The Owl House

Worn wood bar stools, low jazz not overpowered even though there’s a full bar. Exquisite drinks mixed by a jovial chap and $ 10 classic cocktails til 6.
Instantly smitten. Lit by candles and red neon I know tonight will be a special evening.
Our hostess leads us upstairs to a small dining area. And though the seats are a little uncomfortable its cozy.
Two oxtail croquettes and the charcuterie plate are placed first. The croquettes have a thick crunchy outer layer and a steaming rich, smokey and oozing oxtail filling. How did the chef balance the two so well? The wild boar charcuterie samples home made mortadella & rillettes.
Delicious pastas and salads and more!
Leaving stuffed we thank the bar man for his help and we’ll be back again

I had a pleasant, casual meal here with a mate early on a Sunday evening. I thought the food was very refined with an interesting combination of textures and flavours. Amir provided us with friendly and efficient service. I’m curious to come back for the whole tasting menu, though I hear it can get pretty busy in this cute and tiny place.

The environment is cool and chill. I was looking forward to trying this spot. The bartender upon entry was very welcoming.
Once we sat down, the waitress was basically a robot. No personality and no regard for decent service.
We went to raise an issue with the waitress and then owner stepped in, who happened to be eating across the way. His approach was really unprofessional, trying to convince us we were wrong. I also felt like he was evaluating our experience the whole meal
The food wasn’t bad however, enjoyable, but nothing to make me go back again.

I have had the pleasure of eating at L’Arpege in Paris, a 3-​star Michelin rated restaurant. So imagine my surprise when I ate at a quaint, funky resto in Sydney where the tasting menu (with either accompanying wine OR cocktails) was a very close competitor. The food was ambitious, daring and unusual. Both the wine pairings and cocktail pairings were excellent (one can choose at each course which pairing sounds more appetizing). The service was impeccable. The ambience is phenomenal! You’re eating upstairs in a converted terrace with room for only a dozen tables — that amazing food had to get upstairs every time! I was blown away by this restaurant. A must when you’re in Sydney.

Sandwiched between a gym and a house of ill repute, this is a high-​end restaurant inside a small two story terrace that combines cutting edge dishes with smart wine parings and a level of service that should serve as a benchmark for the Sydney industry … {click link below to full review}

So many things wrong with this place I don’t know where to begin
1. Cakeage… has anyone ever heard of the word cakeage before? Well this place charges $ 87 cakeage for a party of 27. Note to all Unilocalers… DO NOT CELEBRATE YOUR BIRTHDAY HERE… unless you don’t want to cut a cake in which case complaint 1 does not apply to you
2. So I mentioned party of 27… or was that 35? They are so bad a maths here they thought we had 35 people and so charged us for 35people instead of 27. How do you even get something like that so wrong? Note to all Unilocalers… DO NOT COME HERE WITH MORE THAN 10 PPL. They probably can’t count past the number of fingers on their hands.
3. There is no private function booking here despite what they advertise. One waiter told us that we’d caused them a lot of grief because they had to turn away customers for the private function. Note to all Unilocalers… DO NOT BOOK A PRIVATE FUNCTION HERE.
$ 600 later = this unhappy review.

For some time, dinner at The Owl House has been on my (never-​ending) list of things to do in Sydney. Especially after hearing they were awarded ‘Best Bar with Food’ in the 2012 SMH Good Food Guide (my bible), not a bad achievement in their first year of business.
The night was wet, grey and dreary, yet it somehow seemed the perfect weather to be checking out this cosy bar and restaurant. The Owl House is a small bar downstairs, with a dining room upstairs, and has a focus on exceptional food. I’m not talking your standard gastro-​pub fare, just check out their degustation menu with either matching wine or cocktails, if you don’t believe me.
Now, I did say the downstairs bar is small. It would fit 15 people at most, and you get the idea a great deal of them are local. But, that’s the charm of The Owl House, it’s a cosy, intimate space, and that’s why you’ll keep returning. The vibe is chilled and relaxed, complete with mismatched furniture and exposed brick walls. It’s not fancy, and it doesn’t pretend to be. But, you’ll love it for it.
My group and I decide on the set menu (for groups of 8 or more), at $ 45 per person.
The Menu:
Terracotta baked bread with olive oil & zaatar Sashimi and tartare of kingfish with pickled enoki, shaved radish, cucumber, lime & chive sauce
Roasted baby beetroot salad with grapes, fetta & rocket dressed with apple vinaigrette.
Pan-​fried Cone Bay barramundi with baby artichokes, grilled pencil leek, celeriac & burnt butter sauce
Madiera & sherry braised pork cheek with pork fennel cigar, celery & jamon crumbes
Following our feast, two members of our dining group still had room to sample a dessert. I was not one of those people, but I’m assured it was ‘worth the fat’. (Note: this is my (granted non-​technical) gauge for the level of success of a dish. It is either ‘worth the fat’, or ‘not worth the fat’. It works for me).
The food was delicious, and the set menu provides the perfect opportunity to try a variety of dishes on the menu. The food was well presented, with great flavours in each dish, and I love the idea of sharing the dishes with your table, rather than each having separate plates. It adds to the intimacy of the evening.
I found the service to be personalised, friendly and attentive. They seemed to want you to feel right at home, and I certainly felt that way. Beware navigating the staircase after a glass of wine or two on your way out though, no easy feat — especially in platform heels!
This is a great option for a casual dinner with a group of friends. If the downstairs bar is too small, you can always pop to Love Tilly Devine (91 Crown Lane, Darlinghurst) for a drink, following your meal. Come to think of it, I must review that bar soon.

These guys have an SMH hat for making cocktails. I had the best Magherita I have ever had here.
The service and friendliness is most authentic and welcome in a part of Sydney like this. You could easily visit alone and know you could have a nice chat with the bar person, mainly because if you are downstairs you can only sit along the bar, so you are served ‘Cheers’ style and it feels quite American. It’s nice and dark at night with a decent dim red light, the barman walking up and down, serving everybody and chatting to them warmly (I’m not special, they do this for everyone).
The bartender Owen also let me have a try of his special ‘drunken cherries’ that he puts into the cocktails like the pisco sour (own recipe) and I was very impressed, he was genuinely pleased to share his knowledge and I was glad to meet him.
Furthermore I like Owl House because it takes bookings — I know I could go back with less patient friends, knowing I could get them a spot to sit. I tried the gnocchi (off a friend’s plate) and I would return for that alone, I have heard from others that the food is of an excellent standard. You are also able to get tables upstairs for food, away from the bar.
Owl House is not as hip-​fancy as some other ‘small bars’ in the area but I almost like it better — the drink, food and quality of customer care is much higher than I ever anticipated.
Don’t come in a big group, 3 – 4 people at a time to be safe.
Don’t even think of trying to park that car.

The Owl House on Crown Street in Darlinghurst is another of these new style small bars popping up all over Sydney, and small it is.
Downstairs is so small actually it will barely cater for yourself if you head over with a group of friends so best to try head upstairs. Be careful on your way back down though as after a couple of drinks those stairs can be a bit tricky to handle, especially for the girls wearing heels so I’m told!
It’s a pretty cool place and well worth trying some of the food on the menu including the nachos and dumplings which accompanied the drinks (cocktails!) well. Just watch yourself on the way down those stairs. Maybe wear the flats!

I’m meeting a couple of pals here and as usual I’m early, and they’re late. The ground floor bar is dark and moody and just what I’m up for. I settle in with a glass of wine, get chatting to the waiter who reserves a table upstairs for dinner… even though I’d rather hang at the bar. I get the feeling he’s just trying to keep space clear at the bar to make way for fresh meat. My mates arrive and we head upstairs, but all the atmos is lost… no mood lighting… no people… No need to book a table cuz the place is empty which confirms my theory. Making way for fresh meat. So we decide to muscle in on the downstairs action whether they like it or not. Wise choice. Ground floor is hands down where it’s at. Plus the barman is super cool and becomes our new friend. Share style plates are larger than the prices imply. This place is seriously good value. I revisit the menu online, and the options have evolved as you’d expect… with some welcome little additions. Starters or little bar snacks that sound too good to possibly pass up. Hello chorizo and manchego croquette $ 3.50. And freshly shucked oyster with a cloud of tequila, lemon and lime soda $ 4. Time or for round Owl House round two me thinks. Hoot hoot.

I select this small bar and restaurant on the evening of the day it’s announced for the 2012 Good Food Guide and I’m slightly apprehensive of sharing the place with a mass of people. I have chosen The Owlhouse upon recommendation to take my girlfriend on a belated birthday celebration.
We know the word has definitely spread across the city as The Owlhouse quickly fills with eager hipsters ready to sample those much praised cocktails reviewed in foodie and beverage blogs. We order the owlhouse version of a cosmopolitan with citroen vodka, cointreau, fresh squeezed Lime and spiced cranberry purée Cognac. I sample the cocktail, deal with the envy and then try to match her by ordering a coffee cocktail which has port and egg white foam sprinkled with nutmeg it is just as good if not better for this self confessed coffee addict.
Overzealous with hunger we mistake the dumpling for a plural and under the ambience lighting find ourselves checking the menu. However the quail dumpling is impeccable in texture and a somewhat smoky characteristic as its parties in its little plate with black pudding, scallop congee and shitake mushrooms.
To my embarrassment we enjoy the wine so much we actually walk out of the restaurant without paying and after discussion I call the Owlhouse to make payment. The owner is very forgiving even by the fact that we forgot about order of extra cheese platters. The Owlhouse is a rarity and unique and very much welcomed addition to Sydney nightlife.