This al fresco restaurant in Sydney’s Circular Quay is set to lure locals back to tourist central with French-accented bistro fare and wines that won’t break the bank.
Sydney Harbour. How inviting it looks in the postcards – the soaring sails of the Opera House, the burbling wavelets, the stout ferries chugging in and out of the Quay. What they don’t show? The garish Ugg Boot shops, questionable street mimes and out-of-towners making dorky V-signs in front of the Harbour Bridge. It’s this unfortunate touristy sheen that’s made many locals give Circular Quay a wide berth over the years – that and the fact there’s nowhere much to eat or drink, unless you’re willing to fork out huge bucks for the few top-tier restaurants (looking at you Aria, Bennelong and Quay).
Enter Whalebridge, the plucky little French-ish outdoor bistro that aims to lure locals back to an area that really should be Sydney’s pride and joy. Part of the Sydney Collective, which also oversees The Imperial in Erskineville, Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel and one of NSW’s cosiest regional pubs, The Sir George in Jugiong, Whalebridge aims to “give Sydneysiders a reason to come back here”, according to the group’s founder Fraser Short. And when you’re sitting in a chic little bistro chair with a glass of Veuve in one hand and a fresh Sydney rock oyster in the other, the sun dancing off the waves, and a clear, tourist-free view straight to the bridge, it certainly feels like he’s done his job.
