The Rum Diaries

The verdict

A staple on Bondi Road, The Rum Diaries has recently come back to the Eastside scene, and they’ve brought their 90-strong rum list with them. This is the place to head for a quiet drink with your mates, a not-so-quiet drinks with your mates and a modern Australian-style dinner that showcases the best Australian produce on offer.

A staple on Bondi Road, The Rum Diaries has recently come back to the Eastside scene, and they’ve brought their 90-strong rum list with them. This is the place to head for a quiet drink with your mates, a not-so-quiet drinks with your mates and a modern Australian-style dinner that showcases the best Australian produce on offer.

The décor is Cuban-style with speakeasy vibes thrown in as well, which is fitting, since The Rum Diaries is a mecca for rum. We suggest that your night starts and ends with the cocktail list, so long as you hit up the food menu along the way. Here, the drinks are sorted by years, so you can take it way back to 1900 with the Cuba Libre (a tribute to Teddy Roosevelt) or to 1931 for a classic mojito. 

Unlike the Cuban décor, the menu is a celebration of Australian produce and each dish has a distinctly modern flair. Standouts are the seared scallops with prosciutto, gorgonzola sauce, truffle honey and caviar and also the barbeque beef brisket, with jungle-slaw, chilli jam and a Zacapa XO Rum reduction.

The Rum Diaries also embraces our favourite time of day, with happy hour running from 6pm to 8pm, Wednesdays and Thursdays for half price classic cocktails and selected rum classic cocktails. Bonus points if you head down on a Tuesday for $5 sangria carafes all night long. 

Image credit: Federica Portentoso