For the month of August, Time Out Sydney is dedicated to promoting the affordable side of the city. So, it’s convenient timing that some of Sydney’s best restaurants and bars chose this month to start slinging some of the best deals and happy hours we've ever seen on offer. From free cheeseburgers at a beachside bar to $5 Martinis in a sexy French eatery, these are all the best deals to track down right now – because life in Sydney is too expensive to miss out on a well-priced treat.
Sydney's best happy hours, meal deals and budget-friendly scores
Free burgers at will’s
First up, a spotlight on my personal favourite food group: burgers. This August, will’s in Coogee (a tiny beachside bar located within the sprawling Coogee Pav complex) is offering free burgers with every drink (priced over $20, so suss out the cocktails). Spend a day in the winter sunshine at Wylie's Baths, then head here for an afternoon Spritz and your burger will arrive as a bonus. The offer is valid from Wednesday to Sunday between noon and 9pm, or until burgers are sold out – so an afternoon visit is your best bet.
$5 happy hour at Franca
On the topic of excellent buns, you can score one of Sydney’s most refined burgs for just $5 at elegant French eatery Franca. Yep, you’re reading that right. To celebrate their fifth birthday, the Potts Point restaurant is serving up a wildly good happy hour every day until August 25. Between 5pm and 6pm, the team here are serving Martinis, Negronis and Young Henry's Tap Beer, alongside Franca's signature cheeseburgers and plates of perfectly French Chicken Liver Parfait, all for just $5 each. Joyeux anniversaire!
$8 Aperols at Anason
Barangaroo waterfront eatery Anason is serving up a ridiculously good two-hour-long happy hour this August, featuring $8 Aperols, $10 Tommy’s Margs, and $8 house beers and wines from 3pm–5pm every weekday.
Happy hour at NOLA Smokehouse and Bar
Another Barangaroo venue delivering the goods is NOLA Smokehouse and Bar, which is serving up incredibly affordable drinks and snacks between 4pm–6pm every day in August. The happy hour menu includes $8 house wines, $8 beers, $15 Negronis, and $15 plates of wagyu cheeseburger spring rolls (yum!).
$12 Martinis at Bar Planet
Newtown's favourite celestial Martini bar is slinging it's perfectly potent sub-zero drinks for just $12 every Monday this month.
$25 pasta at Menzies and the Dolphin
You can score a bowl of excellent handmade pasta for $25 at these two Sydney favourites all month long. For the best bang for your buck, we’d suggest timing your trip to Menzies (on the ground floor of Shell House) to coincide with Martini hour (that's 4pm–6pm, between Tuesday and Saturday), when you can order $10 Martinis and $10 lobster rolls as a little pre-pasta entrée. (The girl math checks out on this one, we promise!)
Free tacos at SoCal
For the month of August, this Cali-inspired Neutral Bay bar is stepping up its happy hour game, offering free tacos with every (full-priced) margarita purchased. Spicy Margs and a free chipotle chicken taco? We’ll have twelve, please. Happy hour runs from 5pm–6.30pm Monday through Thursday, and from 3pm–6.30pm on Fridays (until August 30).
Surfside happy hour at Rafi Urbnsurf
The inner-city outpost of North Sydney’s award-winning Rafi is offering a pretty excellent extended happy hour to keep the brave winter surfers at Urbnsurf fed and fuelled. Between 3pm–6pm from Wednesday to Sunday, you can order sourdough pizzas for just $12, golden fried calamari for $13, and the magnificent Rafi cheeseburger for $16 (which is considered a steal in North Sydney!). The offer is also available at Rafi’s North Sydney venue from Monday through Saturday, but a burger always tastes better after a few hours in the ocean (or, a man-made wave park).
$10 cinema tickets at Hoyts
If you're looking for some Sunday morning entertainment this month, head to any Hoyts cinema in Sydney and you can snap up a movie ticket for less than the price of a large popcorn. There's tons of locations to choose from including cinemas at the Entertainment Quarter, Blacktown, Chatswood Mandarin, Chatswood Westfield, Eastgardens, Erina, Green Hills, Mt Druitt and Wetherill Park, plus a whole lot more.
$35 lunch at Brasserie 1930
Dining rooms don't get much more grand than the one on ground floor of Sydney's world-famous Capella Hotel. Brought to life by the Bentley Group, this Gatsby-coded brasserie is offering a very affordable weekday lunch: on Tuesdays through Fridays this month, $35 will score you a BBQ Half Bannockburn Chicken from the woodfired grill and your choice of side (either a mixed leaf salad, crushed cucumber salad, green beans or fries).
$30 steak, fries and wine at Kittyhawk
In this economy, scoring a good steak for less than $30 is a major boon. Throw in fries and a glass of wine, and you've got a pretty unheard-of deal. Kittyhawk in Sydney CBD is serving up this delightfully affordable line-up every Tuesday from August 20.
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