The Pacific Club Bondi: a new local brings the north coast to Bondi
A Bondi-based chef spoke to me recently about whether there is a Bondi cuisine, in the way there is a distinct Byron cuisine or the noticeable coastal flavour you find in other parts of Australia.
We agreed that there wasn’t really, maybe just a bit of more of a focus on seafood that in some parts of the city, but that the potential for the development of a signature Bondi flavour was huge. What would it be? It would have to be diet-conscious, low-carb, probably activated, leaning towards vegan but featuring a bit of seafood.
And perhaps that movement is already afoot, with a new guard of chefs in the neighbourhood, including Jesse McTavish — originally from Lennox Head — at North Bondi Fish and now Bret Cameron — well known from his days at Harvest Newrybar, just north of Lennox — at The Pacific Club Bondi Beach.
Cameron is a leading exponent, in my view, of the Byron style that works so well in that gorgeous part of the world. It’s relaxed, often plant-based food, quite deconstructed and full of high-flavour regional produce.
Now the chef is in the kitchen of this impressive new restaurant with a killer Michael McCann fit-out that cost more than $2 million and looks it with its wide, pale floorboards and windows to the world. You may look outward to Campbell Parade but almost as interesting is the scene of the open kitchen through a dining room split between tables, bar tables and booths. It has a very luxe feel.
The list too is a luxed-up version of a Byron menu: contemporary, interesting, full-flavoured.
Start with some snacky plates such as fancy chips and dip — sweet potato crips with a sort-of hummus made from macadamias — followed by the Pacific’s standout dish: grilled prawns with kelp butter and succulents. You’ll have a plate of enormous Yamba kings land on your table dripping with umami-rich butter and pops of the squeaky, seaweed-like succulents. Delicious.
Then find much earthy goodness in, say, a half chicken cooked on the woodfire with peas, kipflers and lemon myrtle, or a startlingly delicious kangaroo loin with a positively earnest side of toasted rice, quandong and pumpkin juice. You’d probably call this soul food, but don’t hold that against it.
Cameron’s cooking brings something genuine and positive to the Bondi food scene, a coastal edge it badly needed. The floor team is good, too, with owner Matt Williams, a Bondi local, leading a pack of well-known waiters through their paces.
The Pacific Club could be the start of something for Bondi; let’s hope more venues follow the path to forging some advanced local fare.
The Pacific Club Bondi Beach
182 Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach
9057 5775
Starters and small plates: $4.50-$24
Larger plates: $28-$130 (for 1kg dry-aged rib-eye to share)
Desserts and cheese: $14-$23