Totally Bonkers: Inside Canberra’s New Pop-up Restaurant at the City Bowling Club
For somewhere that’s yet to open, Bonkers has certainly made headlines.
It’s the new pop-up restaurant and bar from Braddon developer Nik Bulum and Brodburger owners Joelle Bao-Jaoude and Sascha Brodbeck which has taken over the former Canberra City Bowls Club.
Opening in early December, Bonkers is planned to be around for about a year — it will then make way for a new development with plans that include a resort-style pool, free outdoor cinema, day spa and boutique hotel — and in the meantime, the trio said they want to keep the space casual, relaxed and welcoming.
They’ve had fun with the menu, creating a modern take on some ’80s classics — there’s a chicko roll, a caesar salad with mac and cheese croutons, a fettuccine carbonara with fried chicken and a ‘banana fritz split’, a banana fritter mixed with a banana split. There are also playful drinks, including an iced vovo thickshake cocktail with Malibu. On Sundays there’s a roast, plus weekend breakfasts and a Sunday high tea.
“When it warms up we want to have people sitting on the lawns for high tea on Sunday and we’ll have beautiful acoustic music and you can sit there in the sun,” said Bulum.
“And at night on Fridays and Saturdays we’ll have dining on the lawns so you just sit on a rug and you order food and we bring it out to you.”
Staying true to its former self, they’ve left the bowlo mostly as is, other than ripping up the carpet, and filling it with some new chairs, tables and couches. The centrepiece of the venue is a row of eclectic and mismatched chandeliers, and they’ve raided op shops for mismatched bowls and cutlery.
They’ve removed all gambling and made the space more kid-friendly, including installing a giant soft-serve machine.
They’re keeping the space playful with a few interactive features — there’s a wall of mismatched plates where you can write recipes or pearls of wisdom that have been passed down from generation to generation, and a giant world map where you can pinpoint where you’re from. And then there’s the objection wall — all 78 objections they’ve had to the Bonkers are stuck to a wall and people can write their own ‘objections and complaints to life’ on top and ‘leave their worries there’.
There are also plans for performances — from burlesque to poetry and acoustic sets.
“And we’ll bring back from karaoke ’cause karaoke was here every Friday night,” said Bulum.
“You’ve got the beautiful backdrop of this amazing, green lawn, and at night you get the best sunsets and you get little peeks of the city — it’s such a beautiful view from here. People can come here after work and relax and feel kind of cosy — we want it to be a cosy, fun place.”
Bonkers is on Elder Street, Braddon. It will be open Wednesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner, for breakfast on Saturday and breakfast and high tea on Sunday.