Bungalow 8 – King Street Wharf

A Tuesday night (all you can eat mussel night) at Bungalow 8 Sydney.

Behind the stunning state of the art office building bee hive that is Macquarie, sits Bungalow 8 on the ground floor of its own unique stylish architecturally designed property that overlooks King Street Wharf. It has occasionally been the destination for after work drinks and farewells for a number of reasons. It is conveniently located, there is plenty of seating available both inside and out and the food is decent and portioned quite well.  The bar stretches from the entrance to the kitchen lengthways -and outside, it is cab town!

Inside it is a setting of ambient familiarity. The group of guys surrounding the high tables at the bar are going about their Tuesday night like it is any other regular night after work - a quick drink before heading home to the Mrs – or back to work. Group gatherings for that quick weeknight catch up with the girls and of course, small-scale man vs food competitions between friends.

Bungalow 8 is far from quiet on a Tuesday night. Perhaps it has something to do with the All you can eat mussels that seem to be booked out every week! Mussels and chunky fries. How can one resist an unlimited mussel banquet of Thai green curry, laksa, white wine and the classic provencale for $22.50! The question then becomes, how many pots of mussels will it take to make your belly ache?

How it works

You get there and the wait staff confirm your booking. You see, you can’t go unlimited if you don’t book! They will hand you your mussel pass (a card) that you present at the bar when you place your order. Make sure you remember the table number when you make your order. On our last visit, the wait staff forgot to place table numbers on all the tables outside. The girl behind the bar became unprofessionaly frustrated at me when I kept telling her that “there were no numbers”. She then proceeded to harass her coworker asking her why there were no numbers.

So, they register your table number and give you a wrist band. Yes, usually fluro ones that you get at clubs and raves. It is quite a nuisance though, having to go up to the bar to individually present your card and collect the wrist band. On the bright side, you can continue to order your unlimited supply of mussels at your table from then on.

Service

There is usually enough time to buy a drink at the bar, walk back to your table, take a sip and exchange a few words. Before you know it, floating pots in the palms of Bungalow 8 wait staff approach with a friend, the chunky fry. There have been a couple of occasions during our previous visits where our orders weren’t registered and we ended up waiting over half an hour for our meal. I also noticed on this visit, that there were more walking bar girls than usual. It was wonderful, not having to line up at the bar – delighted!

Mussels

Look, I’m only small in size and stature and can eat 2 pots at the most. Yep. Call me mouse then in this man or mouse situation. Tonight, I had the Provencale and laksa. Both were a little mild in flavour, but still juicy in texture. The mussels were all open, which is what you would want to see. We once ordered mussels at the Belgian Beer Cafe on Harrington Street with over 3/4 of the pot closed. It was very disappointing. Since then Bungalow 8 has been the destination for flexing our mussel craving. If mussels wont fill you, some chunky fries will. If not, you can always snack on the complementary bread in between, or better yet, use it to mop up some mussel liquid!

If you are heading down to Bungalow 8 for a drink, try their salt and pepper squid and tell me if it tastes like KFC! It is quite amusing and a great drinking partner. Overall, Bungalow 8 is a perfect place to unwind if you enjoy being in the midst of hussel for a midweek drink and mussels!

You’ve seen my mussels. How many have you done?

Bungalow 8 – King Street Wharf
Number 8,
The Promenade
King Street Wharf
Next to Wharf 8
(02)9299 4660

Hours

Monday – Thursday, Sunday: 12pm – 1am
Friday – Saturday: 12pm – 3am

 

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