Dean And Nancy On 22

From the team that gave Sydney Maybe Sammy, Dean and Nancy on 22 is a fancy hotel lobby bar, delivering a slick spin on the Maybe Sammy brand of award-winning cocktail drama from within the brand new A by Adina hotel. 

Striking a chord between elegant and stuffy (so hard to do), Dean and Nancy is equal parts playful and polished, under the slogan “you’ve got to know the rules to break the rules”.

From the lobby of the new luxury apartment hotel on Hunter Street in the CBD, a gleaming brass staircase ascends to the 120-seater bar, which has been designed by George Livissianis (Sammy Junior, Chin Chin, The Apollo). Expect a black and gold palette, low leather banquettes, intimate lamplit tables for two, and a view of the twinkling city skyline.

Maybe Sammy's creative director Andrea Gualdi has crafted 15 new signature concoctions, including some high roller cocktails made with super-premium spirits and non-alcoholic cocktails too.

Try the Coffee Champagne cocktail, where—mysteriously—your hands become the garnish. The “Rolling A Double” comes with a pair of dice; roll a double and you’ll win a cocktail upgrade.

To eat, legendary Sydney chef Jane Strode has wielded her decades of experience in some of the country’s best restaurants to create a menu of bold, but simple snacks. Forget arancini, the “Fireball,” as its name might imply, is a real knockout bar snack—a ball of whipped cream cheese, nduja, marjoram, and lemon that’s wrapped in a nest of Kataifi pastry, baked until almost molten, and served on a dab of tomato jam with pickles.

Image credit: Steven Woodburn