Top Table
Automata for long Sunday lunches and memorable dinners Weds–Sat; Kensington Street Social for everything in between. The Rooftop bar opens from 3pm to 9.30pm, Thursday and Friday, and from 12 noon to 9.30pm on the weekend.
Dress Code
Mrs Smith: match the hotel’s up-cycling by sporting reworked classics by Sydney designer Johnny Schembri (such as his digital-print patchwork dresses). Mr Smith: add beer-brown accents with vintage leather and tortoiseshell- or wood-framed sunnies.
Hotel restaurant
Set in a 1930s warehouse and headed up by superlative chef Clayton Wells, Automata restaurant amps up your dining experience with wildly imaginative three-, five- and seven-course menus that change frequently. That means you'll likely be in for a surprise, but the wonderful kind: diners previously enjoyed spanner crab with fermented chilli pasta, black lime and marigold; spring-green tart with lemon myrtle and sheep's curd; and caramelised pineapple and licorice cheesecake, among other delicacies. More casually, Clare Bar serves up sharers of the likes of silverbeet and manchego croquettes and black-pudding sausage rolls before moving on to mains of burgers, barramundi, steak and more. The lunch menu has tempting picks too, such as mussels with smoked sausage and chilli and a poached-prawn sandwich. For breakfast there are generously stuffed brioche baps, Brickfields sourdough toast and tasty healthful offerings, such as chickpea pancakes with hot smoked trout, brown rice with egg white and nori and – of course – avo on toast.
Hotel bar
You’d expect most bars to be pro-booze, but Clare Bar takes things a step further: it’s kitted out in brown-hued light panels that nod to the autumnal hues of beer bottles. Naturally, there’s a solid selection of craft beer, as well as gluggable wine and clever cocktails, tossed and stirred by tatt-clad, bearded bartenders. The open-year-round, glass-canopied rooftop bar – a haven from the bustling city below – will quench your post-swim thirst with moreish cocktails.
Last orders
Get tipsy till midnight in the bar; dine from 6pm till late in the restaurants.
Room service
Dine in your room any time of day or night. Fill up on an Angus cheeseburger or Wagyu steak with chips; for something a little lighter take your pick of organic hummus with roast peppers, or flatbread with truffled mushrooms.