The Union

For locals in the know, or others with good navigational skills, The Union's a no-brainer. Who wouldn't want a neighbourhood haunt like this upstairs hideaway - bolstered by the cooking talent of Ross Dobson and Jane Jeffrey. Their rustic blackboard tapas menu offers the likes of crunchy, golden polenta chips with a bitey jalapeno mayo, juicy skewered hunks of grilled chicken with a garlicky cream, or a pile of just-right mussels, swaddled in a fresh tomato and spicy chorizo sauce with pearl couscous. Two sittings mean that the amenable, efficient staff move at a cracking pace through the tightly packed tables. But, strangely, you don't feel rushed or pressured; instead, the atmosphere hums with happy, chatty, eating people - from young 'uns to oldies - enjoying punchy, well-cooked, locally sourced fare in a comfortable, cheerfully makeshift-looking space. It's like a pop-up that isn't - with a sense of spontaneity tempered with enough culinary gravitas to guarantee the long haul.