Mocean

It's cool and refreshingly chilled out for a venue perched bang on Bondi beach, but there's a glaring problem with the basement bar at Mocean. Where, you think as you descend below street level into a concrete hole below, is the billion-dollar view? You'll catch it if you stay upstairs in the attached restaurant, but downstairs you could be just about anywhere.

It seems a disappointment until you realise that the snuggly little bunker has a certain attraction all of its own. A rotating roster of live and local acoustic acts and husky singers draw crowds throughout the week, with names big and small gracing the makeshift stage area. Missy Higgins and the Foo Fighters have both been featured at the venue in the earlier breaks of their careers.

Promotion of the bar has largely been low key and word-of-mouth, meaning that it's something of a well-kept local secret, cultivating a niche of fresh sounds, familiar faces and a warm, jazz-infused atmosphere. Throw in eclectic, mismatched decor with wacky wallpaper and a few random homespun handicrafts scattered around the place and it may as well be your best mate's student share house, only without the dodgy dossers and a better selection of booze.

When the guitars aren't playing, it's still a good place for a sneaky drink and one of the few places in the area where you'll never have to elbow your way to the bar or scream your way through a conversation. Starting at $7 for a glass of wine, the drinks are a touch on the expensive side, though that's still reasonable if you take into account the postcode.

A minor blip in an otherwise pleasant experience is our semi-disastrous attempt to order cocktails - a shortage of ingredients makes navigating the menu for an available drink almost impossible. The lone bartender is thankfully both chipper and helpful, eventually serving up a tasty but potent Brazilian Cosmopolitan, which is good enough to suggest that the supplies are low due to high demand. With a wide selection of imported and local options available, beer is a safer and more popular option in the end - not least because of the steep ascent you're forced to navigate on the way out.