In Sydney, it can sometimes feel there’s two kinds of places at the top of the venues food chain. A cool set of restaurants and bars that become the place to go because the hospitality industry themselves like them, and they are to some degree catering to that crowd. Then there’s something a bit more flashy and trashy, where you can get anything you want, and as long as you’ve got a big and open wallet, you’re in.
There’s always been a space in Sydney for something a little bit more clubby and cosy, a bit more glamorously sophisticated with a touch of smarts. A place that can draw in an interesting crowd of people who could include students, politicos, arts industry execs, teachers needing to catch up with each other, designers, locals, celebrities, artists, billionaires, mad geniuses, movie stars and medics. In fact, anyone in town that wants to have an excellent cocktail against the equivalent of candlelight, without worrying who might be at the next table, in equal measure for special dates, and regular Wednesday lunchtimes.
New York and London especially are full of places like this, and in Bobbie’s, it seems Sydney finally has its own sweet spot, and Irresistible had found a new office.

The Double Bay bar falls under the Neil Perry umbrella, nestled just under Songbird, but the crew that have delivered the vision are straight out of New York, and in a full circle moment they’re coming home, as they’re originally from Sydney.
Caffe Dante is a Greenwich Village institution in New York. Husband-and-wife team Linden Pride and Nathalie Hudson took over the 100 year old restaurant and bar in 2015. They won World’s 50 Best Bars #1 in 2019 and #2 in 2020, and have gone on to open other venues in New York and L.A., as well as expanding the brand through collaborations and pop-ups all over the world.
And now they’ve opened Bobbie’s, and it’s fair to say they know what they’re doing.
We sat down with Linden Pride on a Friday afternoon at the bar. It was the week of the start of the January 2025 Los Angeles fires, and that disaster is referred to. We managed to persuade Linden to give us an Irresistible playlist- Linden Pride’s Music to Mix a Martini to, which you can find at the end, if you need a bit of Bobbie’s back home.

What’s it like being back in Sydney?
I love it. Sydney is a very special place. I can get complacent about it, like anyone can about the place they grew up in, but it’s magic. I’ve been based in New York for such a long time, that coming back was a bit of a culture shock. New York in January is hard, but I’m so glad to be able to be here. Whenever I come home, I’m reminded of how lucky Sydneysiders are to live where they do. Bobbie’s is very Sydney, and it’s a local’s bar. It’s a beautiful spot where you can come to if you live nearby, or if you just want to experience life in Sydney.
Do you feel like you’re straddling the US and Australia now?
I’m here 5-6 times a year, and I try to come for 2-3 weeks each time, so I’m here about a fifth of the year. I have two little girls who are very much New Yorkers, but I want them to identify as Australian as well. Coming back here and spending time in Sydney is a really important part of their upbringing.

You have famous bars in the U.S. What’s the difference in approach between there and here?
There’s a casual and sophisticated elegance in Australia, and I love the challenge of meeting that. There’s definitely more grit in New York, and L.A. is another thing again. Sydney has evolved a lot since I last lived here. Double Bay residents travel. I’ve seen a lot of Aussies in Caffe Dante in New York, and we’re trying to create that same energy here at Bobbie’s.
Making Bobbie’s true to Sydney is important to me. I came back with a drinks menu, and a vision of what we were going to be. I wanted freshness and to bring in the local fruits. Fluffy grapefruit palomas, the watermelon Negroni. Sydneysiders love sours. They love margaritas. We have an amaretto sour on the menu and it sells like hotcakes. That wouldn’t sell the same in New York. They are much more into martinis and negronis and old fashioneds.
In Caffe Dante our signature drink, our muse, was the Garabaldi, which is Campari and fluffy orange juice. I wanted to do a little twist here and make it more Australian, so it’s a Davidson plum aperitif and fluffy fresh watermelon juice. It’s clean and summery and Aussie.
What’s else is special about the drinks at Bobbie’s
We knew Sydneysider like their dirty martinis, and normally that’s just ice-cold vodka with the olive rind on the side. We’ve tried to focus on the fragrance of the olives, we do an olive oil wash with the Cerignola olives from Spain, a vodka base, a little bit of saline, and St Germain to give it some of the pretty elderflower notes that you get from olives. Another one is the upside-down Gibson, a Gibson being 2 parts vermouth, 1 part gin.
The whole idea with these freezer box martinis is that normally when you shake or stir a martini, not only do you make it cold, you get the dilution from the ice melting, which works out to be anywhere between 8-12% of total liquid is diluted when you pour. So instead of diluting with water, we dilute with clarified apple juice, so it’s not just weaker, it has a whole different dimension entirely.
We’re launching the “Bobs 2.0 lagerita” cocktail as part of our “See you next Tuesday” launch. You don’t get more Aussie than that.


Do you have a philosophy behind the business?
A lot of our philosophy with our drinks is about taking something that’s well known, and going back to its roots. Finding a way to elevate it, to represent it, or finding a way to present it in the way it was originally envisaged.
I think my larger philosophy is about the teams. I have a friend whose brother was the coach of the Wallabies. I asked him why a team who are all really capable and been doing this thing their whole lives win or lose, depending on the coach. He told me he needed to get them all pulling towards the same dream. That something needs to happen to get the team to work together in the same direction, rather than going in different ones. I’ve always thought that was so pertinent to the business. We’re a family. We do back each other up and help each other out. It’s the same in Neil’s restaurants. It’s hard work. I know if we create that environment then the team feel like they’re part of something bigger, and it’s better in every way. Our people stay with us. A lot of other places will have a high staff turnover, and you can feel it when a team is transient. We work to have the opposite of that. I want to inspire the teams, teach them, help them evolve and grow.
Is that what made Caffe Dante so successful do you think?
When we opened Dante in New York, we didn’t put a certain face on it, a chef or anything like that. We didn’t want to be ego led. It was always just the brand. Our success was shared and everyone came along for the ride, whereas resentment can build if members of the team feel unrecognised for their efforts when there’s one person front and centre. And it’s all such a massive team effort.
When we took over Caffe Dante in 2015, it was a brand that had been around for 100 years, and it had been in one Italian family since the 60s. I was always around these all-day Italian cafes in Sydney so it fitted for me. The most important part of our name was probably New York City 1915. People would come in and say nothing’s changed, and others would come in and say it’s completely changed. We focussed on hospitality and looking after people.
Winning world’s best bar in 2019 was for everybody. We have always been about being accessible but elevated. It’s got no pretence and everyone can have a great time. I learnt a lot of that from Neil, his thoughtfulness. A big part of Dante’s philosophy came from him.


How did you end up in New York?
I moved to the States 14 years ago as I felt I needed to explore. I was spending quite a bit of time over there anyway, and I was seeing an opportunity to create something that could be busy seven nights a week. I first worked with a design company that was working with restaurants. They already had a couple of their own restaurants, and then I helped them open some more which I ended up running. And then I just stayed and stayed.
Your other U.S. bar is in L.A. Have you been affected by the fires there?
The Maybourne Beverley Hills Hotel, where Dante Beverly Hills is up on the ninth floor, is at 110% occupancy at the moment. It’s full of evacuees with their belongings and their dogs and cats. They’re all dining upstairs at our restaurant for lunch and dinner. We’re providing an amenity for all those people. Four of our own staff were evacuated themselves, two of them are living in the hotel with their families. Last night we had a completely full restaurant, so everyone is under the pump. The view from the terrace looks straight across to the Hollywood Hills. Last night diners saw a little spark on the Hollywood Hills and within ten minutes the whole mountain was on fire. It’s devastating.

You started in hospitality young. How did that happen?
My mum was a food writer and my parents divorced when I was young. I would often go with my mum to her restaurant reviews. I went to Rockpool with her like that when I was 15, tasted the food, and was blown away. Later on, I asked my mum to help me get a job, and she introduced me to Neil Perry when I was 17.
I was lucky to have an expensive education, and all through it I thought ‘I’m going to be bartender.’ I’ve always wanted to make the most of chances to give the people what they want, and make some magic, that really drives me.
After I worked with Neil and I was out of school, I moved to London. That was around 1999. I worked the opening of Hakkasan and Ten Rooms. I was working around a lot of groundbreaking venues. I used to hang out at China Whites with yellow lensed Ray-Bans on, inside! Living in New York and London was such an exposure to so many amazing places. That’s an education.
What advice would you give to a young person starting out in hospitality?
Don’t be afraid of hardwork, a lot of young people are these days.
Has Neil Perry shaped some of the way you do business now?
He talks now about the culture of care, for each other, the produce, the guests. He’s always worked with a version of that, and I totally absorbed it. In the bars we like to say, it’s just booze and juice, but it’s so much more. It’s community, memories, lifestyle. It’s life. Where someone choses to come and check out of regular time, of work and commitments, to have a moment that transcends everything else that happened that day, it’s important. That’s reflected in the way we think about the business. All the people in Bobbie’s right now are choosing to be there, in the moment. We can only deliver that if we have the right attitudes behind the scenes.

Who else do you admire in the industry?
I really admire Jean-Georges. He’s an incredible chef who has built his brand that encompasses seventy- odd restaurants around the world. He’s funny, he’s open, he’s available, and full of joy. There must be a lot of stress on his shoulders every day but you wouldn’t know it. I just love people that can stay positive and have that can-do vibe, and don’t get caught up in the bullshit.

Bobbie’s is named after your grandfather. Where was his favourite place?
He was a big martini drinker, 5 o clock at his house was always martini time. Just before he stopped travelling, when he was well into his nineties, I asked him where he would like to go. It was the Cafe Carlyle in New York to watch Woody Allen play on a Tuesday night. To sit there and have a martini. The Carlyle was always a benchmark for me. Spending time there, especially inBemelmans Bar, has been a great part of living in New York and we have a close relationship with them. There’s a nod to Bemelmans here at Bobbie’s, with the artwork around the walls.
So Bobbie would approve of Bobbie’s?
I think so. We wanted to create an environment where you can have an adult, sophisticated drink, a quality experience, a great cocktail or glass of wine, and I think we’ve done it. He’d like it.
He was a bit of a character around Sydney and it was quite rough and tumble back then?
Definitely. Bobbie was a top journalist, he toured with the Beatles, and he was at the top of his game when he had quite a falling out with Rupert Murdoch. He couldn’t get anything published in any Murdoch publications, which meant he was basically dead in the water in Australia, totally blacklisted. When he was hired by 2UE to be part of Good Guys for the Top 40s countdown, he was told he had to make amends. He wrote a very tongue in cheek letter in 1972 to Murdoch, who was in London, and it said, ‘Rupert I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye, but I think it’s in our best interests if we try to make amends. I’ve always said what I thought needed to be said and I apologise if that’s maybe offended you,’ and it went on. Three days letter he had a letter back. ‘Dear Bob, apology accepted, Rupert.’ The next day they were publishing him again in all the Aussie newspapers. He loved telling that story.


You work with other big bars and hotels around the world. What’s on the horizon?
We are bringing the American Bar from the Savoy on London to Bobbie’s in April. Pop- ups are a nice way to diversify the offering and bring examples of standards from around the world.
We do a lot of work with the Dante brand all over the world. We’re doing a pop-up with Claridges in London this year. Last year we did one at Bemelmans and it was first time they’d ever done it. We were there for a week, we brought our pianist, our guys were behind the bar. It was amazing.
We also just did a pop up alongside the Hotel de Crillon Paris, one of my favourite hotels, in Athens last week at the new Four Seasons – also one of my favourite places
So many Australians travel to Europe and the US and they know about the quality places over there. I really want to bring some of those grand and majestic venues to Sydney, and let people tap into it. It’s like a service to Double Bay and to Sydney.
Equally I want people to have just a good a time at Bobbie’s as they would have at Annabel’s in London, or Bemelmans Bar in New York, pop-up or not!

How are you going with making sure Bobbie’s has sustainable practices?
We’re very committed to sustainability. We use all aspects of all the produce whenever we’re making any of the drinks. For the watermelons we use every part, all the green skin, and then the white for a tequila infusion. Often a lot of the flavour is in the skin. We try and have minimal waste.
I love how sustainability is much more of a prominent thing in Sydney. It is not at the forefront of bartender’s minds in New York. I pay for recycling in NYC but I watch the garbage guys throw it in to the back of the regular truck.
Everything you’ve talked about keeps coming back to community. Is that what really matters to you?
We’re being invited to create those occasions for people and I love that. If someone chooses to come and celebrate with us, I want to meet that expectation and exceed it, so the bar and the experience becomes part of who they are, their community, their wellbeing. I want my venues to feel like extensions of people’s living room. We lean into local charities in the same way. It’s just very human. What I love about this job is I come in and work with my hands every day, and when I come home, I can feel the difference we make to the community. There’s a lot of negativity out there. We’re part of the pushback against that. My 280 employees are like my family. My two girls grew up in our restaurants, and they’re as close to my key bartenders and back waiters and hosts as they are to my family members. That sense of community and creating a place where people want to be really is what it’s all about.

What do you want people to take away with them after they’ve spent time in Bobbie’s
Working in a lifestyle industry means being surrounded by incredible food and drinks and travel and hotels and all of that, but the thing that really drives me is keeping it very real, and some of those superficial elements at bay. People can get very stressed and overly precious about a dining or drinking experience in a service environment, and I think it’s about trying to constantly create a moment that stays with people well beyond the initial experience. Whether that experience is a drink, some food, the room. I love the idea of creating special memories. In hospitality we have this very unique opportunity to host people in some of their happiest and most special moments; an anniversary, a birthday, the first time people meet, the beginning of friendships. We’re the custodians of these magic moments, that people come back to in their minds or in real life, again and again, in good times and bad.
All those special moments need a soundtrack, like your Irresistible playlist?
Music is really fundamental to the bars. I love a playlist, and think carefully about what will be playing in the venues. We’re soul, blues, classic rock ‘n roll. It’s everything.
And the warm glow of low lighting helps?
Definitely
Who would play you in a film?
One of my favourite films is, predictably, Cocktail. I love the bar in the film Cocktails & Dreams. I think I would love Bryan Brown to play me.
Do you mean the Brian Flanagan character. The alcoholic bartender who goes too hard and dies on a boat?
OK maybe not, before that bit.
At this point two staff members chipped in with their ideas about who would play Mr. Pride in a film. Weston Lou the bar manager, who is a New Yorker and came from Caffe Dante to open Bobbie’s, thought it should be Justin Timberlake. And Charlie Maynard, also behind the bar, thought there was something more about a bar scene with Bruce Willis and Meryl Streep and the drinking of a live forever- poison in the film Death Becomes Her that should be explored.
What’s your spirit animal?
A lion. My surname is Pride so it has to be a lion. I’m a virgo, though. I’m on the cusp on Libra. I like my Irresistible Horoscope as it says I need to spend my time out having lunch. That basically sums me up. Perfect!






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