All hands on deck

By Kate Duthie
March 8, 2005
Ship-shape and Bristol fashion: alfresco cocktails draw a crew to Flying Fish.

Photo: Quentin Jones

It's a fine harbour location - theonly thing to do is drink it all in.

Flying Fish
Jones Bay Wharf
19-21 Pirrama Road, Pyrmont
Tel: 9518 6677

Elvis's long-lost cousin Bosoms McGregor is in town, with her not insignificant flotation devices, and the mood is buoyant. Bosoms (Marjorie to her pals) loves all things nautical and, despite having recently failed in her attempt to be the fastest around-the-world solo yachtswoman (she discovered there would be others aboard the QE2), she insists on a night out for cocktails by the harbour.

Running quickly through the bar Rolodex that is my brain, I stop at Flying Fish. When we reviewed it last year it hadn't been open long, but its out-of-the-way location, small outdoor bar, inviting cocktails and waterfront position made it an instant winner. Now, many moons later, there has been a change: the bar area has doubled in size, taking up the whole of the outside deck, just metres from the harbour. Huzzah.

I'm always thrilled to come to Flying Fish; I hold the record for fastest consumption of the famed put-it-together-yourself fish curry. I love the decor, the weird underwater creature lights and the whole atmosphere of the place, but it's the outdoor bar that really perks up my plums.

The night we've chosen is perfect for some alfresco cocktails and chewing on bar snacks and I'm looking forward to seeing whether the bar menus have expanded along with the bar area. Ensconced on a couch facing the water, the sunset and the lights of Balmain, we drag our eyes away from the view to peruse the lists.

The service is a little long in coming, much of the bar activity seeming to centre on getting drinks into the restaurant, but when our waitress appears we order a vanilla martini, a Hypnotic and a Cascade.

We're peckish, too, but have to wait quite a while again to catch her eye. Fretful that she'll disappear, we quickly order the olives and bread, chips and tuna croquettes from a short and, frankly, disappointing selection of bar snacks suitable for sharing.

When they arrive, the chips are the size of fence posts and require both hands to eat, their centres the temperature of the sun. The olives are moreish, but as we bite into the spicy tuna croquettes we realise they have frozen centres. A word to a passing waiter and the remnants are removed (as are the croquettes from our bill), but no more is said.

Finding nothing else on the menu that looks as filling, we decide to order more chips. I'm disappointed that, despite having twice the space, the bar evidently does not get service to match. It seems a shame, as the place inevitably attracts people to one of the finest locations on the harbour.

Still, Bosoms looks happy enough draining a glass of chardy and checking the sights and sounds: a massive container ship plying silently by, the peacefulness of the harbour (punctuated occasionally by the frantic beats from a passing party boat) and then, astonishingly, a Venetian gondola - just the craft for her next solo circumnavigation attempt.

Crowd: Dolled-up diners
Vibe: Lonely
Highs: The location
Lows: The service
Drinks: Vanilla martini $16, Cascade $8
