The Sailors Club

Jacqui Lewis steers The Sailors Club ship with a deft hand. Sitting pretty on the ex-Pier restaurant site operated by Lewis' father, chef Greg Doyle, this is casual dining at its finest. Jutting out into the bay itself the panoramic view is a stunner and can be enjoyed rain, hail or shine. Rose Bay is the playground of the Eastern Suburbs yachting set, where private schools jostle for position and luxury cars crawl from one red light to the next; Sailors Club has found itself in high society.

The Sailors Club interior with design and styling by Lewis herself. One thing to note is that the restaurant space is rather narrow and the ceilings low making for quite a racket in the full throes of service Credit: The Sailors Club

That's not to say it's elitist. Anyone can join ranks, you just have to have the gumption to travel this far east. Jacqui Lewis has done all the interior design work herself, citing influences from a trip to Palm Springs. And boy does that canary yellow sing. The atmosphere is delightful if you're one for weekend afternoon drinks after a meander in the 40-footer (I do jest).

Prepare to get comfy! The lounge is the perfect place to start off or round out the night Credit: The Sailors Club

The menu is a straight forward affair with plenty of crowd pleasers.  Burgers, fish and chips and steaks are sure to be flying off the pass. With seasonal specials also on offer there's something here for everyone. The staff were also quite helpful as several on our table were strict vegetarian. Short of eating french fries and lettuce leaves for dinner, they offered to whip together a sort of caprese salad spaghetti.

Salt and pepper calamari with chipotle mayonnaise. I think alarm bells were collectively ringing at the sound of chipotle mayo but it was actually quite mild. They could even have put in a bit more, just for good measure. The calamari were nice and crisp and not cloying

Special of the Day #1: Cured King Salmon, with diced egg. This dish was an early favourite of mine, would have loved to have had a little bit more of the gorgeous salmon! Citrusy, zingy & yum

Once our order was off the ranks we thought we'd be set, early sitting, get in and out in around 2 hours. Didn't really happen that way. We got our starters, wolfed those down quick smart and then had  a shedload of time to wait for our mains. It really wasn't a good look, and we were getting really hungry (again). This was the major downer for me, even though the food is quite good. The time spent to prepare our order was not really justified unfortunately. But anyway, we plodded on...

The Sailors Club Hamburger, beetroot relish, aioli, cos, tomato & fries. You can't really beat a burger, a rather respectable one at that. The beef was a lovely pink and tender. I must say thought, the gherkin on the side was rather strange. You'd take a bite of the burger then pick up the gherkin and chomp into that. It felt very disjointed, it could have been sliced and IN the actual burger, no?

TSC Fish and Chips in Coopers beer batter, tartare sauce. You'll be pleased to know that the fish changes daily, depending on what's going. The fish had a lovely crispy golden batter

Daily special #2Pan fried barramundi, speck, carrot purée. The portion size of this dish was rather on the small side. One could perhaps nick some chips from your fellow diner's fish & chips? Nevertheless, it was done well 

(LA) DOLCE (VITA)

The Sailors Club Tiramisu, creme fraiche, chocolate glass, malt coffee powder, marsala syrup, nitro chocolate mousse. In powdered form, everything comes together to taste like a tiramisu *gasp*! A new take on nonna's classic

Banana split, chocolate mousse, chestnut crumble, banana sorbet. Resembling nothing of the old school dessert, there isn't a banana boat in sight here

Perusing the interwebs, opinions on TSC are mixed to say the least. I can say that we had a reasonable time with staff although the wait  was really too long for our food. In all seriousness though, The Sailors Club seems to hit the right notes. Suitable for all occasions, a drop-in (good luck) or an anniversary dinner; it is highly adaptable. The large bar area is also very accommodating if you find yourself inadvertently without a table at 8pm on a Saturday night (a rather common dilemma one would think).  In these tough economic times, The Sailors Club is one to ensure that the good times keep rolling.

Thanks for reading!
xGourmand