Just Open: The Dolphin Hotel, Surry Hills

When you've got talent from Bondi's Icebergs Dining Room and Bar taking over The Dolphin Hotel, it's obvious that the newly revamped Surry Hills pub won't be offering just default chicken schnitty or regulation nachos or sliders.

Executive chef Monty Koludrovic, in fact, has come up with three menus for Maurice Terzini's venue: one for the Public Bar (which opens at 5pm today), one for the Dining Room and another for the Wine Room and Salumeria (which will open in later, to-be-continued instalments).

The public bar, in the meantime, will serve counter meals: "I guess it's a cross between an Aussie pub and the Icebergs bar - Sydney Australia with an Italian approach," says Koludrovic.

"Something that I think is going to rock in there is crumbed chicken with lemon, guanciale, capers," he says. There'll also be American-style pizza ($12), available by the (very thick, foccacia-like) slice, tray or even plonked and 'delivered' to you in a pizza box (PSA to anyone planning binge-watching sessions for the long weekend - you can get these takeaway, too).

"Pizza's probably been my favourite food for about 30 years," he says. Which is probably why he'll be doing two styles of pie at The Dolphin Hotel - with hand-stretched, cooked to order, north-Italian-inspired pizzas with thinner, crispier bases available in the Dining Room (and perhaps even this weekend in the Public Bar).

"I wanted to continue with this idea of our own style of pizza, not just produce a list of classic Italian toppings," he says. So everything - from the flour and the tomato to the cheeses melted on top - will be Australian. The only exceptions will be the anchovies and the dudes crafting the pizza - Ares Qubaja and Gianluigi Disarno (they're Italian).

The truffle and mushroom pizza ($26), made with wood-roasted mushrooms and a washed rind from Binnorie dairy in the Hunter Valley, "is based on one of our Icebergs classics, which is the truffle and taleggio frittata". The signature Delfino ($24) comes topped with chilli, tomato and "beautiful steamed Kinkawooka mussels and Coffin Bay octopus" (or get it Bianco-style, with prawns and preserved lemon, too).

The Dining Room will be a "step up" from the Public Bar: "but we don't want to make it less accessible", says the executive chef. "There's going to be loud music and rollicking good times, lots of shared food; we're not doing a Four In Hand where there's a fine diner hanging off the pub."

"The third element is the Dolphin Wine Room and the Salumeria. This is where the product is really king," he says. It will showcase exclusive collaborations with producers, such as David Blackmore wagyu bresaola finished in Patrick Sullivan gamay ($25), canned mussels from Continental Deli ($20 with crackers) and smoked blood sausage from LP's Quality Meats. "We're going to rock this cabinet."

The wine room is "a reverse of the normal", where the food has been picked to match the booze. Wine director James Hird (2015's Sommelier of the Year) has a pretty swanky wall of refrigeration to work with. They plan to "throw grape varieties on their head", says Koludrovic, by choosing a "less traditional" focus; plus, "there's still a pretty good representation of the long-haired hippy natural wine makers, which we definitely love".

And even though wine is the headline act, the food isn't overlooked at all. There are bonito and foie gras crackers ($18) served on pappadums and cheese and bacon bread ($12) that is a blockbuster combination of "two of my favourite sandwiches": the daggy cheese and bacon bread from the school canteen and the croque monsieur. "We've ended up with miche sourdough that we fill with fontina gruyere and cheddar and then we get Skara belly bacon and we actually cross it to the outside of the bread and we cook it, so the bacon crisps and the sandwich gets fried in bacon fat. It's pretty naughty, but it definitely throws up a few nice [wine] matches."

Public Bar open daily 11.30am-midnight.

412 Crown Street, Surry Hills, dolphinhotel.com.au