Fico wine bar – Surry Hills
This clandestine bar is atmospheric and has a good selection of Italian wines. Just don’t ask for any changes to your meal, as Paul Chai discovers when he visits Fico.
With masked windows, no signs and no web site, Fico seeks to tick many of the boxes to position it at the vanguard of Sydney’s new small and intimate drinking spaces.
It is also a looker with a black, pressed-metal feature wall, scarlet curtains and low-hung lightbulbs creating a sophisticated and polished look.
Once through the suitably clandestine entrance you can turn left for the buzzy bar, all cowhide cubes and exposed copper wiring or right for the more bordello-esque booths and a broody magenta-coloured outdoor courtyard.
My companion and I arrive, via a detour to the Beresford Hotel, and choose the busier bar space to keep things upbeat.
With the desire for a cleansing ale already quenched, we are in the right spot as Fico is very much a wine bar, owned by the crowd behind Italian diner Il Baretto, a block further down Bourke Street. It is designed as a holding pen for its no-bookings policy sibling, where you can share a wide range of Italian tipples while you wait for your dinner call up – or as a spot to retreat for a grappa after Il Baretto’s earthy fare (the duck ragu is a specialty), freeing up table space for others.
Fico’s bar food stays true to la cucina Italiana and we grab a handful of small plates to share. Tuna croquettes ($9), calamari fritti ($12), cured meats with chunks of rustic bread ($16) and a healthy wedge of potato and onion frittata ($10)
The wine list is primarily Italian and ranges from top line chianti (Podere Monastero pinot nero 2007, $115) to Sardininan vermentino (Argiolas Costamolino 2007, $50). The Australian/NZ list is short but well selected.
We ask the friendly bartender for a pinot grigio recommendation and are instead steered towards the Terlaner Classico 2007 ($50) a three-way blend of pinot bianco, chardonnay and sav blanc. It is an inspired choice and the wine and food get on like a group of old friends.
The calamari is lightly dusted in flour and is tender and simple; the frittata moist and full of flavour. The only hitch comes when my companion seeks some olive oil to accompany the meat and crusty bread, apparently any changes to the menu are verboten by the owners. No oil, no balsamic, no exceptions.
It is a small thing, but it is instructive. If I want to be dictated to I will happily front up to a two-hatted restaurant, but if I belly up to a wine bar I prefer they drop the attitude. Still, perhaps that is part of the new wine bar experience: good food, good wine and a feisty owner with strong, unbending principles.
Ultimately, Fico is a great spot for a pre-dinner vino or an ideal date spot snuggled in the back-bar booths – but the one box this new entrant doesn’t tick tonight is the one marked ‘relaxed and casual’.
Now it’s your turn – how do you rate this bar?
(7 votes, average: 4.43 out of 5)
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Fico wine bar, 544 Bourke Street, Surry Hills. Phone 9699 2133.
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