Bondi Social – Bondi Beach
“No-one in Sydney ever looks up,” a friend recently said. “You could have sex on your balcony or parade around naked and no-one would know!”
She might be right, since I know several people in the eastern suburbs who have no idea that Bondi Social even exists – largely because, on street level, all you can see is a doorway that leads to an elevator. If you crane your head up, however, you’ll see one of the liveliest balconies in Sydney (though we should add we’ve never seen sex or nudity up there).
Bondi Social also has an elegant indoor area with candle-lit tables and wood paneling (they use recycled Queensland hardwood) but the main attraction is its balcony.
Overlooking the southern end of Bondi Beach (the end where the hardcore surfers go), it has a great view that makes this perfect for taking someone from interstate or overseas. The balcony is, however, usually crowded – even when I went with a Kiwi friend of mine on a Sunday afternoon we felt lucky to grab an empty table.
Taking advantage of their happy hour pricing (which runs all day on Sunday, 4pm to 7pm Saturday and 6pm to 7pm Tuesday to Friday), I order a mojito for $8 while my friend grabs a New Zealand sauvignon.
The mojito tastes good (and you can’t argue with the price) but only has a few muddled slices of lime in it when it should really be filled with quartered limes (to be exact, most recipes call for either half a lime or even a whole lime. Incidentally, some purists believe the original mojito recipe requires lime juice rather than muddled limes but these days most bartenders muddle the fruit itself.)
With this criticism out of the way, I was impressed with everything else. The service was fantastic (and I might have a crush on the blonde barmaid who served us) and the lemon pepper calamari and fish and chips that we ordered were great – in fact, it was the best fish and chips that I had in a while.
Other meals on the menu include Sambuca meatballs in tarragon tomato sauce as well as crisp pork belly in Thai caramel.
Bondi Social, Open Tuesday to Sunday. Level 1, 38 Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach. Phone 9365 1788 or see the Bondi Social website
Now it’s your turn – how do you rate Bondi Social?
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