Come to this pared-back hidey-hole in one of Sydney’s coolest neighbourhoods for the frisky wines and breezy cocktails and stay for the clever wood-fired snackage.
In theory, Poly is the little sister to restaurateur Mat Lindsay’s fiery flagship restaurant, Ester in Chippendale (Poly-Ester – get it?), but this buzzing wine bar, dug into a semi-basement underneath Paramount House Hotel, held its own from day one. It may be sparse on the décor front – the space is more or less just concrete, two bars, a strip of banquettes and some tables – but this means the food and wine (as well as Lindsay’s open-plan, wood-fired kitchen that glows at the back) take centre-stage.
It’s a wine bar, sure, but Mat Lindsay is a food guy and the snacks here are anything but an afterthought. There are always around six easy, eat-at-the-bar small dishes on offer such as silky beef tartare beefed up, if you will, with wedges of cheesy toast, or toasts layered with anchovies and thick, almost cheese-like tranches of egg butter (some version of the latter is almost always on the menu). Then, if you’re really hungry and have someone to share it with, order something more substantial such as a Moreton Bay bug dripping with hot sauce butter or a thumping great kilo of Westholme T-bone. Most dishes benefit enormously from a side order of wood-fired fermented potato bread for mopping up sauces and any other savoury bits that have defied your fork.
