The Corner Bar

Rozelle and Balmain know how to do a good pub, there's no doubt about that, but what about a good bar? The small-bar mania that has half of Sydney still frothing in their Jalapeno Bloody Marys seems to have bypassed this little pocket of the city. So locals Lindsay Egan and Ryan Singer have undertaken something of an experiment by opening The Corner Bar.

IF THE CROWD ON A SATURDAY EVENING is anything to go by, the experiment is working. The 10 or so tables in the tiny, dimly lit first-date kind of bar and the smattering of stools on the footpath are all occupied. The metal stools at the bar are going fast, too. It seems Singer's theory that Balmain/Rozelle was crying out for something that wasn't a pub or a restaurant was on the money. ''We just thought Rozelle was missing something,'' he says. ''We wanted somewhere where people could come two or three nights a week, a friendly alternative to a pub. Friendly, indeed. A gaggle of attractive men pulls us through the door and waits on us hand and foot with a genuine joie de vivre that is infectious and never irritating.

A LARGE VAT OF WINE in one corner catches our attention. It's a biodynamic, organic shiraz made especially for the bar by Ben Gould from Blind Corner winery. Our waiter, while pouring a glass of it from a carafe, tells us it's made the old-school way - with feet on grapes. It goes down super smoothly and scores two thumbs up. Other than that, there are almost 20 wines by the glass or carafe and more by the bottle, including some decent house wines - a cabernet sauvignon, a semillon sauvignon blanc and a champagne.

THE FOOD IS FUN and fairly unfussed. It's a hotchpotch of all the things Egan and Singer like - big, juicy burgers, olives and antipasto, pizza slabs, and street sambos. We spy the impressive Corner Bar hot dog and a philly cheese steak sandwich on a neighbouring table but instead go for a massive cheddar cheese beef burger ($16) that comes on a super-soft damper bun with a stein full of chips. Nice. The fajita-spices chicken pizza ($14 half-slab) with peppers, sour cream and guacamole is like a taco piled on a pizza. After some olives and chunky haloumi with lemon and Tabasco, we struggle to knock the pizza and burger over.

COCKTAILS ARE NOT VERY STRONG or dexterous but they're generous and, hallelujah, only $14. Upwards of $18 seems the norm these days so this is a welcome relief. In fact, we don't realise it until the bill comes but the prices here are outstanding. For $60 a head we get three cocktails and a big dinner. Sugary flavours trump the mixing of spirits in the Corner Bar Mojito (Bundaberg Five, sugar, mint, lime) and Elderflower Martini (Tanqueray No.10, Smirnoff black, lemon, lime). The bar is also on to the Bloody Mary mini-trend, joining places such as Tio's and the Forresters in offering variations on the Mexican favourite. Here, they do a Horseradish Bloody Mary, a basil one with sherry and a wasabi one. We round out the night with two gloriously daggy Espresso Martinis and a nod of approval to a place that is anything but.

YOU’LL LOVE IT IF you’re looking for something a little more intimate and cool in  Rozelle.

YOU’LL HATE IT IF  you’ve got a big group.

GO FOR the biodynamic house shiraz, the Espresso Martini, the cheddar cheese beef burger.

IT’LL COST YOU  cocktails, $14; wine by the glass, $6.50-$11; sambos and burgers, $16; pizza slabs, $26.

The Corner Bar

Address 632 Darling Street, Rozelle, 9810 7070

Open Mon, 5am-5pm; Tues-Thurs, 5am-10pm; Fri-Sat, 5am-midnight; Sun, 5am-5pm