So here it is. The CBD revolution. No longer shall we surrender to the dominant hotels and pubs and quaff beers with furrowed brows, with uninterested palates and dissatisfied cocktail-appetites. No longer do we have the ‘well, it’s getting late’ excuse speech at 9pm. Not since Stitch has taken over Wynyard.

Pocket’s Karl Schlothauer and Christopher Lehoux have a new-born baby; two month old Stitch Bar and it couldn’t have arrived at a better time. With a faux-alteration front, the steep stairs on York St lead you straight into Sydney’s newest member; a dive-bar-inspired small bar with exciting cocktails, jazz and blues music and hotdogs. Yes, hotdogs. Gourmet hotdogs, of course. Take Christopher’s favourite, for example – The Mack Ducky Dog; duck, orange and pistachio sausage with Foie gras de canard and truffle sauce. All served with curly fries. For someone who doesn’t eat hotdogs, Stitch might just break that tendency for me. Along with having a beetroot cocktail. Yes. Beetroot. It’s called Beetlejuice. And here’s how it’s done: freshly squeezed beetroot and ginger juice shaken with Bombay sapphire gin, a drop of punt e mes, sweet vermouth and top up with ginger beer. It’s a surprisingly refreshing, very gingery and interesting concoction, most definitely worth a try. The Strawberry Swing (A summer combination of strawberries and basil leaves gently bruised, shaken with 42 below vodka and topped up with Chandon sparkling wine, served in an elegant champagne saucer) is delicious and much more of a crowd pleaser.

Stitch has an amalgamated American atmosphere, with its underground-chic New York aesthetics, American diner feel with the hotdogs and a dive-bar ‘speakeasy’ with the blues and jazz music proudly bursting through speakers. Chatting with Christopher, it turns out that the name was the first step in creating this new hot spot. “We came up with the name Stitch first, then we built around the name, in the same kind of element. We made front look like an alteration shop-front, gathered sewing machines (look closely under the bar) and sewing designs, which we used as wallpaper at the back.” The lamp shades are all different, some missing and giving a ‘thrown together’ slash ‘we’re too cool to care’ vibe, seamlessly (pun intended) complimenting the name Stitch. Being the first small bar in Wynyard - a previously big establishment (Ivy etc) dominated area - and having lines of eager patrons winding up the stairs and out the door truly proves Sydney’s lapping up our Melbourne-inspired bar scene, and glad boys like Karl and Christopher are still creating and giving us what we want and still need more of.