You can just pop those shades back into their case because the light wall that once glowed along the back of Cruise Bar has been replaced with green moss that looks impossibly lush and velvety. Sadly, you can't mush your face into it – that wall garden is purely decorative.
In fact, the whole place has had a garden-party overhaul with an emphasis on natural fibres and the result is very Montauk-chic. There are now rough timber tables, painted cane furniture and a rope-laced ceiling, plus as many indoor plants as they could shoehorn inside and string from the ceiling.
It might not be your regular haunt, but if you've got visitors who want to see Sydney at her best, a striped deckchair out in the side courtyard is the place to plant them. The views across Circular Quay to the Opera House are second to none and, when accompanied by a Negroni, a bone-dry glass of rosé and some oysters, you have the makings of one picture-postcard evening on your hands.
They keep the cocktail list short and classic. A margarita and a daiquiri hit the hot-weather high notes; there's a G&T supercharged with double espresso; and a Brandy Crusta that mixes cognac, triple sec and lemon juice. We are pleasantly surprised to find that you can get a house wine here for only $7– a growing rarity in this famously expensive city of ours.
Like anything in the centre of town, it'll get busy on weekends, but early in the week it's a great place to be a tourist in your own city to a good times playlist of Kelis, Mark Ronson, Flume and MGMT.