White Horse Surry Hills: Heritage Pub, Modern Dining

The White Horse on Crown Street was a familiar inner-Sydney pub until 2024, when a major redevelopment under hospitality operator Craig Hemmings turned the three-storey hotel into a modern Australian restaurant, public bar, and outdoor terrace. This piece separates what is verified from what is merely reported — address, service hours, opening-era menu prices, ownership details, and guest sentiment — so you can decide whether it belongs on your Surry Hills shortlist.

Last checked: 2026-10-26

Address: 381 Crown Street, Surry Hills, Sydney · Type: Three-storey public hotel with restaurant, public bar, and outdoor terrace · Features: Pedigree restaurant, set menu, outdoor terrace · Hours: Dinner Tue-Sun, lunch Fri-Sun

What is the White Horse Hotel in Surry Hills?

The White Horse is a three-storey public hotel on Crown Street, in the inner-Sydney dining district. The building dates to the 1930s, and for most of its life it ran as a conventional pub. The redevelopment that landed in 2024 changed the venue’s direction rather than merely its paintwork. Some older reviews of the address reportedly describe a more traditional pub offer, so check the date before judging the current kitchen on an old post.

History

The 1930s building carried the pub through several decades of neighbourhood service. The decisive break came in 2024, when hospitality operator Craig Hemmings took over and reopened the venue as a restaurant-led hotel. The venue’s own arc — from 1930s pub to 2024 dining spot — is covered in more detail in our earlier profile.

Architecture

The building is three storeys: restaurant and public bar at ground level, outdoor terrace above. The terrace is a separate floor rather than a few tables on the footpath, and it gives the hotel an outdoor room in a suburb defined by its restaurant strip. The dining room handles the restaurant service, the bar handles the walk-ins, and the terrace sits between the two.

Current use

Today the venue runs as a restaurant-first hotel. The opening menu was described as modern Australian, focused on ethically sourced Australian produce, with native ingredients a stated focus. The kitchen is associated with chef Jed Gerrard, and Sydney.com’s venue profile also identifies Jun Hwang, an award-winning chef, as involved with the restaurant. At opening, the wine list was reported at 120 bottles, many below AUD 80. The official service schedule runs dinner Tuesday-Saturday from 17:30, lunch Friday-Saturday from 12:00, and Sunday service from 12:00 to 21:00 with the last booking at 19:30.

The bottom line: a 1930s pub shell running a 2024 restaurant agenda. The bar still exists; the kitchen is the reason to book.

Key facts

Who owns the White Horse in Surry Hills?

The short answer: no source in our research set publicly names the legal owner or corporate entity. The operational figure attached to the venue is hospitality operator Craig Hemmings, who is reported to have led the 2024 transformation, as noted in the history section. For ownership or commercial questions, the official website is the authoritative front door.

Ownership details

We found no parent company, licensee, or holding entity named in the retrieved material. The distinction that matters for a visitor is between who owns the venue — undisclosed in our research — and who runs it: Craig Hemmings, since 2024, according to the reporting noted above.

Management

On the ground, management splits into the usual hotel-and-pub lines: the dining room takes reservations, the public bar takes walk-ins, and the terrace sits between them. No named general manager surfaced in our research; the public-facing identities are the chefs, with Jed Gerrard and Jun Hwang both named in the venue profile noted above.

Venue spec sheet

What this means: you can identify who runs the White Horse, but the legal ownership structure sits behind the scenes. Treat the venue’s own contact channels as the only reliable route for ownership questions.

What are the best restaurants in Surry Hills, Sydney?

Top picks

Surry Hills is one of Sydney’s most concentrated dining districts. For the pub-with-a-kitchen category, two other established names group alongside the White Horse: the Dolphin Hotel and the Beresford Hotel. We researched the White Horse directly and did not verify current menus or service details for the other two, so they appear here as comparison points rather than reviewed recommendations.

White Horse’s place

The White Horse is the member of that group with a documented 2024 redevelopment and a live review trail. At research time, its TripAdvisor listing showed a 4.6 out of 5 rating from nine reviews. The written reviews clustered on specific dishes: one reviewer highlighted confit duck-leg cigars, roasted chicken skin with spanner crab, wagyu steak tartare, pork belly French toast, and lobster-stuffed pappardelle; another praised dry-aged Aylesbury duck, crispy potatoes, grilled brassicas, tart tatin, and Brie ice cream.

For more detail on how the pub’s dining offer fits together, see our guide to the historic pub with a modern restaurant.

The pattern: the White Horse is the only venue in this set with review data we verified; the Dolphin and the Beresford are context, not conclusions.

What is a must eat in Sydney?

Signature dishes at the White Horse

The most concrete answer from the opening era is the reported menu: wagyu tri-tip at AUD 45, Western Australian marron with sweetcorn and ice plant at AUD 58, kombu-glazed toothfish at AUD 55, steak sandwich with fries at AUD 34, char siu pork and prawn fried rice at AUD 20, and beetroot millefeuille at AUD 24. The figures come from the first review period, as compiled by Hotel Australia from Good Food’s coverage. They are 2024 prices, not a promise about today’s menu.

“the pub’s most delicious iteration yet”

— Callan Boys, Good Food critic, on the 2024 reopening

Time Out Sydney’s reviewer reached the same conclusion, describing the food as “exciting, clever and most importantly, delicious plates of food.” Both verdicts belong to the opening period; they show what the kitchen was aiming for out of the gate rather than a guarantee of the current menu.

“exciting, clever and most importantly, delicious plates of food”

— Time Out Sydney reviewer, on the restaurant’s opening menu

The value anchor of the opening menu was the six-course weekend lunch, reported at AUD 55 per person in Hotel Australia’s coverage. It was the cheapest way to eat across the kitchen’s range in one sitting. Whether it is still running, and on which days, needs confirmation with the venue.

Other must-try Sydney foods

There is no single Sydney must-eat dish; the answer is neighbourhood-specific. In Surry Hills, the recurring answer is a pub kitchen that takes Australian produce seriously. The White Horse covers that brief at two price levels: the reported lower end, such as char siu pork and prawn fried rice at AUD 20, and the premium end, such as Western Australian marron at AUD 58. Between them, the six-course lunch at AUD 55 was the opening menu’s best-value bridge.

The bottom line: if you want one dish, order from the produce-led part of the menu; if you want one sitting, the six-course lunch is the smartest format — confirm it is still running before you book.

Location and getting there

The White Horse is at 381 Crown Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010, on the inner-city dining strip that runs through the neighbourhood. The official service schedule is straightforward: lunch Friday and Saturday from 12:00, dinner Tuesday to Saturday from 17:30, and Sunday service from 12:00 to 21:00 with the final booking at 19:30.

“walk ins are welcome however bookings are recommended to avoid disappointment”

— The White Horse, official contact page

The venue’s own advice is to book ahead even though walk-ins are possible. The map below is set to the street address.

The trade-off: the bar is spontaneous, the terrace is weather-dependent, and the restaurant needs a booking. Decide which mode you want before you arrive.

Who the White Horse works best for

• Couples: the dining room and the terrace give a sit-down dinner format with a proper kitchen behind it.
• Groups: the reported AUD 55 six-course weekend lunch simplifies ordering — if it is still running.
• Foodies: chef-linked cooking, native-ingredient touches, and a 120-bottle wine list reported at opening.
• Casual diners: the public bar and the walk-in policy keep the old-pub function alive.

The implication: this is one of those rare pub-format venues where the food crowd and the drink crowd can both get what they want without getting in each other’s way.