The Crossing
13 O'Brien St
Bondi Beach, Sydney
Bondi is famous for its beaches and restaurants. Its labelled a party area with lots of young travellers and tourists. But a stone’s throw away from all the hustle but still close to the action, you’ll find a little gem called The Crossing Bondi.
The Crossing Bondi is a bar with all its meaning. It has beautiful décor, soft relaxing ambience and of course a barman mixing up some amazing cocktails. It’s not huge in size but then again, we find some large venues can occasionally lack character. The wooden furniture, carefully placed under some interesting artwork, creates an inviting space for a relaxing drink, overdue catch up with friends or even a birthday party.
We started our evening with a cocktail and at The Crossing Bondi, there are quite a few signature cocktails on offer, many with drink combinations we had never seen before. We were so excited about this, it actually took us a while to decide what to order. In the end and after some help from Sebastian (a very charming young man who happens to be the owner), we landed on ‘The Lost Squirrel’ and’ don’t feed the model’.
If you like a hint of sweetness in your cocktail then ‘The lost Squirrel’ is the cocktail for you. It has Absolut pear vodka, Frangelico liqueur and cranberry, all mixed with fresh lime juice and mint. Count N loves Frangelico so much, he almost drank the entire cocktail in one go.
‘Don’t Feed the model’ was Count J’s choice. This one had gin, rockmelon liqueur and soda, complemented by lime, mint and cucumber. Count J, generally hard to please when it comes to cocktails, said this one was one of the best he’s ever had. Some things that stood out for us with the cocktails were presentation, mix of flavours and strength.
Time for some food though and The Crossing Bondi has a food menu that features bar food items, large plates and also sides. We love a menu that has that much variety as it means we can order and try lots of different things.
We started with some bar bites and chose the bruschetta, some tostadas and some very delicious cheese balls. (there was a tempting bucket of bacon on the menu too, but we eventually resisted).
Everything was so delicious. The bruschetta had perfectly ripened roma tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella, both nestled beautifully on toasted bread which didn’t fall apart as we took each bite.
The tostadas were a taste sensation featuring flavours from ingredients like echalots, avocado and chipotle cream topped with hint of grated horseradish which wasn’t overpowering but added so much flavour.
The truffle balls were crispy fluffy clouds filled with mouth-watering macaroni and cheese. They were so delicious, we could describe them as sinful.
At this point of the evening we wished we had left the car at home. We desperately wanted to try another house cocktail but of course, safety and responsibility comes first. So, we chose to have more food instead. Sounds fair, right?
We don’t usually go for seafood pasta but the fresh prawn and calamari orzo pasta they serve at The Crossing Bondi is just amazing. The pasta was cooked perfectly, the prawns and calamari were fresh and the red sauce with a hint of chilli was just amazing. A perfect combination of flavours.
We also managed to sneak in some fried chicken, which we also loved, mainly for two reasons. Firstly, the dipping sauce it was served with seemed to be the perfect condiment for the crispy buttermilk coating, something like a perfect match you might say. Secondly, the chicken piece was tender, juicy and most importantly, with no bones. We love fried chicken but hate having to navigate a pile of bones on our plate.
If you haven’t visited The Crossing Bondi yet, you need to get there as soon as possible. The place oozes style and character. Every detail has been carefully considered, from the furniture to the beautiful artwork and the ingredients in the food. The Crossing Bondi is open Tuesday to Sunday from afternoon to late. It won’t be long till we are back again, that’s for sure.
The Counts dined as guests of The Crossing. Special thanks to Sebastian Curd for this invitation and for looking after us so well on our visit.