The Public

I’ve been to The Public three times now, and must admit that the last time was best. An impromptu Wednesday night drop in after going to an art gallery opening, they were doing a Burger + Beer (or shiraz for me) special, prior to the State of Origin. This place is a lot more appealing earlier in the week, when it isn’t too full and noise. Having a booth towards the front also helped. Unfortunately, the other times I’ve been have been on a Friday and Saturday night, and it’s far too noisy for my liking. So many tables crammed in, lots of echoing wooden surfaces, and nothing to dampen the noise. Definitely not the place if you want to chat among a group or have a romantic date!
The stand-​out here is the food. While the burger was good, my favourite dish so far has been the duck souvlaki. Definitely not something I’ve seen before with souvlaki, but the rich duck went excellently with the rest of the ingredients, and turned it into something special. I’ve also shared one of the lamb platters. The Greek inspired flavours are superb, and it was all gone far too quickly — add some extra chips or another side dish to make sure it’s enough for two people. I’m just disappointed I haven’t yet tried the ice-​cream sandwich — but there’s always a next time!

First time I have been here and it’s FABULOUS! Food is to die for and very friendly staff and vibe. My best friend lives in cammeray I wish I had discovered this place before!

I dropped into this bar and bistro for a drink @ 6.30 pm, Thursday 18^th June 2015. This place is very cool. Much better than worn out pubs or tired clubs. The interior design is smart. The food being prepared by chefs in the open kitchen looked scrumptious. The bar staff are polite and quick. There are many boutique beers on tap and the wine list is impressive and well chosen but be warned drinks are expensive. I ordered two glasses of Chardonay which were $ 10 each. Bottles of wine ranged from $ 30 to $ 65. This is a great bar with a vibrant atmosphere. Many suits and office dolls were chilling out after a hard days work. I will return because this bar makes you feel good.

‘The Public’ has entered the Cammeray fray — Cammeray is arguably one of the most ‘secretly affluent’ suburbs in Sydney, and also manages to breed a slightly fickle, but incredibly loyal bunch of customers. I’m not entirely sure where exactly ‘The Public’ sits. There’s a surprising amount of turnover on the miller street strip, with restaurants changing hands far too often.
As you first enter you find yourself deliberating — is it a pub? Is it a vegan joint? Maybe it’s a bar for ladies? Turns out it’s a Greek food inspired taverna/​restaurant — still not sure what the honeycomb feature wall and vegetation growing out of odd places has to do with this theme, but luckily the whole thing is appealing to the eye — despite being a little discombobulating (I’ve finally found a use for that word!)
The lightly polished timber and white walls gives it a really nice ‘air’ — it’s a terrific space, and with the turquoise colour blended in, you find yourself in the mood for salad, or fresh juice, or avocado — something light. However the menu is heavy on the beers, meats, burgers, sausages and cheeses — of which I truly love, but wasn’t expecting. Unfortunately the food was disappointing. The tastiest item was the grilled cheese — I guess that’s saying something?
We ordered a plethora of entrees and share plates, none of which were memorable unfortunately, except the grilled cheese! The burgers were the biggest cause of upset though. I ordered the pulled lamb burger with grilled haloumi and hommus — it sounded delicious, but really failed to deliver. The lamb was dull, the haloumi was borderline tasteless (not sure how they managed that) — the whole thing was just a bit of a miss. I’d suggest Turkish bread as well — the brioche buns are too heavy for this style of burger.
I really wanted to like this place, but sadly with so many excellent options around I can’t see myself coming back for more.

Three strikes and you’re out…
What a disappointment! The long and anticipated opening of the newest place in Cammeray only left a bitter taste of disappointment…
1. Walked into the bar and walked up to the bar to be greeted with the statement, «we should be open but we’re not, so you’re going have to wait outside». Walked to the door and locked behind us
2. An over zealous on duty bar maid who showed a little too much affection to her boyfriend who was in the bar as well as just amateur staff who appear to be employed as friends and not as professionals.
3. Finally tried the food on Monday this week, disaster. It’s an offense to each pub out there to call it poor pub food. Nothing more to add…
Good to see the place well supported, for now, but after an underwhelming reveal of an expensive renovation, lack luster staff, it is just another mainstream and one dimensional bar/​restaurant.
I’ll be supporting the other places in Cammeray other than the attempted «Tres Cartel»…

The Belgian Epoque is dead, long live the Public.
Owned by James and Will Christopher, brothers who also own nearby Laneway Café and Ms Miller, the Public is a light, bright Bauhaus interpretation of a traditional pub. There’s stool seats under high tables and self-​serve areas at the front, «to encourage socialisation,» James told me the other day. Seats and a small raised area suitable for small gatherings at the rear (Public takes corporate bookings).
A strong Greek-​fusion theme runs through the menu, which ensures the brothers won’t cannibalise the Spanish-​inspired Ms Miller a few doors down. Lamb meatballs, taramasalata and other Mediterranean delicacies adorn the menu.
There’s a capable selection of beers drawn from the same distributor who supplies Cotton Thief about 7 minutes away in Cremorne, but TBF Cammeray Craft 30 seconds north on foot on the other side of the street does small brews better. Hopefully the Public will open a few taps to boutique beer makers on rotation.
A thing that made the old Belgian so great was you could retire to it when you missed your bus (the stop is right outside). Ever since it closed more than a year ago I’ve had to be on time to appointments — but not any more! «Oh, dash it, I missed the bus! Oh, well, nothing for it but to get a brew, pull up a stool at the window and watch the people shoot past for 15 minutes until the next bus.»
Weekends put a new spin on the term ‘pub crawl’ as hipsters and late-​blooming gen xers prove that having young kids in tow is no excuse to crimp your social life. Just watch out for those three-​wheeler baby joggers, they’re killers on the ankles as you filter past with a tray of schooners.

Finally open, in the old Époque premises. And flat out with locals checking out the new kid on the block.
Same folk down Laneways and Ms Miller in the same village — global domination next!
Ok so this was day 3 for them, and tbh it’s probly really only three stars but I can only see good things happening here.
The menu is surprisingly wide — chef is ex Masterchef Professional UK. And it shows. And man he was earning his money tonight.
There is pub grub, share plates and main courses. Pub grub is pretty good, share plates were more like entrees, and the mains looked good but didn’t try one.
In the front is order at the bar and out the back table service.
Fit out is nice and pretty trendy, all blonde wood and turquoise paint, dim lights and white paint. It’s a bit noisy but not too bad.
Service is as you would expect three days in, and it feels to me that they have squeezed a few too many tables in, the wait staff struggle to get around in some areas.
The food was pretty good, although we sent back the lamb the first time as it was not quite warm enough. The duck souvlaki unexpectedly had French fries inside, but was very tasty as was the sausages.
All in all pretty good and sure to shake up the local scene.
Recommended– we’ll be back.