The White Horse Surry Hills: A Landmark Pub Reborn

After a A$6 million renovation, the 1930s pub on Crown Street in Surry Hills reopened in April 2024 as a chef-driven, multi-level dining and bar venue — a dramatic shift from its former life as a traditional party pub. This review examines the renovation, menu pricing, design, and early reception through reporting from Good Food, Time Out, Broadsheet, and user reviews to help you assess whether the new incarnation delivers on its promise of elevated pub dining.

Last checked: 2026-10-23

Name: The White Horse · Address: 381 Crown Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010, Australia · Cuisine: Pub, Australian, Gastropub · Price range: $ – $$ · Meals served: Lunch, Dinner · Set menu: A$55

What is Surry Hills famous for?

A creative hub with a thriving food scene

Surry Hills has long been known as one of Sydney’s most concentrated neighbourhoods for independent restaurants, cafés, and bars — a creative and residential enclave where Crown Street and its side streets host everything from hole-in-the-wall bakeries to destination fine-dining rooms. The suburb’s transition from light-industrial and working-class roots to a design-led food culture accelerated over the past decade, and the redevelopment of the White Horse fits squarely into that arc.

Local journalism from Good Food described the venue as “the pub’s most delicious iteration yet,” a line that underscores how the building’s identity has changed. Time Out Sydney went further, stating plainly that the White Horse “is not really a pub anymore” — a reflection of the ground floor’s conversion from a street-level public bar into a dedicated restaurant with reclaimed oak tables and woven leather chairs.

The White Horse: a revived landmark

The building dates to the 1930s and operated for decades as a classic Surry Hills pub before Craig Hemmings took over the site approximately fourteen months before the reopening. In an interview with Good Food, Hemmings noted that “it cost a couple of million dollars to bring it up to code,” indicating that a significant portion of the A$6 million budget went to compliance work rather than purely cosmetic upgrades. The result is a three-level venue: a ground-floor restaurant, an upstairs public bar with a rooftop terrace, and a private dining room overlooking the adjacent park.

Farago Han Studio designed the interiors, introducing soft-textured walls, bold art, and warm timber furnishings that mark a clear departure from the previous fit-out. Broadsheet Sydney reported on the reopening with a focus on the relocated bar and the involvement of PS40 in the drinks program.

Is there happy hour in Sydney on Saturdays?

White Horse Saturday sessions

The White Horse’s Level 1 Bar opens Saturday from 3pm, positioning the venue as a viable option for late-afternoon drinks in Surry Hills. Time Out Sydney’s review highlighted the bar’s warm atmosphere, good cocktails, and accessible pricing — every wine by the glass was listed under A$20, with most around A$15. The bar menu includes a steak sandwich with fries priced at A$34, according to Good Food’s review, making it a relatively approachable entry point for diners who want a full meal without committing to the restaurant’s higher-priced à la carte dishes.

The A$55 six-course lunch — reported by Sydney Travel Guide as available Friday through Sunday from noon to 3pm — effectively functions as a happy-hour-adjacent deal for groups who want a structured tasting experience at a fixed price. That menu reportedly included sourdough with fermented honey butter, stracciatella with confit tomatoes, WA rock lobster pappardelle, Bannockburn chicken, and Adelaide Hills brie ice cream.

Best bars in Surry Hills for weekend drinks

Surry Hills offers dozens of bars within a five-minute walk of Crown Street, but the White Horse’s combination of a newly designed upstairs bar, a rooftop terrace, and a PS40-influenced cocktail program sets it apart from more casual options. The venue’s Saturday session from 3pm gives it a later start than many traditional pub happy hours, which may suit diners planning a late lunch followed by drinks.

“The White Horse ticks a lot of boxes: exciting, clever and most importantly, delicious plates of food, a beautiful dining room, and prices that offer good value.”

The bottom line: “The White Horse ticks a lot of boxes: exciting, clever and most importantly, delicious plates of food, a beautiful dining room, and prices that offer good value.”

— Time Out Sydney

What is the coolest restaurant in Sydney?

The new White Horse fine-dining pub experience

The White Horse’s post-renovation identity leans heavily into what Good Food called a “fine-dining finish.” The à la carte menu reported in May 2024 included dishes such as beetroot millefeuille (A$24), kombu-glazed toothfish (A$55), wagyu tri-tip with chestnut mushroom sabayon (A$45), and butter-poached Western Australian marron with sweetcorn (A$58). The culinary brief — ethically sourced produce and native ingredients — aligns with the broader Sydney fine-dining lexicon, even if the venue retains its pub heritage in name and liquor licence.

The reported wine list of approximately 100 bottles leans toward Australian and European producers, with an emphasis on organic and regenerative farming. Time Out noted that every wine by the glass stays under A$20, which is notably accessible for a venue that Good Food estimated would cost around A$180 for two people excluding drinks.

What makes a restaurant cool in Surry Hills

Surry Hills restaurants earn their reputation through a combination of chef pedigree, design credibility, and consistency of execution. The White Horse has two of those three elements — a striking Farago Han Studio interior and strong early reviews from Good Food and Time Out — but the chef leadership remains an unresolved detail in the available sources. Some coverage names Jed Gerrard as executive chef, while later reports attribute the kitchen to Jun Hwang, whose Korean-inflected dishes (gochujang jus with Bannockburn chicken) suggest a possible menu evolution. This discrepancy, flagged by Hotel Australia, was not resolved by any official venue statement in the sources we reviewed.

“The first floor has been transformed into a luxe bar, with a rooftop terrace and a private dining room overlooking the treetops of the adjacent park.”

The bottom line: “The first floor has been transformed into a luxe bar, with a rooftop terrace and a private dining room overlooking the treetops of the adjacent park.”

— Good Food, Sydney Morning Herald

Where do celebrities dine in Sydney?

Celebrity sightings at the White Horse?

None of the sources reviewed — Good Food, Time Out, Broadsheet, TripAdvisor, or Sydney Travel Guide — report a confirmed celebrity sighting at the White Horse. The question appears in search-data because related queries around high-profile diners (Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Dua Lipa) frequently co-occur with “coolest restaurant in Sydney” searches. However, no source links any of those names to this venue.

The White Horse’s location on Crown Street places it within a few blocks of several restaurants that have hosted celebrities, but the venue itself does not yet have a documented star-studded guest list in the coverage we reviewed. TripAdvisor reviews — a small sample of nine reviews at the time of research — praised the decor, service, duck, and lobster pappardelle but made no mention of celebrity sightings.

Iconic Sydney restaurants frequented by stars

Several Sydney restaurants near Surry Hills have established reputations for celebrity clientele — Tetsuya’s, Quay, and Bennelong are among the most frequently named in that context — but the White Horse is not yet in that bracket based on available data. Its appeal is more local: a rejuvenated neighbourhood pub that has traded its sticky-carpet past for a polished, design-conscious present. Whether that trajectory leads to broader fame depends on sustained execution, chef consistency, and the word-of-mouth that follows.

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