Easy Eight, Sydney

Have you ever noticed that when you go out, you either enjoy drinks or food but never both? A restaurant with a fun drinking vibe is hard to find; a bar with filling and mouth-watering food is even rarer. The crew from Mojo Record Bar are aiming to remedy this with their newest opening, Easy Eight, which sits across from the famous Baxter Inn.

A lack of signage might leave you a little unsure as to where it is, but just look for the blue light. Frome personal experience, security will help you find the right entrance if you stand there looking confused enough. Head up a few steps into a darkened room filled with red diner-style booths, and a clean, white-tiled bar that fills up quickly.

Easy Eight’s kitchen is headed up by Harry Stockdale-Powell, who spent the last two years at Rockpool, and is pushing out an American barbecue and diner influenced menu. Think of chargrilled corn ($6) slathered in lime butter, ancho chili, and covered in a snow pile of cheese and pecans. The corn doesn’t come off the cob as easily as you’d think so avoid this if you have braces or want to impress your dining companions with your table manners.

A mini casserole dish of lobster mac’n’cheese ($13) is enough to split between two people if your plan is to order about half the menu. Unlike any of that radioactive yellow Easy Mac of your childhood, it’s not overly creamy even with the snow cap of cheese and shaved truffles.

The 12 hour smoked brisket ($22) was tender enough and a solid A, but compared to the other briskets coming out of the recent popularity surge of American barbecue in Sydney, it was nothing special (still better than a questionable bar cheese plate though). It would’ve been less troublesome had the pickles been thinly shaved but kudos for the addition of sweet pickled mustard.

You only have two choices for dessert: a rum old fashioned jelly with orange sorbet ($12) and a waffle ice cream sandwich ($13). While I can appreciate the concept, adding a waffle to a cold environment almost always ends up turning it into a doughy brick. Stewed rhubarb gives a welcome sourness to a very sweet, but enjoyable, maple ice cream.

There’s an inventive, but sadly short, cocktail list with standouts like the buttered popcorn old-fashioned ($19) – popcorn infused bourbon topped with a shard of popcorn brittle – and fairy bread fizz ($18) – a hundreds and thousands rimmed milkshake glass filled with vodka, lemon, egg white, sugar, and a fairy cookie. If cocktails aren’t your drink of choice, there’s also Fernet and coke on tap ($10) and a selection of beers, wines, and ciders.

While it’s mostly hits (you’ll definitely see me back there for the lobster mac), there’s still a few misses, but it’s important to remember that Easy Eight has only opened recently. They’ll soon smooth out the creases and be running one of the few joints in this town that is both fun to drink at and great to eat at. Pre-Baxter Inn tummy-filling, anyone?

Easy Eight
152-156 Clarence St
Sydney NSW 2000
Website