Sydney hasn’t seen anything quite like Centro 86, the ambitious new tequila bar from the Cantina OK! team. It’s an otherworldly, underground haven of Australian-exclusive tequilas, psychedelic art and custom-made margaritas, like a liquor-fuelled fever dream of a hundred-year-old Guadalajaran bar.

Centro 86, which opens on Monday, February 5 after 18 months of development, is the fourth bar from hospitality group Mucho. It follows the success of their micro mezcal bar Cantina OK!, which made it to the list of World’s 50 Best Bars in 2020, 2021 and 2022 for its pioneering use of agave-led spirits.

Walk down narrow Hoskin Lane, around the corner from Swillhouse newcomer The Caterpillar Club, to find the 120-capacity venue with its painted mirrors and long, mosaic bar, custom-made by Australian artist David Humphries to resemble the dreamy desert landscapes of rural Mexico.

“Now, more than ever, people need places and moments of escapism,” says Mucho creative director Jeremy Blackmore, who joked “it will be like an old cantina on mushrooms”.

“We want to see the room filled with all the energy and chaos of a classic night out, to come in and discover the hidden quirks of this space.”

In 2022, Mucho opened Enmore Road martini bar, Bar Planet, introducing Humphries’ cosmic aesthetic to their brand and helping to bring the classic gin cocktail to new heights of popularity in Sydney. But at Centro 86 (so-named for its city location), it’s all about the margarita.

Much like Bar Planet did with martinis, Centro 86 will stretch your perception of its cocktail-of-choice with the option to create your own customised margarita with hand-shaved ice and freshly squeezed lime juice, choosing from a selection of 100 tequilas.

Each tequila and blue agave spirit (tequila made outside the Mexican state of Jalisco) was hand-selected by the team – whether during visits to backyard distilleries in the east-central Mexican city of Puebla, or to Australia’s first commercial-scale agave farm in Bowen, Queensland.

Some are rapidly aged in-house on cherry wood, pecan wood or iron bark, developing hard-to-find deep, smooth flavours.

“Tequila is one of the world’s most unique spirits, it’s really one-of-a-kind because it really speaks to the place it came from,” says Blackmore, explaining how the spirit has moved far beyond the hungover-inducing shots of your teenage years.

Beyond the DIY drinks, venue manager and margarita expert Ryan Bickley (from Cantina OK!, where he’s estimated to have made tens of thousands of them) has helped to develop four signature house margaritas made with “low-key cocktail theatre”.

Pisco, agave and white rum will round out the cocktail menu, which focuses on resurrecting forgotten or maligned drinks. The “Caprioska”, for example, twists the 𝄒70s Brazilian classic Caipiroska into a summery cocktail of green tea vodka, lime, sugar and lime ice.

But don’t expect any substantial food offering. This is a bar for pre- or post-dinner drinks, when you’ll be happy snacking on paper bags of Mucho’s signature popcorn in a secret, yet-to-be-disclosed flavour.

“We think [Centro 86] will bring Sydney a lot of joy,” Blackmore says.

“We love this city and want to make it more human, more weird, more interesting and more fun.”

Open daily 4pm-2am

Basement, 86-88 Pitt Street, Sydney (enter via Hoskings Place), instagram.com/centro.86