Odd Culture

Odd Culture is an all-day eatery and bar dedicated to all things fermented, complete with an adjoining bottlo.

Dreamt up by the Odd Culture Group, which also owns The Oxford Tavern in Petersham, The Duke of Enmore, and Woolloomooloo’s Old Fitzroy Hotel, this unique but cool and casual King Street establishment is the first in the area allowed to trade from 7am until 2am. 

"Not really a bar; not really a fine dining restaurant; not really a craft beer venue; not really a cocktail bar; not really a natural wine bar—we don't really know how to categorise it, but there is really nothing like it anywhere else in the world," says Odd Culture Group GM James Thorpe. 

In the kitchen, a pair of former Continental Deli chefs are heading up the menu with the help of James MacDonald, former head chef at Restaurant Hubert, and now executive chef for the Odd Culture Group. Under a broad fermentation theme, the team is "cooking from all inspirations—from European to Asian and beyond," MacDonald explains.

"While the menu focuses heavily on European cooking techniques, we’re using flavours and textures from everywhere and anywhere combined onto one plate. Anything goes, really.”

Meanwhile, the bar and cocktail program is led by Sam Paech (ex-Baxter Inn). Also following the wild fermentation concept, Paech has created a "sour" Negroni with an oude kriek (Belgian sour cherry lambic) vermouth, as well as a lacto-fermented strawberry daiquiri, a burnt butter Espresso Martini, and pineapple tepache made in-house.

If you love sour beers, you won't be disappointed here with an extensive range of wild ales on offer and 12 rotating taps at the bar. For the more straight-laced beer drinkers among us, you'll still find an edit of IPAs and even an ice-cold Reschs if that's your mainstay. There's also an extensive range of organic and biodynamic wine and natural ciders and sake too. 

Finally, a few doors up is the Odd Culture bottlo—which acts as an extension of the fizzy and funky bar offering, with a few added extras like fermented goods and condiments. 

Cafe trading hours will commence from Friday 5 November 2021. 

The Odd Culture bottle shop is located at 256 King Street Newtown and is open Monday through Sunday, 10am - 10pm. 

Image credit: Odd Culture