drink, and odds are you’ll find yourself calling for another round and a plate of snacks, maybe spying a friend walking past on the street outside and making it a party.
Staff keep things decidedly low-key here, which is to say the tone is relaxed and laid-back, but there’s nothing casual about the food or drink. The presentation of dishes is taken seriously, with garnishes adding just the right amount of interest, cocktails are well balanced and chilled to perfection, and while the beer and wine lists are on the smaller side, they punch above their weight in scope and variety – all ingredients for a good time. Come pre-dinner and it’s likely you’ll return for a nightcap. Or book a spot in the knowledge that if you end up staying for a meal, you’re in very safe hands.
You can’t go wrong with an Estrella lager fresh from the tap, but why not pick a bottle of amber wine from Margaret River maker Cullen? Straight from WA’s South West, it has a blush from 10 days on skins, and is fully biodynamic, which means it’s good for you, too, right?
Cocktails? It’s a short, sharp list, but there’s no going past the Lady Marmalade, made on a vodka base that’s sweetened and enriched with peach and marmalade, then reined in just the right amount by a hit of citrus to finish. One coupe is all it takes.
There are heftier dishes on offer, but the snacks are where it’s at. Start with crisp toasts capped with roasted peppers, white anchovies and pickled onion for a salty-sweet opener, then move on to a plate of chicken-liver paté. Served with piquillo peppers, blackcurrant paste and more pickles, it’s generous, precise and full of flavour. Accessorise as you go, and don’t be afraid to ask for more toast to finish it off.
