Bar Copains

15/20Critics' Pick

Updated October 26, 2026,first published November 11, 2024

15/20Critics' Pick

Bar Copains

Contemporary$$

A friendly neighbourhood wine bar for the here and now.

If there’s a snack to capture the Sydney wine bar mood of the past few years, it’s the pig’s head fritti at Morgan McGlone and Nathan and Sali Sasi’s Surry Hills corner spot. The crumbed cube of terrine is everything you want with a drink: it’s salty, substantial but not overpowering, and as pleasing to the palate as it is to your iPhone lens.

Another textbook bite can be found in the comte tart, where the French cheese powers a smoky custard infused with bacon. But it’s the small plates where Copains hits its stride – prawn bucatini sauced with bisque, say – encouraging you to explore a wine list that pours elegant Benjamin Leroux bourgogne aligote alongside rare and wonderful things from the owners’ personal collections.

The place is as popular with Salomon-wearing zillennials as Surry Hills ad execs and, sure, it can be a little cliquey, but Copains feels like a bar that’s been etched into wet cement then solidified into part of the neighbourhood: intimate, humming and locally minded all at once.

Must-order: The creme caramel may be better-known, but the madeleines with lemon curd are an utter delight.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.

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Last visited: April 2026

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