I spent last evening in a recently opened cocktail/wine bar/restaurant complex called Ivy at 320-330 George Street in the Sydney CBD. This is the play pen of the financial market crowd who work in the global economy. Justin Hemmes' Ivy is more a bar precinct, with eight zones over several levels, great decor It's for the young and wealthy.

Teppanyaki, whose kitchen is headed by ex-Sushi e chef Shaun Presland, is a dimly lit restaurant area with curvy, black tasselled lamp shades whilst the Ivy Lounge has velvety armchairs, marble-topped tables and ceramic elephants. The cool drinks and tasty snacks come with a good price tag in this edifice to good times.

The place oozes wealth, sex and chic designer style. Ivy, when completed, will span two city blocks comprising a boutique hotel, bars, a day spa, nine restaurants, a swimming pool with bar, European-style laneways, gardens, cafes, retail outlets, delicatessens, a ballroom and office space. The venue will hold around 3000 patrons with a 1000 person nightclub space.

So the CBD comes alive with Ivy, which is helping to change the landscape of Sydney nightlife over the last decade. But not its bar culture. Sydney still thinks in terms of barns------huge, impersonal venues designed to cater to thousands.

It's a mixture of fashion folk, party poopers, professionals and financial workers whose chic over-crowded meat market world is one where men are men full of testerone---red-blooded blokes --- and women are woman with the body.---a bevvy of young hotties as they say in the entertainment pages.