Royal Hotel Bondi

After a night where we had perhaps had one or two too many in Leichhardt, the Sydney leg of the Royal Tour continued.  So after a restorative breakfast, we gathered ourselves like the true warriors we are and set course (with our slightly sore heads) for the Royal Hotel Bondi.

As I’ve mentioned previously on the blog, there’s always a slight sense of trepidation when you’re walking into a pub significantly before noon.  And we walked into the Royal Hotel Bondi a bit before 10:30am.  Perhaps not super surprisingly we were the first ones in the pub. 

The pub itself was actually pretty cool.  It has an old-school kind of 50’s pub vibe where you could totally see an episode of Underbelly being shot here.  But at the same time it doesn’t look like it hasn’t been done up since the 50’s. It captures that old timey feeling without it feeling like it’s trying too hard or putting it on.  The pub definitely fells like it has legit character (which isn’t something you can say for many things in Bondi). The beers, however, were a bit on the overpriced side (which IS something you can say for many things in Bondi).

Anyway, after giving the place a quick once over, John went to explore more thoroughly while I grabbed some beers. I then pulled up a seat at one of the 50 or so empty tables in the pub.  Apparently, I picked the wrong one.

Less than 5 minutes after sitting down, a local walked in, glanced at me and headed up to the bar.  One minute after that, the profusely apologetic barman came over. He explained to me that of all the tables in the completely empty pub, I had somehow been lucky enough to select the one that was shotgunned by this particular local and his mates on Saturday mornings.

The local was genuinely apologetic and a bit sheepish about the whole situation as well.  And I did have the whole rest of the pub to choose from.  So no harm done.

The bistro looked extremely nice as well.  By the time we were leaving it was starting to fill up with brunch/lunch customers. And the food that was coming out of there would be worth a return trip alone.

One disappointing bit about our visit to the Bondi Royal was the huge front bar area with pool tables, tons of TV’s, and a bunch of different beers on tap.  Unfortunately, this section wasn’t open until noon.  And we had a schedule to keep.  So by about 11:30am we were off to our second pub of the day.    

Royal Stats

• Town/Suburb: Bondi, Sydney, NSW
• Population: 10,045
• Date Visited: Saturday, January 28, 2023
• Visited By: Cory & John
• Beer Sponsorship on Sign: Carlton
• Beer Consumed at Pub: Stone & Wood Pacific Ale
• Price of Schooner of Said Beer: $12.00
• Unique Award: Locals with Strongest Table Preferences
• Tour Progress: 14.7% (20/136)