The Beresford

Behind its polished green-tile facade on Bourke Street, The Beresford has been a fixture of Surry Hills for well over a century, first opened as a hotel more than a hundred years ago and now part of the Merivale stable since 2010. The art deco bones are still very much intact, but a proper revamp over the years has turned it into a genuine dining destination, with a modern Italian trattoria menu running alongside the classic pub offering.

The layout does a lot of the heavy lifting here. There's a buzzy front bar for a schooner and a chat, a bistro dining room when you want to properly sit down and eat, and out the back, a cobblestoned, lantern-strung beer garden wrapped in greenery and shaded by Japanese maples, easily one of the most-loved courtyards in the neighbourhood for a long, dog-friendly Sunday session. Come nightfall on weekends, the energy shifts upstairs, where Beresford Fridays and Saturdays bring in Sydney DJs spinning house, R&B and pop until late.

On the plate, expect homemade pappardelle, wood-fired pizza and a grilled rib eye with rosemary potatoes, plus lighter share plates like calamari fritti and duck liver pate with pickled pear. Daily happy hour and rotating weekly food specials make it just as easy to drop by on a Tuesday as it is to book in for a Saturday night out.