HUELO
127 King Street, Newtown
@huelobar
A couple of hospo veterans – Dre Walters and Swan Kanongataa – are opening a multi-faceted cocktail bar in the heart of Newtown this Friday, 31st March. They are joining the stable of top-flight venues with neighbours Café Paci, Bella Brutta and Ante.
They’ll open with ‘Oysters & Dreams’ where you’ll score $2 oysters and magnums of champagne from 4pm to 6pm, 5 nights a week (Wednesday – Sunday). You’ll also be able to get your fill of cocktails till 2am Friday and Saturday night.
Swanny describes the venue as “a culmination of everything we love about bars and cocktails. Genuine service and thoughtful drinks. Those are the bars that stand the test of time in our opinion. If the General store is old world, then our hidden cocktail bar is Miami tropical glam meets New York brasserie. The cocktails are fun, imaginative, and delicious.”
There are three distinct spaces housed in a two-storey building on Newtown’s bustling King Street. At the front, you’ll find their neighbourhood General Store filled with old-world charm, selling ceramics, sardines, truffle oil, pasta, Nonna’s passata and other local and internationally sourced fun stuff for your pantry. Hidden behind the door is a 12-seater tropical speakeasy cocktail bar backing onto a cosy courtyard. There’s also an upstairs bar slated to open later in the year, suited to larger groups, functions and “debauchery”.
‘Huelo’ – meaning sun rays in Tongan, encapsulates the warmth of hospitality and Swanny’s Tongan heritage. Swanny describes the venue as “a culmination of everything we love about bars and cocktails. Genuine service and thoughtful drinks. Those are the bars that stand the test of time in our opinion. If the General store is old world, then our hidden cocktail bar is Miami tropical glam meets New York brasserie. The cocktails are fun, imaginative, and delicious.”
Both Dre and Swanny have been in and around cocktail bars since the mid-2000s. Dre is the owner and operator of the famed Clarence Street bar, Old Mate’s Place & pop-up Ginny’s Canoe Club. Continuing his pattern of opening cocktail bars with mates, Dre has now joined forces with Swanny.
Swanny is no stranger to the Sydney hospo scene, cutting his teeth in venues like Longrain and Zeta Bar before taking up General Manager roles at The Wild Rover, Bistecca and The Joker in London’s south. He returned to Sydney in the wake of Covid, and decided to go back to his roots by bartending at Old Mate’s Place and Ginny’s Canoe Club whilst figuring out his next move, which would ultimately be Huelo.
At the General Store, expect deli sandwiches, fried squid po-boys, seasonal wines and small plates, whilst admiring a selection of specialty produce and locally sourced handmade ceramics. Start your night at the General Store for a pre-dinner aperitif/wine then make your way to the hidden cocktail bar or head upstairs and indulge in steak or lobster frites. There’s something for everyone and you can walk out with a new set of bespoke plates or sardines for the walk or cab ride home from the general store.