Hugos Bar Pizza

More than a decade after it opened, Hugos is still where Sydney's shiny, fabulous set go to see and be seen. From the early evening hours, women in body-hugging dresses and men with very open shirts sip over-sized cocktails while the DJ blasts out tunes. But don't let the nightclub facade fool you; beyond the sunken lounges and back-lit bar there's a competent kitchen turning out simple Italian fare and some of the best pizza in town. Toppings include wild mushrooms, caramelised onions, taleggio and barely-there goat's curd on a crisp, biscuit-like base. Share-plates keep grazers happy, and calamari piled on rocket with aioli and lemon wedge passes the litmus test. Light, pillowy gnocchi is appropriately summery, with baby spinach and watercress in a swirl of pesto and mozzarella cream and dusted with breadcrumbs. Of the tight and tiny dessert menu (perhaps the fashionably svelte crowd do not partake), big, doughy, sugary balls dipped in hazelnut ganache or jam are worth the indulgence.