Sydney's Chinatown might have been a little slow to join the small bar movement, but it is making up ground with a lush new arrival, Bancho Bar.

Squeezed into Thomas Lane (behind Quay Street), Bancho is the latest venue from the team behind Tokyo Bird in Surry Hills and Osaka Trading Co at Tramsheds.

Regulars will be quick to jump into its bottle lockers.

Owner Jason Ang says Chinatown's high number of restaurants and scarcity of drinking venues drew him to the area.

And the name? Bancho is the Japanese word for the leader of a group of delinquents.