TRENDY BARS or THE BUCKET LIST & BUCKLERS CANTEEN

 BONDI BLONDE BEER v BLONDE BONDI BIMBOS

We went to a couple of bars in Bondi one early, before we went to dinner at the Paper panes and one afterwards.

The first, The Bucket List in the Bondi pavilion was not my sort of place, I am not a fan of being stopped at the entrance by a twelve year old in painted on tights asking me what I was there for and then telling me how to go to the bar and what to do afterwards, She may have meant well and was only doing her job, it’s just that I didn't know what her job really was.

The place was full but not excessively so but the bar service was bordering on the chaotic. I am sure the bar people know how to mix drinks, but to my mind they just can’t handle the pressure of even a relatively small crowd

I had a Kosciusko beer but there was not a great deal of choice as I suppose the place is more a mixed drink joint than a beer one. It may have been the venue but the noise level here was almost painful, sounded like a box full of bats.

After dinner we went to the Bucklers Canteen, while my daughter loved the music in this place, I found it pretty much the same as the Buckets list except that the bar staff where even less capable of handling the orders. I doubt if there was more than a hundred and twenty all up and less than twenty at the bar but most people seemed to be ordering complex mixed drinks and paying with cards which seemed to be taking half the night to do. This is where the Bondi Bimbos comes in because there where collections of them at the bar, who quite clearly no intention of buying a round but refused to move away from the bar so others could get near. Bondi Blonde Beer have more going for it the Bondi Bimbos,

I would guess that both these places would be much better with a few less people in them or a little more organisation behind and in front of the bar. Both places did food but with so little space for seating I don’t know how they make it work. Probably not all that well as I don’t recall seeing anybody eating standing up and as such they can’t be getting the best out of the restaurants.

While these places aren’t the most inspiring from a beer drinking point of view I may have to accept that I could be judging them a bit harshly, perhaps I am a bit old for them.

I think I would have been happier in either of them if I had been able spend an afternoon or evening having a few quite drinks at a table in a quiet spot with a view of the beach. 

A COUPLE OF PICTURES FROM THE BUCKET LIST