Redfern Surf Club

Redfern Surf Club isn’t a surf club. Yannick Maslard and Geoff Spruce (both ex-Cliff Dive) gave their Alexandria bar that name because they love surf clubs. They grew up in them, admire their diversity and love the cheap drinks.

The walls are rough bricks and furniture comes from repurposed floorboards. There’s plenty of plants around the space, surf photography and amateur trophies, and in the daytime the large windows fill the space with sunlight. When it’s dark it feels appropriately dingy.

There are no commercial brews on tap; instead there’s Grifter’s pale ale and a rotating mix of other locals. The wine list comprises bottles made with minimal intervention, and then there’s the there’s the “cha-chunker”.

Holes are punched into cans of soft drink so a bit can be poured out and a mini bottle of booze – such as rum, tequila and vodka – can be added to make an improv canned cocktail. The cha-chunker then has a straw jammed into it. A can of Bundaberg ginger beer, for example, gets spruced up with bitters, a mini Bundaberg rum and a slice of lime. It was invented by a bartender at New York’s Genuine Liquorette.

Food is by Don Taco, from Kerby Craig and Jo “Chewba” Siahaan of Ume Burger and Bar Ume. It serves Okinawa’s most famous dish: taco rice.

The little-known Japanese-Mexican fusion dish is made with mincemeat, lettuce, taco seasoning and grated cheese all served on top of koshihikari (Japanese rice), which has a sweet edge. A dash of sake, soy sauce and mirin is used for flavouring. The Ume guys give theirs an umami boost with kombu, shiso, nori and seaweed.

As well as taco rice (including a vego version) there’s beef tacos, soft-corn tortillas, nachos (made with blue-corn chips), renkon chips (lotus-root chips), edamame and corn.