This luxe award-winning Kings Cross hotspot is popular with the designer-clad set, so be prepared to queue on weekends.
Hugo's is so popular within the chi-chi scene, it's almost the cliche of the Cross. Join the line that snakes down the stairs to Bayswater Road and envy the crowds up on the balcony, sipping their pricey cocktails and scotch.
For those who don't mind paying for it, Hugo's is a swanky, polished, pick-up palace. There's no time to notice the design of the place itself: the glossy crowd is all the decoration that it needs. The women are a blur of stilettos, shimmering sequins and salon-styled hair. The boys are designer clad and coated in a haze of aftershave.
Elbow your way through the drinkers to reach the bar and try one of the award-winning concoctions created by the bar's celebrated mixologists.
Should you get peckish on a weekend, you can peruse the bar menu and order one of their famous $5 gourmet pizzas, available Thursday to Sunday all evening. The selection is smaller than their sister restaurant downstairs (Hugo's Bar Pizza), but you'll be hard pressed finding a better bargain - or tastier snack - this side of the city.
DJs play a variety of tunes from Thursdays to Saturdays. Sundays are big, featuring a skinny $5 cover charge, lip-smacking $5 cocktails and Sneaky Sound System tunes.
Jennifer Miller
