From posh pies to juicy pork chops: 10 of Sydney’s best pub dining specials

Money too tight to mention? Dinner at the pub is a fun and great value option — especially when there’s a specials night. Here are 10 of Sydney’s best pub specials to check out right now. It’s the latest instalment in our budget-friendly Specials Board series, designed to help you dine out this winter without forking out too much.

Taphouse Sydney for the pork chop

Move over chicken schnitty, the pub pork chop has landed. Taphouse Sydney’smodern Cantonese pub menu is now even better midweek, with the arrival of ‘Super Cool Pork Chop Wednesdays’, featuring a pork chop curry inspired by Hong Kong’s famous Sun King Yuen restaurant. For $12, a double-fried pork chop is served on a bed of jasmine rice with a Cantonese-style curry sauce, fragrant with spices, lemongrass, makrut lime and galangal.

122 Flinders Street, Darlinghurst, taphousesydney.com.au

The Henson Park Hotel for the seafood laksa

This pokie-free community hub has built a steady following for its refreshingly different South-east Asian pub dining offering, with a rotating monthly special keeping things interesting. Their current offering is a deluxe seafood laksa for $28. The Henson’s rendition pumps up the luxe laksa factor with squid, mussels and prawns atop tofu puffs, vermicelli noodles and vegetables. Reel it in from now until mid-September.

91 Illawarra Road, Marrickville, thehenson.com.au

The Royal Richmond for the rump steak

Heritage hotel The Royal Richmond focuses on highlighting the Hawkesbury’s finest produce, and has a dedicated space to dry age the variety of beef cuts on its menu. The Southern Stations Wagyu rump is just $20 every Wednesday night, served with chips and a punchy peppercorn sauce. It might just be Sydney’s best pub rump.

163 Windsor Street, Richmond, theroyalrichmondhotel.com.au

Woollahra Hotel for the bao buns

Former Spice Temple and Chin Chin chef Jordan Muhammad brings his golden cooking touch to the recently refurbished Woollahra Hotel’s Asian-influenced weekly specials. Get a one-way ticket to ‘Bao Town Tuesdays’, with three baos for $15. The Japanese-inspired bao includes crispy karaage with cos lettuce and spicy mayonnaise, while the classic Chinese-style roast duck bao with cucumber, spring onion and hoisin sauce is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.

116 Queen Street, Woollahra, woollahrahotel.com.au

Harbord Hotel for the woodfired pizza

This breezy beachside pub’s not-so-secret weapon is its woodfired oven, which is put to good use throughout its modern menu. This includes their funky array of “Cali-style” pizzas, which have the beautifully blistered dough of a Neapolitan-style pizza, but the licence to let loose on creative flavours. Every Tuesday from 5pm to 9pm, their entire pizza menu drops from its usual $25 to $32 price-point to $18 to $20. The top pick? The Bo Peep, loaded with woodfired lamb shoulder, figs, rocket, goat’s cheese and mint verde.

29 Moore Road, Freshwater,harbordhotel.com.au

The Erko for the oysters

If $6+ per oyster is more than you feel you can shell out right now, pop along to The Erko, which slings $2 Sydney rocks all day every Saturday and Sunday. Served a la natural with lemon, you won’t find them on the menu during the week, making them the perfect way to start your weekend pub sesh. Pair them with a refreshing mini martini that the Erko serves on the weekend for $12.

102 Erskineville Road, Erskineville, theerko.com.au

The Dolphin Hotel for the truffle specials

Executive Chef Danny Corbett is seeing out the cold months with Mediterranean cuisine-leaning The Dolphin’s truffle specials. Until August 12 you can indulge in a sweetcorn risotto with egg yolk ($28), and a white salami pizza ($30), both shaved with Manjimup black truffles. Then until August 25, lashings of truffle will be shaved over silver beet ricotta raviolo ($32), and a ‘bacon ‘n’ egg’ pizza with crispy pancetta, a free-range egg and cime di rapa ($30).

412 Crown Street, Surry Hills, dolphinhotel.com.au/public-bar

Woolwich Pier Hotel for the pie and mash and peas

Is this Sydney’s best (value) pub pie? You might want to head along to the Woolwich on a Wednesday to find out. Priced at just $22, the chuck steak number in pepper sauce comes with creamy mashed potatoes and green peas. Come back frequently enough, and you’ll catch head chef Grant Stevenson switching it up with a just-as-delicious chicken and leek pie with the same trimmings.

2 Gale Street, Woolwich, woolwichpierhotel.com.au

Four in Hand for the mussels

PSA seafood fans: it’s mussels night every Thursday at Four in Hand Hotel, where for $22, a large bowl of Belgian-style mussels is yours, with a tomato and chilli sauce and toasted sourdough bread.

105 Sutherland Street, Paddington, fourinhand.com.au

The Toxteth for the gyros

If you’ve had enough of your socials filled with people tucking into gyros on a Greek island, head over to the Tocky on a Wednesday to quell the FOMO. Their fluffy grilled pita encases fall-apart slow-cooked lamb, tomatoes, lettuce, a bright yoghurt sauce and pickled red onions — with hot chips, of course. Available from 5pm for $16, it’s cracking value. Our pro tip is to stuff as many herb feta-sprinkled chips into your gyros as possible.

345 Glebe Point Road, Glebe glebetoxtethhotel.com.au