Walk past PG’s and you might think it’s a library instead of a bar. The windows are blocked with a facade of books and deep-grey velvet curtains. On a busy strip across from the Newtown Hotel, and a few doors from the Marly Bar, subtlety is the point.
“We’re like a speakeasy that’s hidden in plain sight. If you want to come with us, you’re going to have to find us first,” says owner Lucas Cristofle.
In Sydney’s climate of lock out laws, Cristofle and co-owner Ben Labat thought a speakeasy vibe was appropriate. “When people say prohibition is over, I say, ‘Really? What do you call a city that tells people when and how and where to drink?’,” Cristofle says.
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SIGN UPCocktails are the focus at PG’s. Like at Cristofle’s Darlinghurst venue, Black Bottle, the creative menu changes regularly. There are unexpected ingredients, such as honeycomb in the tequila-based Rattlesnake. Another cocktail incorporates galangal (a bit like ginger) and yuzu with dark rum. Every bottle on the succinct, natural and biodynamic wine list is served by the glass, carafe or bottle, and the bar collaborates with a rotating list of local brewers. Young Henrys’ Newtowner is the inaugural beer on tap.
Chef Ricky Firth offers share plates that are too substantial to qualify as bar snacks, but not quite big enough to constitute dinner. The way around that is to come with mates and order a selection. The antipasti board and house-made chicken-liver pate are a nod to Cristofle's and Labat’s native France. There are also jaffles of spicy ‘nduja (spicy, spreadable salami) and mellow blue cheese, and Firth’s interpretation of the ubiquitous cheeseburger finished with pickles and burger sauce.
Then there’s the pippies with sobrasada, which is outstanding and served with crusty baguette, torn from the loaf. “It’s the most restaurant-y thing on the menu,” says Cristofle. “We put the fresh pippies on the grill and as they open we coat them in sobrasada, which is a spreadable hot Italian sausage.”
Named after Cristofle's and Labat’s mums Pat and Gigi, PG’s is a blend of classic and contemporary. Paintings of Napoleon in gilt frames hang on the teal-coloured walls, the furniture is dark timber and there are neon-pink lights in the shape of nude silhouettes. “The vibe is a bit like having a house party at your folks’,” he says.
To open their second venue, Cristofle and Labat scoped the city. “We wanted to go where there was a really good energy and we found that in Newtown,” Cristofle says.
Labat adds, “People are so down to earth here. They order drinks, have a nice time and even bring their empty glasses back to the bar. That community vibe is amazing for us because we love what we do and we want to connect with people.”
Hours:
Daily 4pm to late
This article first appeared on Broadsheet on August 23, 2018. Menu items may have changed since publication.
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