ArgyleXchange

Bar hopping has become something of a sport in Sydney now the city's laneways and suburbs are teeming with small bars.

The concept is so du jour, Lowenbrau owner John Szangolies has fashioned a bar-hop destination all on his own - acquiring four restaurants and bars in the Argyle precinct and stitching them together.

Accordingly, Barhop has lived up to its name and given all four a try in one night - an easy feat, considering they open on to the same cobblestone courtyard in the heart of The Rocks.

This bar-hop location, however, is not for the cheapsters. Each is worth a visit on its own but if you're going to visit them all, make sure you do on pay day.

The Argyle bar is the logical ending because it stays open late.

It's a huge sandstone space dotted with hotel-lobby furniture and filled with rowdy types revving up to house music.

The food and drinks are rough and ready for the after-work crowd (buckets of chicken, average Mai Tais and so on), but it is worth exploring what else is around it first.

We start at Sake Restaurant & Bar for cocktails and bar snacks. It has always struck me as a nondescript destination in a nondescript part of town but hidden in its sandstone bowels is actually one of the best Japanese bar spots in Sydney.

Why, oh why, have I not tried a sake cocktail until now? Amazing.

The Satori (Amabuki Junmai Omachie Ichigo sake, Lillet blanc, orange peel, fresh grapes, $18) was divine - an intriguing and delicate balance of sweet and citrus, beautifully countered by the crunch of grapes.

Other cocktails play around with Japanese liqueurs such as shochu, umeshu and beautiful Choya plum wine.

For the party-hards there are sake bombs served at the bar (draught Stiegl with a shot of sake, $10) but we scour the pages-long menu and settle on an easy-drinking Amabuki Daiginjo sake ($11) with some sublime plates of scallop ceviche and snapper white-soy sashimi ($18) and teriyaki burger balls ($12) in the stone-walled section with a low ceiling, opposite the cocktail bar.

Next we move to the Cut, probably the only place without a good bar area.

The dimly lit steak restaurant shakes up a relatively mean cocktail but a red wine - a 2010 Yalumba The Cigar cabernet sauvignon from Coonawarra ($15), or a 2010 Vasse Felix cabernet sauvignon from the Margaret River ($96 a bottle) - alongside a Sher F1 wagyu steak with a marble score of seven ($50-$58), or a huge Tasmanian wilderness grass-fed sirloin ($36), is the go.

The piece de resistance in this bar crawl is Ananas, a sumptuous French bar and restaurant decorated like Marie Antoinette's boudoir.

High ceilings, gilded furniture, palm fronds, red-velvet curtains and pineapple decorations are almost overwhelmingly lavish - you almost wish someone had told the designers to calm down a bit.

The bar area is casual, with long benches, a small sunken area of tables and seats lined up along the gobsmacking granite bar.

The Absolut Ananas is a must-have (vodka base shaken and served with fresh pineapple, $18) - an incredible and unusual mix of sticky and spicy.

If you have room left for dessert, don't go past the salted caramel eclair ($10), or if you do the bar hop in reverse, have some oysters from the oyster bar.

Shaking off the overpriced, touristy image of The Rocks is a tough task but there are gems hidden here, so get hopping.

YOU'LL LOVE IT IF … you're up for a lavish night of indulging.

YOU'LL HATE IT IF … you want to keep it low-budget.

GO FOR … satori sake cocktails, wagyu steak, Absolut Ananas, salted caramel eclair.