Trying to be everything to everyone can be fraught, but Promenade, a new all-day eatery at the refurbished Bondi Pavilion, pulls it off. The 300-seat venue from House Made Hospitality (the group behind Hinchcliff House and others) covers refined dining, casual outdoor eating and takeaway snacking, courtesy of a dedicated kiosk.

“No matter who you’re dining with, how you’re dressed, the time of day, the price point you need, we wanted to attract as many people as possible,” says group director Scott Brown.

The three spaces serve separate menus, and each do a good job of interpreting Bondi’s food culture in different ways. There’s plenty of fresh seafood and vegetables, casual pub-style food and classic beachside fish’n’chips.

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The restaurant menu is inflected with Asian ingredients and flavours. There’s chilled seafood, like pickled mud crab with tart green mango, and coral trout crudo with trout roe, apple and pickled nori. Oysters come in seaweed mignonette, and bug meat toast is a play on classic Cantonese dim sum prawn toast.

Squid ink calamarata (a thick, ring-shaped pasta) with pippies served with a jamon XO sauce is a more substantial second course, as is the snapper curry with its sweet-sour balance of dates and tamarind. There are also hearty dishes such as agrodolce pork chop with charred radicchio and Wagyu rib eye served with sambal butter.

The Front Yard is a casual first-come-first-served outdoor space, steps from the sand, that’s shaded with sculptural umbrellas. On offer are flatbreads topped with harissa, goat’s curd and green sauce; or macadamia, saltbush and burrata. A slow-cooked lamb shoulder with salsa verde is the only departure from the seafood focus of the larger share plates.

The drinks list is well-balanced across refreshing alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails, plus predominantly Australian wines.

Brown says the fit-out is meant to be relaxing, rather than competing with Bondi’s iconic view. “It’s very calm, soft and tonal. We wanted people to instantly feel relaxed without too many objects or colours distracting from what the focus should be, which is the view.”

Moving through the dining room onto the verandah to the sand is almost seamless. The natural shades of the fit-out echo the beach. On the verandah, umbrellas trimmed in rich red beautifully frame views of the aqua and white surf. It’s a dramatic change from what was here before.

“If you talk to anyone in the community, the old Pavilion was a bit of a dog’s breakfast; there was no cohesion,” Brown says. “The council has put a lot of energy into reinventing the space as the centre of the Bondi Beach community. There are open spaces, community-based projects. All the locals are feeling proud it’s on their doorstep. It’s been a long journey to get here, and we’re happy to be open.”

Promenade
Shop 4, Bondi Pavilion, Queen Elizabeth Drive, Bondi Beach
(02) 7228 1408

Hours

Restaurant
Wed to Sat 11.30am–11pm
Sun 11.30am–10pm

Kiosk
Daily 7am–3pm

promenadebondibeach.com