V-Rating: VVV
Where: 40 Hall St, Bondi Beach
When: Mon-Fri 9.30am-11pm, Sat-Sun 8.30am till late.
Tel: (02) 9130 5155
Prices: Mains: $9.90 - $12.90. Unlicensed BYO

Gertrude and Alice is my platonic ideal of a bookshop slash cafe. The cafe’s namesakes are Gertrude Stein and Alice. B. Toklas, iconic writers and lovers. Apparently they liked good food and wine in the company of creative types. More power to them.

Gertrude and Alice is an Inner West refuge amongst the havianas, sunshine and oversized sunglasses of Bondi. Shelves of overcrowded second hand books fill three rooms, and create nooks and crannies to seclude yourself in. Tucked around the bookshelves are chairs, tables and a couch for reading, eating and daydreaming (pretty much my favourite ways to pass the time).

Last night I met three friends there for dinner. Our excuse was the Wednesday jazz night (more accurately, quiet, acoustic set night). We squeezed ourselves onto one of the small tables, and tried not to let our eyes wander too distractedly along the book spines.

The regular Gertrude and Alice menu doesn’t really feature dinner. For this, you have to check out the specials above the kitchen serving window. Of the ten special dishes, seven were vegetarian. Only one was vegan on paper, but a few more seemed adaptable because the dairy product came as a garnish. There are also hearty, regular salads to choose from which are more than a meal.

It was a hard choice, but I went for the Mexican bean soup with corn chips and sour cream. The mixed beans in the soup were fresh, and the soup was only slightly spicy with a tomato base. I liked the corn chips floating in the soup so you could scoop up the larger veggies and eat them with sour cream. That’s neither gross nor impolite when the food comes that way.

Gertrude and Alice is BYO. You pay a corkage fee per person, and ask at the kitchen service window for glasses. Mine were mismatched, which suited the general mien.

Gertrude and Alice that makes me feel I’ve rediscovered my childhood, accidentally stepping through the pages of a book to an unreal place of libraries, dusty, overflowing bookshelves and wooden step ladders. It’s certainly in a world of its own on Hall Street.

Reviewed 5 April 2006. KP.

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