Bar Cleveland

I've been staying near the intersection of Cleveland and Bourke and naturally I've become and avid customer of Bar Cleveland. This bar has a pretty mellow crowd, some slot machines, a nice outdoor seating area and some great food. I find that dropping by here and ordering a pint of Vale or Coopers and then hitting the slots is a nice way to wind my night down. Of the food I've tried here I'd say the Wagyu burger is the best thing they've got going and pretty much melts in your mouth. If you're just looking for a snack the Calamari is only 12 bucks and is a decent enough portion to hold you over before your next meal.

Bar Cleveland from street

Harts Pub

Since during my last visit to Harts Pub I wasn't in favor of ordering off the holiday menu, I decided to go back in last night and try out one of their burgers. I ordered myself The Surprise burger and a paddle of beer, including Butcher Porter, Red Truck Lager, Boxer Red Ale and another porter I cant remember. I felt the porters were both a bit too bitter when drank side by side with the reds, the Boxer was almost like carbonated grapefruit juice, and the Red Truck had a wholesome balance of malt and cream. After the sampler was all finished I ordered a glass of the Red Truck to go with the burger. My burger came out bigger then I'd imagined,  it was listed as 300 grams and it turned out that 300 grams is a lot of burger. I took a couple bites out of this, which in itself was a difficult task, however it was worth the effort to taste the rare meat with custom barbecue sauce and bacon all in one bite. After the first few bites it was impossible to bite in more without getting barbecue sauce all over my face, so I gave into cutting this thing up and ate it with a fork.

these bar goers were suspicious of my behavior

Bronte to Bondi

Yesterday I took a cab ride over to Bronte Beach in search of a scenic walk. Along the east side of Sydney there are multiple trails going up and down the coast, this one is about 1 mile and goes from Bronte Beach to Bondi  Beach. The weather was cool and the wind was overwhelming  which is reflected in the size of the waves in these pictures. During the walk the wind got strong enough to knock you over, at several points along the way people on the path were leaning against the wind in order to keep their footing.

Bangladesh Rally and Kangaroo

Today I was feeling adventurous and got off the train some place I didn't recognize called Martin Place. I came to realize that this is pretty much right in the middle of CBD where I've been many times. However today was a special event, in celebration of St Patrick's Day a Bangladeshi war crimes rally was happening. I stayed around for a little while the guy on the mike ranted about rising up and avenging our fathers killers. I asked the Bengals around me several times if there was any free beer and each time they would react differently; either giving me a new pamphlet or speaking some gibberish or even just walking away. I could see that they were avoiding answering my questions so I chose to go find more rational people.

Judgement Bar & Bistro

Walking through Darlighurst the other day, I happened into the Judgement Bar & Bistro for a bight to eat. This place is kind-of hidden, in order to get in you need to go into courthouse hotel and find an unmarked staircase to the second floor. The layout is simple and the atmosphere is unexciting, however they are a bit separated from the insanity of central Darlinghurst, and serve beer and burgers! I had them throw some egg and bacon on my burger, and got some calamari to go along with. I didn't realize it when I ordered but I guess it was a steak burger and it was a nice balance with the egg and tar tar sauce that came on it, the calamari isn't anything special, but it rarely is. All in all I'd say this is a nice place to stop for a burger when in Darlinghurst.

Judgment bar from outside

Beresford Hotel

The other night I investigated the bar at the Beresford Hotel near Darlinghurst. The establishment is 2 stories, offers indoor and outdoor seating and has a cool balcony on the second story. They are also are set up for bands to perform on stage. I spend slot of my night out on the balcony talking with people, eventually it got so filled up that they refused to let anyone onto the balcony until someone else exited in order to meet the maximum occupancy requirements. After several beers, I ordered a burger and some calamari from the bar and gave up on trying to get back out to the balcony. The burger was pretty average, but at least it was only 10 bucks, the calamari was the same price and probably wasn't quite as good of a value.

Beresford from outside

Baccomatto Osteria

Walking through Darlinghurst the other day I passed a little restaurant with a bar inside called Baccomatto Osteria. I hadn't noticed this place before as it's kind of hidden east of Crown street. Inside I found a great selection of wines and beers all from Italy and ordered myself a Menabrea beer to go along with a squid dish. The beer was a nice change and the Italian's running the place made enjoyable conversation, but when my dish came out disappointment set in. The meal only had a couple of peaces of squid, scattered between some rock looking spongy bread things. I have no idea what this spongy shit was but I'm sure it had zero nutritional value. I won't go back to this place unless I fee like drinking some Italian alcohol.

Baccomatto from the street

Cowbell 808

This morning I found myself in a state of confusion and derangement. Between washing my clothes with a peace of paper in the load and almost cutting my arm off while trying to smack a cockroach in my kitchen sink, nothing seamed to be working out for me. So I did what I always do in these situations, I walked toward the bar. On the way my stomach churned as my body ached for food and I felt I might not make it to the bar, so I stopped half way at a cafe called Cowbell 808. Normally this place is too crowded for me to feel comfortable in, but it was late enough in the day at this point that the energy had leveled off. I ordered myself the Bacon and Egg Sambo for 10 bucks. This sandwich wont get you stuffed, but it's just the right type of plate if you need something easy on your stomach after a night of heavy drinking. My only complaint about this place would be the chairs outside which couldn't have been less comfortable.

Inside Cowbell 808

Cronulla Visit

On the train back from Bondi Junction in my previous post, I saw some advertisements for a beach town called Cronulla. This lead eventually to some googling later that night where I discovered that the train route that goes to and from Bondi Junction from Central also goes south of Sydney to to Cronulla. I decided on this day that I'd hop on the train and see about this place.

chick with a nice chair on the train

Icebergs + Bondi Hotel

On Saturday we had cyclone in Sydney and I decided that maybe Bondi would be worth visiting. I chose to make the trip over via the train to Bondi Junction and then grab a cab from there over to the beach. The ride over was mainly filled with people trying to get to kings cross, because I guess that's the default for most Sydneyans on Saturday night. After I got to The Junction the cab took about 5 minutes to get me over to the beach. The first place I wanted to hit was Icebergs, as the ocean view had been nice last time. This time it was stormy enough that from the walkway you could watch waves crash against the side of the pool area.