BETA BAR, SYDNEY

Up an unmarked staircase next to Sydney’s Greek diner, Alpha, sits a stripped-back affair that pours a potent cocktail menu; a place where the key ingredient of the Pisco Sour is sourced from South America and where we can be found upending its house special, the Dirty Greek Martini. Beta’s built on the foundations of a traditional Greek mezze bar – so as much as the place is about drinking, it’s also very much about eating, with incredible fresh local ingredients that overcome any staid thoughts on Aussie-Greek fare. That means rock oysters with cucumber, green olive, rose and sumac, slow-cooked lamb pastries with spice-roasted sweetbreads, eggplant and pomegranate and smoked fetta custard with duck skin crisps, quince, lemon salt and Aleppo pepper.