Pub dining$$
There’s something for everyone at the Balmain: a well-preserved Victorian-era main bar, a pinball room, a huge tiki-bar/beer-garden, and bargain kids’ meals ($5 from 5-6.30pm). There’s also a great bistro menu with sliders and steamed buns to soak up the booze, a United Nations of tapas-style ‘little stuff’ (from felafels and nachos to salt-and-pepper squid dusted in Chinese five spice on zingy kimchi) and typical pub mains, including steak and fish of the day. Steamed buns are the stand-outs, the yeasty dough house-made daily and filled with red braised pork, shiitake and cuttlefish or a spectacular hoisin-laced Peking duck.
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