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The Bat & Ball Hotel is named for its proximity to the Sydney Cricket Ground so, since 1929, it’s been an obvious stop on the way to a game there or at Allianz Stadium. It’s also been known, at times, as a live music pub. But in more recent times, after losing its rep for championing live music, it suffered a bit of an identity crisis, even changing its name to Parkside Bar for a bit. As far as I could tell, it was no longer the type of pub you’d bother going out of your way to get to. After all, it's in the kind of out-of-way end of Redfern/Surry Hills – on the high-traffic corner of Cleveland and South Dowling Streets. Thankfully, the pub has now been taken into the loving hands of five passionate friends – friends who know what they’re doing when it comes to running a boozer.
There’s Zac Godbolt, the creative director and co-founder of Enmore Country Club and Doom Juice. Rachael Paul, the previous venue manager of beloved neighbourhood spots The Sunshine Inn and Golden Gully. Cameron Votano, the co-owner and executive chef of BTB Kirribilli and Lowkey. And Daniel McBride and Dynn Szmulewicz, the owners of The Little Guy and the previously mentioned Enmore Country Club and The Sunshine Inn. It’s been a long-time dream for the five friends to own a pub together, and they spent time finding one with character, good old-school bones and rich history. The Bat & Ball Hotel ticked all the boxes.
When I enter on a Saturday lunchtime just a couple of days after the pub has reopened, I’m pleased to see that it still looks like a classic old Sydney pub – it's had a refurb, but they’ve leaned into vintage pub vibes. Brown tiles line the walls; black and white check tiles frame the floor around the bar; the carpet is red and brown and over-patterned; and the walls of the pool room feature vintage sports pictures and framed dinky-di "Aussie" tea towels. The bar staff look sharp yet edgy, in brown short-sleeved cargo-shirt uniforms.
Although it's only just reopened, it looks lived in. Most tables are full – with young people curing hangovers, multi-generational families catching up over lunch, some locals with dogs (yep, it’s dog-friendly), and even a bucks party group. I run into a friend sitting at another table – it feels like the sort of pub where that’s going to happen – and she says she was in last night (Friday), too, when there was no hope of getting a table. It's already pumping.
We’re here for lunch, but we start with a cocktail – it’s hard to resist, considering the Negroni and Espresso Martinis are only $16 (happy hour, always). Both taste spot-on. We also start with a plate of oysters, because they’re just $1 a pop on Saturdays.
We try some of the entrées, which are the sorts of sophisticated little plates you’d find in a wine bar. There’s white anchovies with roasted capsicum and delicious fried capers; fresh and colourful heirloom tomato slices topped with a big dollop of stracciatella; but my favourite is the mushroom dish. It’s a mix of seasonal mushroom varieties with two grilled green shishito peppers and an incredibly moreish macadamia dip. There’s vinegar dressing, rich creaminess from the dip, and then a variety of different textures from mushrooms (some plump, some a bit stringy) that make it an absolute stand-out.
The mains are all “elevated pub grub”, but the prices aren't elevated (by Sydney standards). I order the chicken schnitty ($27), which comes on a bed of mash surrounded by “KFC-style” gravy. Instead of your basic crumb, the schnitzel is coated in more “exotic” grains like quinoa, which give the fried chicken breast a deep golden colour and superior crunch. The mash is velvety, and the chickeny, salty flavoured gravy is the type of thing I’ll continue thinking about over the next few days. As far as schnitties go, this one is five-star.
It’s my job to taste the dishes of everyone else on my table (hehe). One of my mates orders the Porterhouse steak ($32), which is cooked perfectly to my liking (medium rare); he also likes it, but he had requested it rare when ordering, and the server had let him know they cook it medium rare – so it's a little over for his tastes. The chips are house-cut Macca’s-style French fries that are really well seasoned, and even better when dipped in the little jug of creamy, salty Diane sauce that comes with it.
My friend who orders the mussels ($25) always has high standards for how seafood is cooked, so I’m keen for his opinion; and today, he’s particularly impressed, telling me that the shellfish have “bravely” been cooked on the rare side, so that instead of having that rubbery chewiness, they’re still plump and soft. Together we use brown sourdough ($6) to sop up the incredibly moreish white wine cream with fennel that the mussels have been cooked in.
Another mate has the crumbed ling burger – it comes with lettuce and a celeriac remoulade that adds subtle creaminess, but I reckon it could do with a bit of something extra, at least a bit more seasoning.
Drink-wise, some other notable mentions: a relatively big selection of tinnies; Doom Juice wine on tap as well as by the bottle; a good selection of budget-friendly wines by the glass (including a $10 Lunar Cab Merlot and Ottelia Sav Blanc both from SA; and a $13 M&J Becker Prosecco from the Hunter, which is to my taste – nice and dry as it should be). And the old pokies area (yep, it's a pokie-free pub, woot) is now a bottle shop with 50 different wines that you can drink right here at the pub (for a fair $15 corkage fee).
After lunch we move into the pool room for a game of $3 pool on a brand-new table with shiny cues that slide so smoothly across our fingers – what a treat! Serious pool sharks will find the columns on two sides of the table irritating, though (they restrict certain shots). In this room there’s also a free “jukebox” (which is really just Spotify on an iPad) and also a digital dart board.
There’s a beer garden out back, but you can’t eat out there – it’s a place for drinking and smoking. It’s covered by a roof but ventilated for the smoking, and someone comments that if you close your eyes, you can picture the sound of bumper-to-bumper traffic replaced by waves crashing against the shore.
They’ll be opening accommodation upstairs before too long – affordable hostel-style rooms that’ll be perfect for bucks party mobs or groups heading to Sydney for a big sporting event.
I’m happy to say that, if The Bat & Ball was having an identity crisis, the crisis is now over. The fantastic five friends on a mission to open a pub with heart, with great food and drink, budget-friendly offerings and space for the locals, families, the hip young things and the revellers have achieved their mission. The Bat & Ball is no longer just a stop off on the way to and from the SCG, but again worthy as a destination in its own right.
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