Just Open: Bondi Bowling Club gets a beats and bistro makeover

Sydney loves a spot of barefoot bowls and Bondi Bowling Club is one of the hottest places to roll a jack this summer.

Anthony Caplan (The Corner House, Panama House) has injected new life to the old club, which celebrates its 80th anniversary in 2015. There's now local DJs, a new menu, a Bahamas-style piano lounge, lots of greenery, and 18 beer taps.

Carlton Draught and Reschs are still available (no one wants a revolt at a Pennant meeting) but Caplan has steered the focus of the taps toward Sydney craft brewers.

"No one is really doing [craft beer] in Bondi so that was a big driving point," he says.

Breweries represented include Batch, Sydney Brewery, Shenanigans, Wayward, Young Henrys and Grifter.

The wine list features 10 types of rose (including a six-litre bottle of Coteaux d'Aix-En-Provence for $480) and a section for natural and biodynamic drops. We've never seen the wine Brash Higgins at a Sydney bowlo before.

The bistro serves pimped-up pub classics and summer salads like barbecued octopus with mango and papaya salsa, chilli, watercress, rocket, and lime and palm sugar dressing ($18).

The competition green is still in use and all regular fixtures and member events have been retained. However, the there's now a strong focus on entertainment and music.

"Last weekend we had DJs on Friday and Saturday nights and then all day Sunday," says Caplan. "We've wired up the barefoot bowling green and in a week or two we'll probably set up the DJ there in the afternoons."

Caplan says the music will be a relaxed style of soul and funk.

"We just want people outside; bowling, having some drinks, and enjoying, and the sun," he says.

1 Warners Avenue, Bondi, 9310 2383, bondibowlingclub.com