Rockpool Bar & Grill

Address 66 Hunter Street, city, 8078 1900.

Open Mon-Fri, noon-11pm; Sat, 6-11pm.

Rockpool Bar & Grill is located in a wonderful US-style art deco building. Its tone, too, is quite American and days of yore – and masculine – thanks in part to a list of almost amusing house rules that includes “no hooting, no hollering” and something about easing up on the back-slapping after six drinks.

IT'S WEDNESDAY EVENING, it's early, this is a high-end bar and there's that global financial thingy going on – we expect the place to be quiet. It isn't. There's a lively buzz about the room and we nab the last empty table. The clientele looks, above all, expensive.

THE DECOR IS HANDSOME, with plenty of dark wood. Remnants of times past, such as a superannuated lift button preserved on the wall next to our table, are charming and the lighting is ideal – low but you can read the menu. An installation of wine glasses hanging in hundreds from the ceiling would make a terrific smash-'em-up scene in the right movie.

THE SNAPPY SERVICE is welcoming and professional. We gasp over a wine list so long it has an index and are relieved to find a condensed one for those served by the glass. Our cocktails, Sydney's Best Mule (gin, ginger beer, lime) and a Jack Rose (Calvados, pomegranate syrup, lime) are boozy, fresh and highly drinkable. The fresh ginger in the mule kicks and bites.

FROM THE FOOD MENU, we select the “four tastes” item ($15), which turns out to be four bites of sashimi, variously dressed. We order oysters ($4 each), split a wagyu burger ($22), which comes with two slices of tomato that are so wan they could be some kind of choko-tomato hybrid, and choose onion rings ($9) over hot chips. The food is tasty enough but not spectacular. The bar's drinks, the architecture and the lively, sophisticated atmosphere really are better reasons to visit.

YOU'LL LOVE IT IF ... you love the TV series Mad Men.

YOU'LL HATE IT IF ... you need a TV on to enjoy a drink.

GO FOR ... the cocktails and the architecture.

IT'LL COST YOU ... cocktails $17; glass of wine $15-$28; bar snacks $6-$35.