Greetings Dear Readers,

It’s been a while between drinks hasn’t it? Literally and figuratively! I can’t believe it’s been so long since I wrote anything here. Pre Covid I was doing a Bottomless every weekend, sometimes twice! Now I look back and wonder how I managed it. The writing became a chore and the lunches (believe it or not) became exhausting. But you know if I’m back it’s because I wanted to share something special with you…

A few weeks ago I booked a Bottomless with my friend Audra. You may recall she lives on the other side of the bridge and she asked if I could come to her this time around. I googled Bottomless Brunches in Manly and found 4 Pines Bonsai Izakaya. Unfortunately I had been out drinking with my friend Ellie the night before and I was hungover from way too much champagne and while this Bottomless was a great hair of the dog I couldn’t even think, let alone take photos and consider writing a blog post! I vowed to our lovely host Aaron that I would return with friends in the near future so I could share the fabulousness with all of you.

And so it begins…

Winter has been hideous here in Sydney. It’s been much colder and wetter this year so I was unsure what to expect when I woke up Saturday morning planning the best way to get to Manly. It was a glorious winters day, sunny and bright but by midday as I was getting ready the heavens opened. Ellie texts: it’s raining! Well that put a dampener on the ferry I thought. However, by the time I left at 1.15pm it was fairly sunny and I left the house sans raincoat or umbrella ready to meet Chris and jump on the train.

One of my favourite things about Manly is taking the ferry. I always forget what a fabulous trip it is and the harbour never disappoints. Ellie had already walked down and Chris and I ran for the ferry running straight past her! “We’re already on, upstairs! We’ve saved you a seat!” Ross and Danny ended up on the Fast Ferry but I like the slower one as it’s more scenic. I was sure it was going to rain, but we only got a few spots and soon arrived in Manly.

4 Pines Bonsai Izakaya is a short 5 min walk across the road from where you exit the ferry. We were slightly early because the ferry arrived at little after 2pm and our booking was 2.30pm Ross and Danny were nowhere to be seen. We were shown to our table by the lovely Anna who remembered me from a few weeks before and the host with the most Aaron, who said he’d be happy to start us off with some margaritas while we waited for the boys to arrive.

The space is fabulous. It has indoor and outdoor seating and is dog friendly. The walls look as if they are made from old wooden pallets with cherry blossoms painted on them, with gaily strung lanterns and umbrellas hanging from the ceiling. The lighting is quite warm and not very bright which is ideal for cozy chats, but not ideal for photographing food 🤣 I saw the boys walk past. I think they were just enjoying the sunshine and biding their time until our 2.30pm start but they made it before then and Aaron sorted us with more drinks. Let the Bottomless begin!

Ross started with a Japanese lager, Chris had a vodka lime and bitters and Ellie, Danny and I ordered more margaritas and it was around this time I learnt that both Ross and Danny were virgins! Bottomless brunch virgins Dear Readers! What a great one for them to break their cherry on.

The menu had been explained to me on my previous visit and I explained it to everyone else. Once we had completed the entire menu if there was still time left (in our 2 hour sitting) we could order anything else we wanted off the menu except for the sashimi. So not only are the drinks Bottomless but so is the delicious Japanese food. Looking at the menu I remember thinking, is this enough food for the amount of margaritas I may or may not consume in 2 hours? But believe me Dear Reader it is more than enough and both times we were unable to order more yummy food as we were just too full!

I was wondering why the dish started with a word that had exclamation marks after it, only to find that Oishii! is the Japanese word for tasty or delicious. Indeed it surprisingly was! Cabbage I hear you say? These two words don’t usually go together but the amazing crunch covered in sesame was incredibly good. We’d all had the next dish and it was no surprise. The salted edamame was fabulous and just recently I have learnt that edamame are high in protein, which I have been trying to increase in my diet.

The sashimi came out next and was delicious and tender. This is the only thing on the menu you can’t reorder as part of the bottomless food and let me tell you at the end of this meal there was no way I could fit in more food! Gyoza was the next dish out and while there are no photos I’m sure you can imagine what succulent dumplings look like Dear Reader and if you don’t, why not?? These came in both vegetarian and pork. I’d totally forgotten that two of my party did not eat pork and we were immediately brought a double serve of vegetarian dumplings to make up for my faux pas.

It was hard to decide what dish I prefered. The karaage was crisp and delicious served with a dollop of kewpie mayonnaise, but the next two dishes were incredible also. The yakitori chicken, so juicy and moist. The miso coated eggplant so soft and tasty. Choosing between these dishes would be like choosing between your two favourite children and I certainly couldn’t decide as they were both incredible!

The final dish was the okonomiyaki The name is derived from the word okonomi meaning “how you like” or “what you like” and yaki meaning “grilled”. It was topped with aonori (dried seaweed flakes) and the katsuobushi (bonito flakes) waving gently from the heat with more kewpie mayo and pickled ginger to end our meal. From here you could order more food. The boys may have gotten some more karaage, but I can neither confirm nor deny this. I was stuffed to the gills Dear Reader, but of course I had just enough room to squeeze in one last margarita!

Big thanks go out to Aaron and Anna who looked after my parties both times and made sure there was never an empty drink on the table. The word Izakaya translates as “Stay, drink, place” and we did indeed stay in this place and drink. What a fabulous afternoon.

As we bid a fond farewell to Bonsai by 4 pines I knew that even though we lived on the “other” side of the bridge we would definitely return to the Dark side some time in the near future to enjoy the fabulousness of the Izakaya.

📍 where – Lower Level 43/45 E Esplanade, Manly, NSW, 2095

🌏 www – https://4pinesbeer.com.au/venues/bonsai-izakaya

🍺🥃🥂🍷🍸🍹Drinks – Pale Ale, Pacific Ale, Japanese Lager, Nitro Stout, Kolsch, Ginger beer, Vodka LLB, House White/ Red, Sparkling Chardonnay, Vodka Slushy & Tommys Margaritas

💵 how much – $85.00

🍣🥟 food – shared Japanese set menu

⌚️ how long – 2 hours

🗓 when – Every Saturday – 2 sessions. 12pm or 2.30pm

🐶 Pet Friendly