Mille Vini Pasta & Wine Bar

Offering a classic trattoria experience on Crown Street – aka Surry Hills’ popular eat street – Mille Vini (which means “a thousand wines” in Italian) has been a go-to wine bar for locals for many years. And thanks to a recent refurb, the venue is more of a must-visit than ever.

Head chef Francesco Di Gioia (who has formerly worked in Sydney stalwarts Fred’s and Charlie Parker’s) has taken the restaurant-bar back to its roots, dishing up plates from all over Italy, such as anchovy crostini, freshly shucked oysters, heirloom tomato carpaccio and handcrafted pastas like prawn and lemon linguine and ricotta tortelli topped with pork ragu. Leave space for dessert: the lemon sorbet, panna cotta, and limoncello and raspberry tiramisu (and a hazelnut espresso martini nightcap) are well worth lingering longer.

Happy hour is available from 5pm-6.30pm every Monday to Thursday – enjoy a handpicked wine paired with a bar snack for $14, the perfect way to clock off work. Or drop by between 6.30pm-9.30pm on Wednesdays for live jazz and a dirty martini.