Secret Men's Business

I do love the pubs in Sydney, and I wish that I could spend more time in them. In Bogotá it seemed like I couldn't avoid having a drink with friends at least once a week, but in Sydney it's a bit trickier. And the best theory I've heard on why this is so, is that everything is more spread out here. If the character of some parts of Sydney is ever going to improve – urban planners please take note – we need many more pubs to fill in the gaps.

But back to the here and now; checking out promising pubs has always been a favourite pastime of mine, and a couple of weeks ago we managed a long-overdue catch-up with some friends at a place I'd often admired from the train - The White Cockatoo at Petersham. The inner west is particularly blessed with old-school boozers like this one. In a nice twist of history, one of the guys in our group told us that his great-grandmother used to work there. I bet things have changed since her day. For one thing, they probably wouldn't have let a two-year-old in. But pubs are more family friendly now, and so, he got to come along. He's still getting the hang of eating out was more interested in playing that game where you postition the claw then drop it, and watch it flop ineffectually over the prizes. And he wasn't as impressed as he might have been by the food. The White Cockatoo is famous for its outsized schnitzels and steak sandwiches. If you've ever seen those spot the ball competitions, consider this a variation: spot the bread.