There Will Be Beer :: Goodgod Small Club

November 11th 2013

A guide to Sydney’s Pub’s and Bars for Cheapskates and Drunkards

It’s not hard to imagine that the concept for Goodgod Small Club came about while two Putt-Putt attendees were reminiscing about the late 80’s/early 90’s; Run DMC playing through tired speakers encased in the mouth of a polyester dinosaur standing over the fourth hole in the Jurassic putting range. Adorned with much the same decorations, Goodgod is a dream for the retro enthusiast and a haven of good music, good food and great fun in this fine city of ours.

For a small bar, Goodgod Small Club is actually quite large.

A common problem with small bars that find themselves with too much space is that they tend to try too hard to utilise it all, resulting in the juggling of too many half-baked ideas, spreading themselves thin trying to accommodate every whim.

Goodgod Small Club avoids this pitfall by splitting the space into three clearly defined sections, each catering to a specific need; ‘Eat’, ‘Drink’ & ‘Dance’.

It may sound like a spin off of Eat Pray Love, but unlike the novel and movie, this works. By separating each part, they are able to focus their energies, excelling at each part.

EAT

The Dip serves up an unbelievably tasty menu. Head chef Andrew Levins has honoured the traditional American diner by taking the hot dog, nachos and burgers and putting his own twist on them, making them something truly mouth-watering. The burgers taste exactly the way you think a burger should taste. The nachos are cooked to perfection and come with a range of toppings; and the hot dogs? Levins turns them into an art-form.

DRINK

After a tasty meal like that, you’ll be wanting some refreshments. A glance over the cocktail list will tell you two things…

1. The people running this place love Weekend At Burnies, Goodfellas, and every other classic late eighties/early nineties film in existence.

2. They know a thing or two about mixing drinks.

As with any good cocktail menu, the drinks have names like ‘Cool In The Pool’, ‘Pop-Eye-Pop’ and ‘Chevy Chase’. All fun to order and lip-smackingly delicious, while making you wonder when the last time you watched The Three Amigos was?

With a belly full of pulled pork and corn chips and heads swimming in Black Rose Sangria, what is there left to do but get on the dance floor and try out your own rendition of Footloose?

DANCE

Enter The Danceteria…

A mashed up room that’s somewhere between Saturday Night Fever, Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’, and Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo.

Complete with a disco ball and a smoke machine gone haywire (I’m surprised no one has been diagnosed with emphysema yet), it’s the perfect place to get your little feet stomping and wave your arms like a four year old having a tantrum… but in a really stylish way.

With an excellent array of house DJs (including Levins, laying down jams as tasty as his burgers), as well as a great line up of other acts throughout the week (most recently: The Growl & Jeremy Neale).

There’s also regular trivia on topics you should actually know something about; The Simpsons, Seinfeld, Breaking Bad, Parks & Rec… you know, the important stuff.

Goodgod is the result of cool guys remembering the dreams they had as cool kids, then building a bar to immortalise those dreams.