“LET’S drop into the ‘Shakey’ for a bite and a beer,” was my suggestion as we battled the traffic towards Sydney from Wollongong.
After a morning visiting family in Bulli, and the thirst inducing drive north to Sydney, through grinding traffic, prompted the ‘Shakey’ suggestion.
The Shakespeare Hotel, Surry Hills, sits atop the list of my favourite Sydney pubs.
How can you pass a pub where dogs lay at the feet of your bar stool? How can you resist such pleasure? How can you not savour a pub, where sitting at the bar, devouring an affordable ‘countery’ – a generous and delicious serve of tucker – is the norm?
This afternoon, I enjoyed a few Resch’s – more than my normal intake of draught lager, to the distaste of my wife – and lunch at the Shakespeare Hotel.
Enjoying the merriment amongst the drinkers and diners – and the star of the afternoon in my books – was 10-year-old ‘Sky’.
Sky, a bitsa Jack Russell, and her lifelong mate, are regulars at the Shakey. Old mate told us, as he cut part of his steak to share with Sky, that they had been companions since he found her abandoned as a pint-sized pup inside a shoe-box.
Contented, Sky looked up as if to agree, as she chewed her steak, washing it down with water lapped from a stainless steel bowl.
This all unfolded as we enjoyed our lunch, sitting, eating and drinking from our stools at the bar. I just can’t get enough of this pub. This is all that I love about Australian pubs.
The Shakey is a special place within a rapidly changing Sydney; Drinkers on the footpath, dogs in the pub – and counter-lunches at the bar.
Sky is not the only contented customer.
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Categories: animals, NSW hotels, review, Reviews, Sydney hotels
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