Guerrilla (Bar) celebrity spotting in Glebe

There's a touch of celebrity spotting to be done at Guerrilla Bar and Restaurant in Glebe. It's probably more relevant for females who were teenagers or tweens in the late 1990s/early 2000s - I'll offer some clues but I won't spill because where's the fun in that.

Inside Guerrilla Bar and Restaurant, Glebe Point Road, Glebe

We arrived shortly after 6pm (which is an hour after 5) and I did my very best not to squeal like the teenage version of me at the sight of one of the owners sitting in the front, street level, outdoor terrace.

The venue was previously a Thai restaurant and earlier, two adjoining terraces, explaining the two wooden staircases side-by-side next to the bar. It's got the feelin' of a homely, maybe English, student hangout with an array of dining tables, couches and cute nooks and crannies appropriate for both drinking and eating.

Guerrilla board

The menu, by an ex-Becasse chef, features what sounded like an interesting variety of shared eats 'to graze', and a couple of larger shared mains. There’s also a very decent selection on the wine menu, especially by the bottle which is what this particular evening called for (extra points for Plumm wine glasses).

Ordered from the bar, a board of nibbles  is mysteriously named the Guerrilla board and looks like it could feed a band of boys. The sticky smoked almonds attracted me first; a bit odd at first but then becoming irresistibly moreish.

The variety of olives came with a cute jar for pits while there were two chunky and unexplained pastes that were best had with the bread and feta-like cheese.

The slam dunk, though, was easily the mini chorizo: juicy, packed with flavour and an exemplary specimen of the spiced and cured pork sausage.

Chicken nuggets with chipotle mayonnaise

There was about a couple of milliseconds between me spotting chicken nuggets on the menu and ordering them, although they weren’t a reinvented version of fried chicken bits as I had expected.

Instead, the very crunchy crumbed chicken was more like small pieces of schnitzel, served with a dipping sauce of chipotle mayonnaise. Keep on movin' down the menu if you want something a little more exciting.

Slow cooked egg, bacon jam and toast

We were sold on the promised ‘bacon jam’ on the next dish which was not very bacon-y, and certainly not pinky-red nor any other colour which would suggest any substantial amount of bacon in it.

The slow cooked eggs were done well with a gooey yolk, while the barely toasted bread probably could have used a bit more inspiration. But if bacon's on the menu listing, it's the things you do with the bacon that really make the dish.

Hand cut chips and calamari with Szechuan pepper

We retreated to menu failsafes and more shiraz after the first round of food, with a mound of fried stuff on a wooden board that looked like it would get us to until the time is through.

The generous servings here were enough to feed five, but we tackled the spicily seasoned rings of small, tender calamari with gusto, served with a seriously great tartare sauce. The thick hand cut chips did just as well with the sauce.

The front room

At the end of the night, around the time when the lights go out, we weren’t rushed out of the venue despite being the last lingering customers - indeed, the decidedly 90s soundtrack continued all the way to the last drops of our wine bottles.

Guerrilla doesn't seem to fall comfortably in to either category of bar nor restaurant, while the uni student feel is at odds with the higher-end ambitions of the menu and bar list.

Nonetheless, it's early days and another addition to the Glebe collection of small bars is great - Guerrilla is well worth a visit if ya gettin' down to Glebe.