Located alongside what I’ve positioned in my head as the scary blah side of central, Freda sits off in a laneway at 107-109 Regent Street. If it weren’t for the colourful hanging lights, that would be one dire entry way. Be prepared to wait + queue. Queue to get in. Wait for a table. We should start by warning you – the minute you walk into the bar proper, don’t look for a seat if its busy, grabbed a waiter and immediate tell him to let Marty know you have a group of X and want seats. We were unprepared and easily ended feeling like this place needed a proper front of house and that side of getting in was a chaotic mess. Chaotic.

We were

•  chastised for grabbing an open table by the waiter – when it wasn’t clear that there was a system. Pretty sure we got there before the girls who got the table
•  we asked who we needed to speak to about a table. Marty
• Marty wasn’t around so they were like um… then the waiters darted off
• so we were left standing around and ultimately siddled over to the bar to grab drinks.
• he shows up 12 minutes later and says “you need a table for 4 yes?”.

NOT GOOD. Not good at all but YMMV.

Freda’s inside is a cavernous warehouse space. Its got a great vibe, looks amazing and is exactly what sydney has been missing. Not too dark, pleasantly finished so it is really appealing.

Mandarin sour. $16. This had Pernod in it, so more bitter than sour – the mandarin notes weren’t strong enough so that was disappointing but it wasn’t a bad drink. They cooled their ice cube so it was frosted all over. Attention to detail. Didn’t mind it

View from our table! Finally. I think it was  a 30-40 minute wait?

TAPAS STYLED DINNER. They don’t do proper mains so you end up paying $14 for tapas sized bites. We paid $64/4P. Decent enough eating experience.

Beef shoulder. chimmichuri. Meat was tender. could have had a tad more salt but otherwise good.

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Marinated Mushrooms. Olive olive and balsamic vinegar soaked mushrooms. quite good. morish.

Polenta + Gorgonzola. caramelised onion jam. Good creamy polenta. Pairs well with the cheese.

Olives. $2. You go to sticky bar and a plate of this is free. Still $2 is way better than $6/7 other places dare to chare

Eel on Toast. Um. yeah. not so good. mushed up eel. Need a bit more salt.

Freda’s also has a sweets/dessert menu – cakes at$10 but we didn’t feel like dessert that night

Outside of the Front of House shock, the rude people who linger without ordering drinks at their tables, had a good time a Freda’s. The wait staff was lovely. The guy + gal who attnded to our table were great. Well worth visiting.

To reiterate. The minute you get in, grab a waiter and tell them you want a table.

chippendale drinks SmallBar tapas tilmidnight