The Temperance Society — Restaurant in Sydney

What a year! I wrapped my work year up with some celebratory beverages at The Temperance Society in Summer Hill. It’s a twee little bar boasting two small parlour rooms and a courtyard in the rear, seating with a library-vibe upstairs. The front bar offers up friendly staff and bar stools, with a couple of street-side tables where—if you are lucky enough to snaffle one—you can watch the locals and their hounds parade on by.

Plucked from a Little Golden Book, the one-page cocktail menu offers up eleven tipples. The list runs from the expected—a martini, a negroni, an old fashioned and a margarita ($20) that drank well enough but had an aggressive salt rim—to some more imaginative drinks. The Moscow mojito ($20) unites Russia and the Caribbean using the mule’s ginger beer and vodka and muddling them with the mojito’s brown sugar, fresh mint and lime. Not quite sure where the elderflower comes from, but it worked against an eye-catching spray of spearmint and a stick of candied ginger. A similar looking midnight tickle ($20) switches out the vodka for spiced rum and the elderflower for a house-made raspberry syrup.

The pleasantly pink white lady ($20) arrives dripping froth and the promise that tiny sherbet fairies will dance on my tongue. It’s a bit like a Fruit Tingle, and while I wouldn’t want more than one of them, it was an enjoyable drink with an appropriately celebratory “we’re on holidays” feel. I’m told the baked Brie here is a winner if you want to break up the booze...

The best customer service and Vegan friendly. No "Sorry we're out" instead they work out alternatives.

Two examples of them going out of their way to please. When we asked for a vegan cheese platter the person serving us swore it was unexpectedly popular that night causing them to run out and new stock only just had been ordered, to which he emphatically apologised and whipped out his phone to try and prove to us. He then figured out a different diverse plater for us instead.

Later I asked if their Pink Lady cocktail could be made vegan after the bartender had mentioned figuring out the ingredient that replaces egg white earlier that night. The bartender went straight to work giving it a go, but found out they were out of an ingredient, and the next minute I saw a member of staff leaving in a hurry towards the nearby IGA, and coming back a few minutes later solely holding the missing ingredient to the Gin Sour.

Hence the best...

A perfect little bar with a cosy atmosphere and plenty of different spaces including smaller, more intimate rooms with comfy chairs and calming, low lighting. It has very friendly staff and is great when it comes to prompt, enthusiastic service, and would be the perfect place for any small social gathering. My only complaint is that it's very expensive, but they are also quite generous with mixing drinks and food serving sizes, so it does balance out somewhat. Still not the kind of place you want to go to buy too many drinks, but as a place to meet with colleagues, friends, or lovers in a beautiful and cosy setting, I give it my highest recommendation. Just don't expect to buy multiple drinks and food without putting a sizeable dent in your...