Escape Winter … In Sydney’s Bars

Top pub grub, a spanking beer garden and more boisterous evenings than a pirate ship make this pub a popular, eclectic haunt.

In ye olde days a tonic was a restorative, mixed to heal all pains, to sooth the mind and maybe just ease the heart. Tonic Lounge is just that: a sitting room of where pleasure and leisure are king.

The exotic mix of Eurasian food was probably the only good to come out of the Indochine occupation, and with that comes Sydney's French-Vietnamese influenced Libertine's. The dichotomy plays up in the interiors and in the menu; French liquors with Asian ingredients and fresh Vietnamese food prepared using French technique.

A pub-style hotel minus the pension day barflies: Trinity Bar and Bistro is Darlinghurst's number one bar for Irish beers, ciders on tap and pub grub without the grub.

Fun by name and fun by venue, this funky little establishment is full of vintage riff raff, cult films and cocktails with kitsch names like Baron MacFlong, Pink Fling and Madam Coco.

Welcoming a host of local and international acts, and filled to the rafters with a throng of music lovers and Guinness drinkers, The Harp is the throbbing heart of Sydney's Irish scene.

An orgy of Baroque detailing, Dome simmers with chandeliers of smoky crystal, decadent couches and flame-coloured glasses. When you've finished wiping the drool from your lapels, sit back and sip away at a cocktail confection or tuck into the tapas selection.

Q Bar, where the sumptuous leathery lounges have welcomed the buttocks of such elegant personas as Fergie, Paris "Skanks-R-Us" Hilton, and former Idoler Rob "Millsie" Mills. Still, it is filled with fashion, bootiful people and cool grooves, so make up your own mind.

The mysteriously named Zeta Bar attracts those in the know. And when it comes to surprising, new cocktails and sweeping city views, as the James Bond film goes, nobody does it better.

Smooth stylish lines combine with effortless drinks mixing to create an experience like none ever thought of by a copywriter before at this most satisfying of bars.