Chicken salt on your chips. A parmi with vodka sauce. Red frog-topped cocktails. If that combination sounds like the menu of your childhood beachside pub had a glow-up, that’s more or less exactly what’s happened at Freshie Clubhouse, which has just opened at the Freshwater Brewing Company site in Brookvale.
The venue marks a full renovation of the brewery’s old Taproom, transformed into a 250-seat locals pub from Lachy Sturrock and Sam Smith, the pair behind Cammeray’s Folly’s Bar & Bistro, who bought into the craft beer business earlier this year. What they’ve built leans hard into surf club and RSL nostalgia – think Tassie Oak panelled walls hung with photos of local surfing legends and old newspaper clippings, retro carpet, booth seating, glass bricks and louvers – while still functioning as a proper modern pub, complete with a pool table, live sport on the TVs, and a kids’ zone kitted out with chalkboard walls, astro turf and a basketball hoop.
Sturrock, who lives locally, says the whole point was to build something genuinely for the community. “This is a true locals pub,” he says. “It’s a place for everybody, whether you’re visiting with your kids, your mates or your dog, and it’s always going to be a good time.”
The menu keeps the nostalgia rolling, just with a bit more finesse than your standard beachside chippy.
Bite-sized potato scallops come with chicken salt and whipped sour cream, the hot chips get dusted in native-ingredient salt, and there’s an iceberg wedge doing its best impression of a Sunday roast side, loaded with ranch, bacon and parmesan. But the real headline act is the Parmi alla Vodka – herb-crumbed chicken breast, smoked ham, alla vodka sauce and mozzarella, served with hot chips and seasonal leaves. It’s a cheeky mash-up of two crowd favourites, according to Sturrock.
“That dish has been huge for us,” he says, referring to Folly’s much-loved pasta. “We wanted to bring something from our first venue over to Freshie, and what better way to do that than to marry it with one of the country’s most iconic pub dishes.”
Also on the menu: crumbed lamb cutlets that taste like mum’s Sunday dinner, a burger with the lot (pineapple, bacon and beetroot relish included), and a crumbed barramundi burger with house-made tartare for anyone still pretending this is a health-conscious visit.
Because the brewery’s still very much operational onsite, there are more than 15 beers on tap, pulled from a custom Oregon wood bar. New to the lineup is a proper wine and cocktail list, headlined by the Goodie Bag — a fruity riff on a whiskey sour, garnished with a red frog lolly like the ones you used to buy for five cents at the corner shop. About half the cocktails are built using Freshwater Brewing Company beers or hops, because apparently even the drinks list has main character energy when it comes to paying tribute to the building’s roots.
There’s a happy hour running from day one – $6.50 schooners, $8.50 pints and $14 cocktails, Wednesday to Friday from 4pm to 6pm – plus a $35 Sunday roast with all the trimmings kicking off this weekend.
Freshie Clubhouse is open for walk-ins and reservations from 12pm until late, Wednesday to Saturday, and 12pm to 10pm on Sundays. Head to freshieclubhouse.com.au for bookings, or follow along at @freshieclubhouse
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