Saturday, October 6, 2012

Carrington Hotel, Surry Hills

563 Bourke Street, Surry Hills
Reviewers present: Mr and Mrs Blogs, Burger Bot and Fraulein Burgman
Time of review: Pre-dinner drinks




"Swan about at The Pig and Squid"


Sydney Pub Lit crew find themselves passing through The Carrington tonight on a quieter spot of Bourke Street. While the front bar area is fairly busy it's not overly packed. Yet. Burger Bot reports that on a previous pass, the place was shoulder to shoulder with patrons spilling out the door.

Just a short time before we flew through a review at The Excelsior Hotel (read the review) with its Mexican "El Loco" theme so now pulling up a chair at this Spanish themed establishment we have to think, "Is there any pub left not jumping on the Mexican/Spanish bandwagon?" Ok, so we're exaggerating here but it highlights a point. Getting a little tired of every second pub putting on a mex menu. To be honest though, we can hardly say much of The Carrington in this respect, as we have to forego a feed in favour of the arranged dinner we have coming up at the Cricketers Arms nearby (review up soon).

Swanning about in Spain?

Thankfully, The Carrington are more on the Spanish side (as opposed to the tex-mex) and they match up the decor and vibe with the food on offer. While we don't see much of the Spanish Restaurant area out the back, at least the front bar as some nice things going on. Although, what's Spanish about a swan?

My only real problem with the front bar here is that it's small and squashy. Cozy you might say. For a seat, get in early. Don't expect an Aussie pub style front bar either. It's more of a classier bar set up with dim lighting, dark patterned fabric wallpaper, little light fixtures that remind me of spanish dresses and a DJ deck in the corner. It's not exactly my type of front bar, but this pub seems to be scoring some points and we're happy to pull up a seat and enjoy a beer amongst the stylers and actors we spot using the ATM.

In the way of booze, this trendy pub bar has a few options on tap. On this visit we settled into a round of Kosciuszko Pale Ales. Unfortunately we paid $7 for a schooner, which is a bit rich considering we pay $5.50 for the same in one of our favourite Newtown pubs and $5.00 at the nearby Royal Albert Hotel (hoping to review this one soon).

As far as specials go, we noted $10 jugs of beer and $20 cocktail jugs on Thursdays 6pm-10pm, which we think is pretty hot, considering their standard drinks prices. We also spotted a $15 burger on the boards but like we mentioned earlier, most of your food options here are on the Spanish side. Side note on that, check out the menu on their website. The food looks pretty darn good.

Not a bad pub at all, in our opinion, but not exactly our kind of pub either. Pull up in the front bar, a table out the front, a seat in one of the nook-and-crannie lounge areas or in the dining out back. For location, execution and food, they score the points with us, for price and trendy-magnet factor, not so much. 2 and a half schooners from us, but go check it out and decide for yourself! We'll get back there again at some stage.

Website: http://the-carrington.com.au/

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