My Neighbourhood: Lucinda Price’s Bondi

I grew up in Melbourne and moved to Sydney nine years ago. I’ve spent the last six living in Bondi Beach. I love telling people that I live there because it’s an instant conversation starter. Overseas, it’s recognisable, and I feel pride living somewhere quintessentially Australian. Domestically, it has terrible PR. People from Melbourne in particular love to rag on it for being vapid, soulless and overrun by influencers. As a vapid and soulless influencer myself, I think the stereotype is funny. It’s hard to be mad about anything after a swim.

Birichina

This is an outdoor cafe on the south end of the beach, an actual hole in the wall. Here you’ll find a mix of locals who sit around in the sun for hours, surfers coming back from the ocean and the odd celeb. A rare place by the beach that isn’t a tourist trap. It’s bustling from 6am but they’ll turn out a brilliant coffee in less than five minutes no matter the time of day.

The Shop & Wine Bar

For 20 years, The Shop & Wine Bar has been serving Bondi the greatest sandwiches of all time. It’s the one place I will insist people visit when in Sydney. I eat here three times a week, and the bacon and egg roll has hangover-curing qualities that ought be studied. It’s the epitome of simple things done well and with love. I could write a dissertation on how much I adore this place but the list must go on.

Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore

Another local, family-run institution. You can cosy up inside, sip your coffee and sift through the pages of a book like a mysterious Parisian. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, Jane – the founder – will order it in for you. Places like this make me feel like I’m living in 1910 and visiting the town centre for a hand-crafted good. I think the term ‘community’ is overused but this place makes the suburb feel like one. 

The Royal

This is my local pub. It adjoins the Italian restaurant Totti’s but has retained its pre-Merivale persona of being an absolute dive. Carpet, pool tables, a massive bar in the middle of it all. I’ve terrorised this place for years. If the security footage was ever released I’d have to flee the country. The funniest and most ridiculous nights have started here because you never know who you’ll encounter.

The Beaver Dining Parlour

A few doors up from The Royal, this is an American diner with burgers, poutine and onion rings. Like most of the places on this list, the gentleman who runs it (Adam) is hands on, working the floor almost every night, making sure everyone is enjoying themselves. Prepare yourself for a spicy margarita you won’t be hearing the last of. I wrote passages of my book [All I Ever Wanted Was to Be Hot] here while drinking them. Just love it.

South Bondi Hill

Bondi Beach is a deceptively big suburb, and there’s definitely a turf war. North is for locals and families, south is for blow-ins and backpackers. I'm a south truther, and our hill overlooking the beach is the best. Grab a coffee from Birichina, sit down and soak up the most glorious sunrise ever. In the afternoon, I like to grab a bottle of wine from Native Drops, some cups from IGA and some cheese from Harris Farm, and take it down to have on the hill. There's a vibe on there, always – very jovial.

Lucinda Price, aka Froomes, is a filmmaker on the ABC’s Race Around the World, now on ABC iview. 

As told to Jenny Valentish.