Poly Surry Hills- a natural wine bar with a coal-fired kitchen and cult status snacks
Poly is a restaurant and natural wine bar on the ground floor of the Paramount House building in Surry Hills, from chef Mat Lindsay and sommelier Julien Dromgool, the team behind acclaimed fine diner Ester. It bills itself as a wine bar first and a restaurant second, with a light-filled, subterranean space of communal tables, banquettes and a wall-length wine rack, all built around an open kitchen powered by a coal-fired grill.
The menu changes almost daily, but the fried potato with salted egg yolk has reached cult status and is a near-permanent fixture. Other dishes worth chasing include smoked carrot with burnt coriander paste and labneh, Murray cod with brown butter and native spice, and slow-roasted lamb with capers and chicken jus, all built on Lindsay's signature notes of smoke and umami.
The wine list, curated by Dromgool, draws exclusively from organic and biodynamic producers, and is considered one of the more serious natural wine lists in the city. Poly is fully licensed with no BYO, and its apolytivo hour, Monday to Thursday 5-6pm and Friday 4-6pm, offers wine, beer, cocktails and snacks at lower prices for those after a quicker, cheaper visit.
Quick Bites
EAT: Fried potato with salted egg yolk. The dish that put Poly's kitchen on the map.
DRINK: Apolytivo hour. Wine, beer, cocktails and snacks at reduced prices, Monday to Thursday 5-6pm, Friday 4-6pm.
PLAY: Walk in without a booking and grab a seat at the communal tables by the open kitchen — same-day walk-ins are always welcome based on availability.
VIBE CHECK: A cosy, subterranean room of polished concrete, communal tables and a red door, unpretentious but serious about its wine and its fire-cooked food.
