Here’s a reliable pathway to joy. First, find yourself a comfortable pub that you love, ideally one that’s been recently revamped with care and charm. Then, visit often enough that you know exactly which spots to snag before anyone else.
The Dry Dock in Sydney’s Balmain ticks the first box for me, and those spots are a cosy little corner directly in front of the bar, bathed in buttermilk-yellow light and furnished with high-top tables, perfect for a quiet date or a solo White Bay Pilsner at the end of a workday. The other – the real prize – is the squashy weathered Chesterfield sofa in the Lounge Bar, right in front of the fireplace. Order a gooey-yolked Scotch egg, a splash of whisky and – contented sigh – it’s like you’ve snuggled into a proper English tavern in Devon or Dorset. Double happiness points if that pub also has its own restaurant, as this one does.
On entry you’ll see the giant Josper grill and oven, manned by head chef Ben Sitton and his team who are busy sizzling and roasting wagyu rib-eye caps, roast chook, smoky porcini risottos dotted with baby corn and rosettes of wood-ear fungus. The lighter dishes often outshine their larger counterparts: a yellowfin tuna crudo gets great tang from olive tapenade and lemon, and – in summer – a roasted peach and pickled shallot salad swirls sweetness and acid together in exacting harmony. Sitton knows that most things are improved with a little crunch; so the tuna is sprinkled with smoked almonds, and a salad, layered with purple and golden beetroot and goat curd, snaps with crumbled macadamia.
The restaurant is rowdy; the high vaulted ceilings, tiled floor and glass doors that frame a leafy courtyard are lovely to look at but encourage sound to bounce around like a pinball machine. But the genial floor team led by Benjamin Manzano (ex-Pilu and Sokyo) turn the hubbub into a feature rather than a bug – there’s a lot of high-energy chat, welcoming of regular guests, and enthusiastic direction towards a staff favourite Sardinian vermentino or the cushiony passionfruit soufflé. It’s loud, but the way that a family gathering is loud. Good-loud.
If you do want to turn the dial down as the night fades, you can always head back into the Lounge Bar for dessert, another bottle of wine or more snacks, as much of the restaurant menu is also available there. Just fight, if you have to, for that Chesterfield.
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