Fireside feasting: best places to wine and dine by a fireplace in Sydney

Your bones are chilled, your clothes are wet, and the wind is blowing with the force of ten thousand thundering typhoons. You burst open the door of a pub door and stagger in like a travel worn drifter in a Dickens novel.

“Would you like a seat by the fireplace?”, a voice asks.

Yes. Yes, you definitely would. Here's five of the best fireplaces in Sydney to warm those winter woes.

The Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel

The Lord Nelson is Sydney's oldest continuously licensed pub still trading within its original fabric (it can't just be labelled “the oldest pub in Sydney” due to ancient tussle with the Fortune of War for such a title). It has locally-quarried sandstone walls that could tell a million tales, unpolished floorboards, and proud beef-pie swimming in gravy and mushy peas (only $8 on Mondays, by the way). It's everything you want in a pub, really. A picture of Admiral Lord Nelson hangs above a fireplace that doesn't so much roar as flicker happily. The Lord is famous for its Three Sheets beer made on site, but in the colder months a pint of Nelson's Blood porter is much more suitable tipple.

19 Kent Street, The Rocks, 9251 4044, Mon-Sat 11am-11pm, Sun 12-10pm, lordnelsonbrewery.com

The Hero of Waterloo

The quiet Hero is a contrast to the loud Lord around the corner. Both pubs are heavy on stories and sandstone, but there's a much greater chance of grabbing a pew near the fireplace at the Hero. There's not too much in the way of food (twice-cooked lamb shanks are the pick of the menu) but the Hero does have Guinness on tap to cure what ales you. There's actually three fireplaces although one now houses a cigarette machine and another is positioned below an ambience-killing flat screen. The fireplace you want is next to the stage in the main bar. There's live jazz on the weekends and on weeknights the Hero is quiet enough to have a proper heart-to-hearth conversation.

81 Lower Fort Street, Millers Point, 9252 4553, Mon-Wed 10am-11:30pm, Thu-Sat 10am-12am, Sun 10am-10pm

Alfie and Hetty

This old Glebe terrace has its own tree stump and axe out the back where logs are split for the fire each day.“Chopping wood is an awesome way to start a shift!” exclaims the waiter as he wrestles with a packet of safety matches. The interior is jam packed with Country Living knick knacks and the kind of heavily varnished tables more commonly seen in home dining rooms than the floors of restaurants. You could be sitting in a Blue Mountains bed and breakfast or a bistro in regional France. The fireplace is small and elegant - charcoal coloured marble and vintage blue-and-white tiles. It provides just the right amount of heat so you can enjoy a dish of cognac-braised pig cheeks without feeling like your three inches from the sun.

207-209 Glebe Point Road, Glebe, 8957 0652, Tue-Sat, 6pm-12am; Sun, 6-10pm

The Commons

Another sandstone building, another awesome fireplace. The DJ Shadow soundtrack doesn't do much to compliment the Scando-farmhouse aesthetic of this Darlinghurst eating house, but who's complaining? The Commons is cosier than a cottage full of cashmere jumpers. There's enamel milk jugs filled with wildflowers, whole pumpkins sitting on the tables, and hessian covering just about everything. Above the ancient fireplace is a natural history illustration of a dandelion, more native flowers and more decorative gourds. It's a very agreeable spot for pie eating (pies and fireplaces are made for each other, really) so its a good thing The Commons currently has a beaut biodynamic beef-ragu number on the specials board. You'll want red wine to go with that fireplace and pie and there's plenty of that, too.

32 Burton Street, Darlinghurst, 9358 1487, Tues-Wed 6pm-12am, Thu 12pm-12am, Fri 12pm-1am, Sat 8am-1am, Sun 8am-11pm

The Australian Youth Hotel

The outside air is thick with the heady aroma of chimney smoke at the Youth. Inside it smells like braised steak and onions. This is probably because everyone is eating one the Youth's steak and Guinness pot pies by peeling away the puff pastry lid and swirling it through the submissive beef below. If you can commandeer one of the two fireside chesterfields there's a good chance you'll never want to leave. There's a televsion above the fireplace, however a framed print of an 1800's Ashes game bridges the gap between mantel piece and Fox Sports. This one of the best places to watch rugby in Sydney, due in no small part to all The Wallabies paraphernalia adorning the walls. If you prefer Connect Four to seven-a-side, the Youth has a good selection board games available for your playing pleasure. There's no fire guard though, so be careful wayward Jenga pieces don't end up as kindling.

63 Bay Street, Glebe, 9692 0414, Mon-Fri 11am-12am, Sat 12pm-12am, Sun 12-10pm

Other spots for a fiery encounter:

3 Weeds Rozelle, 193 Evans Street, Rozelle, 9818 2788 Mon-Sat 12pm-12am, Sun 12-10pm
The Lord Dudley, 236 Jersey Road, Woollahra, 9327 5399, Mon-Wed 11am-11pm, Thurs-Sat 11am-12am, Sun 12-10pm
The Foxtrot, 28 Falcon Street, Crows Nest, Tue 5pm-12am, Wed-Thu 5pm-1am, Fri-Sat 5pm-3am, Sun 4-10pm