Disclosure
Jade Peak writes about places, experiences, and the people behind them, so hotels, operators, and companies come up often. We have no financial relationship with any entity named in this article. If that ever changes, we'll say so plainly, right here at the top.
Makaveli
Makaveli sits on Glenayr Avenue, a block back from the Bondi sand, and it's one of the few beach brunches still worth the walk. Coffee starts at 6am, with pastries, paleo granola and banana bread. The dish to order is a Brickfields focaccia slice under mortadella and burrata. After 5pm, Wednesday to Saturday, the room turns to small plates and cocktails: sourdough with Vegemite butter, Taleggio croquettes from Michelin-trained chef Jessica Young, and a Makaveli Marg built on house chilli tequila.
The gelato: Messina and Mapo
Gelato Messina is the giant. Nick Palumbo started it in Darlinghurst in 2002, and it now runs a roster of more than 40 flavours plus weekly specials that reliably go viral, making its own yoghurt over a 24-hour process, baking its own brownies, and roasting its own hazelnuts. There's a Bondi shop on Hall Street.
Mapo is the counterweight. It calls itself a little laboratory, making gelato fresh each day from raw organic ingredients, with no aromas and no colouring, the flavours set by whatever the local farms send that week. As the shop says, its gelato "melts and drips" and "changes everyday."
Murray Rose Pool
When you've eaten, swim it off at Murray Rose Pool, the netted harbour enclosure at 536 New South Head Road in Double Bay. It was Redleaf Pool until August 2012, when Woollahra Council renamed it for the Olympic swimmer Murray Rose. The swimming area runs about 90 by 60 metres, reached by a pontoon and boardwalk, with showers and a kiosk looking out across the bay. It's open to the public year-round.
Originally published at jadepeak.com.
