The Best Japanese Bar in Surry Hills: A Guide to Goros

Surry Hills has no shortage of bars. It has one Japanese drinking house that actually knows its craft, and that's Goros.

The drinks: classics with Japanese accents

Start simple: classics, reinterpreted with Japanese ingredients. House-canned cocktails (Yuzu Spritz, Scarlet Spritz, Chu-Hai, Whisky Highball) for the table that wants something fast. House cocktails and martinis built around Japanese ingredients. A wine & sake list that runs from delicate and refreshing through to layered and complex, for anyone who wants to slow down and actually taste it. Taps pour exclusively Japanese beer, including Asahi, Suntory Malt, Orion, Yoyogi Pale Ale.

The food: yakitori over charcoal, best met with a cocktail

Yakitori is the backbone, with skewers designed to keep the table ordering, not fill you up before the second round. Snacks are built the same way: karaage, gyoza, tempura corn, plus sashimi for the table that wants something lighter alongside the skewers.

The music: vinyl DJs, every night

This is where Goros pulls ahead of most Surry Hills bars. Tuesday to Saturday, DJs play vinyl records of hip hop, jazz, disco, boogie & soul brought to life by a roster of credible DJs. It's not a playlist on shuffle. Someone's behind the booth, reading the room, building the night one record at a time. Wednesday's Record Store Takeovers and Thursday's Flywave & Friends residency are the ones to watch if you're serious about the music; Friday and Saturday hand the booth to a rotating guest lineup and let the room find its own dancefloor.

The karaoke rooms

No Japanese bar story is complete without karaoke, and Goros treats it properly with private rooms, decent sound, hosts who actually check in. Rooms 1, 2 and 3 run at $20pp Tuesday-Thursday and $25pp Friday-Saturday for 90 minutes. Room 4 is built for a bigger night out, with a minimum of 24 people. There's also a range of food and drink packages available for groups of 4 or more people.

Getting there

Goros is on Mary Street, Surry Hills - a short walk from Central Station and the surrounding office blocks that make up its after-work crowd. Open Tuesday to Saturday, from 4pm for after work drinks, through to weekend nights that find the dancefloor on their own.

Whether you're after a quiet cocktail after work or a full night of yakitori, vinyl and karaoke, this is the Japanese bar Surry Hills has been missing.