Icebergs restaurateur Maurice Terzini reawakens The Bar in Double Bay

It was once the local haunt of David Bowie, Princess Diana and Michael Hutchence.

Now Maurice Terzini is poised to usher in a list of 21st century clientele into the famed hotel bar at the InterContinental Sydney Double Bay on Cross Street.

Simply called The Bar, the space has been reimagined with lashings of red velvet and red carpet, with white jacketed staff prowling about.

As Terzini prodded and tweaked the venue for Tuesday's reopening, he was careful to give a nod to its past in such details as a Bowie-inspired cocktail, The Starman.

The restaurateur recently took a research trip through Paris, a world-leader for hotel bars. But inspiration for The Bar came from all quarters, with a splash of The Waldorf and even a little Harry's Bar, Terzini says.

Lewin White (ex Icebergs) heads the kitchen. "The food is Icebergs Goes to a Hotel," says Terzini. That looks like Sydney rocks, caviar, beef tartare ... there's even a crab and Pyengana cheddar lasagnette.

Terzini, who has partnered with Fridcorp and Piety Group on the venture, describes the interior as "elegant decadence" with a few of those hotel bar quirks.

"We've got the original piano man, Scot Finnie, back on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, and The InterContinental All-Stars will play with a simple brief to just jam," he says.

"And there'll be a bit of the Chateau Marmont feel in that you'll never know who is going to get up and play.

"I've always been fascinated with hotel bars. We'll roll out a trolley with crepes suzette served at the table."

The Bar will open daily noon-midnight.

InterContinental Sydney Double Bay, 33 Cross Street, Double Bay, 02 8388 8388