The Balmain Hotel

The Balmain Hotel dates to 1869 — the peninsula's second-oldest pub. The current incarnation is anything but traditional. The Balmain Pub Group, also behind the Riverview in Birchgrove, gutted the old West End Hotel around 2013 and rebuilt it as a tropical, South Pacific-leaning room: tiki bar, palm fronds, frangipani, thatched cabanas, and festoon lights strung over what is now the largest beer garden in Balmain. The kitchen runs Southern US barbecue crossed with Asian spice. The twenty-two-dollar Balmain barbecue board is a weekday regular.

Dogs are welcome in the beer garden and courtyard, and the kitchen puts out a gourmet dog menu every Friday. It's rare in inner Sydney to find a pub that treats the dog side of the crowd with full menu development rather than a complimentary water bowl.