The Terrace at Rick Stein Coogee — beachside spritzes and seafood, no booking required
Rick Stein's Coogee flagship has found a way to get you even closer to the beach. The Terrace is a new alfresco space perched above Arden Street and looking straight out over the sand, with shared tables for 90 under a sea of umbrellas. The premise is refreshingly simple: no bookings, no minimum spend, just wander up, grab a seat and let the afternoon take care of itself.
Head chef Colin Chun keeps the kitchen's seafood focus but dials the formality right down. Start with freshly shucked Sydney rock oysters, prawns on ice with Marie Rose sauce, a sashimi plate of salmon, kingfish, tuna and scallops, or crumbed abalone, then move on to a Coogee fish burger, calamari and chips or Rick's fish and chips built for sharing. Landlubbers get a minute steak with Café de Paris butter, and nobody should leave without a side of Rick's beef dripping chips with curry sauce for dunking.
Drinks are the real draw up here. Spritzes lead the charge, from Aperol and Campari to limoncello, backed by red and white sangria, a coconut margarita, mandarin gimlet, yuzu 75 and a clear colada, plus zero-proof options like a rhubarb spritz. Champagne pours by the glass from Taittinger and Veuve Clicquot, and the tight wine list includes Rick's own Brokenwood semillon blend. Time it for the weekend happy hour between 2pm and 4pm, and from October there'll be live music on Saturday afternoons too.
Quick Bites
EAT: Freshly shucked Sydney rock oysters, prawns on ice with Marie Rose sauce, sashimi selection, tempura scallops, crumbed abalone, Coogee fish burger, Rick's fish and chips to share, minute steak with Café de Paris butter, beef dripping chips with curry sauce
DRINK: Aperol, Campari and limoncello spritzes, red and white sangria, coconut margarita, mandarin gimlet, Lark whisky sour, yuzu 75, clear colada, zero-alc blood & sand with Four Pillars Bloody Bandwagon, Taittinger and Veuve Clicquot by the glass, Brokenwood "Rick Stein" semillon blend
PLAY: Weekend happy hour 2pm–4pm with $10 schooners, $9 house wines and highballs, spritzes and sangria at $15 and under; live music on Saturday afternoons from October
VIBE CHECK: Walk-in, umbrella-shaded shared tables above Arden Street with the beach right in front of you, made for long weekend lunches that roll into golden hour
