Flame Bar & Restaurant

The glory days of the rissole are over. Gone are the daily roasts, cheap beer, sticky carpets, ringing pokies and aging patrons. In their place, rising like phoenixes from the ashes of Sydney’s age-old clubland, are flash entertainment and dining complexes dishing out fashionable food in deluxe environs for a cool, young crowd.

Canterbury League Club is one of the biggest Sydney clubs to reinvent itself for the new generation replacing stodgy grub with lighter, more interesting flavours with a mediterranean twist. Two years ago, the club launched Flame Bar and Restaurant, a sophisticated meeting place with a fine wine list, buzzy table service and chic seating. Then there was the outstanding food. Flame’s menu includes a huge range of wood-fired pizzas and also a sensational $25 tasting plate of king prawns, crisp squid, oysters with lime, grilled quail, chipolata, sun-dried tomato tapenade and Turkish bread – hardly the club grub this city has become used to. The recently awarded Flame manages to offer intimate dining for couples and alfresco surrounds for groups. It overlooks the club’s water feature and adjoins the intimate Heritage Bar, which serves lip-smacking cocktails, boutique beers plus snacks.

There’s live entertainment in the restaurant from 6pm on Fridays and Saturdays and a jazz band blazes away on the Terrace every Sunday from 5.30pm.