In Sydney’s bustling streets of Surry Hills, Linla has taken over the former home of Dead Ringer – and given the space a new identity.
From the street, it keeps things open and social with alfresco seating, but step inside and the layout shifts. You pass the bar before the room tightens into something more intimate – low lighting, warm timber, and a mix of bar seating and tucked-away tables that feel built for long, slightly loose nights.
The concept comes from Taiwanese-born, Sydney-based restaurateur and mixologist Charles Chang, whose background (including a Top 100 finish in the Diageo World Class Competition) shows up in the drinks as much as the room itself. Linla leans into Taiwanese hospitality and pan-Asian social dining, built around a simple idea: drinking together as ritual. The name itself comes from the sound of a toast – that shared moment before the first sip.
The food follows that same thinking. It’s designed to be passed around, pulled apart, and not taken too seriously. Night-Market Crispy Chicken arrives in a paper bag with spices to shake through yourself. Pork and prawn wontons land in a rich tom yum beurre blanc, and a dessert that turns fairy bread into a bao stuffed with ice cream. It’s playful, but it knows what it’s doing.
Behind the scenes, there’s more weight. Moku chef Ha Chuen Wai brings his omakase format into a private dining room next door, offering a tighter, more focused counterpoint to the main space – a reminder that Linla isn’t just operating on one level.
Then there’s the bar, which is where things get interesting.
The cocktail list is built for easy drinking but doesn’t cut corners on technique. It’s layered, precise, and quietly ambitious without feeling like it’s trying to prove a point. A standout is the Mi-Bubble – a bubble tea-inspired cocktail. Aged rum is worked through earl grey, English breakfast tea, black sugar, milk, milo and tapioca pearls, landing somewhere between dessert and drink. It hits like a Milo chocolate bubble tea, with the rum folded cleanly into the sweetness rather than sitting on top of it.
It’s a good example of how Linla approaches drinks overall: familiar entry point, then a bit more going on underneath.
That approach carries into how the bar positions itself more broadly. On 2 April, Linla hosts its first bartender collaboration with Penicillin Hong Kong – one of Asia’s most influential bars when it comes to sustainability. Founded by Agung Prabowo and Laura Prabowo, Penicillin has built its reputation on fermentation, foraging and upcycling, with a “scrap-less” model that reworks waste into fully realised cocktail ingredients.
Read the full story and details of the collaboration with Penicillin Hong Kong here.