Nestled on the corner of East and North Terraces, Golden Boy has cemented its status as a dining institution with its Tuk Tuk feed-me menu now famed among foodies. Restaurateur Sondra Deering tells CityMag her secrets to staying golden.
Golden Boy’s dining room has had “many lives”, Sondra tells CityMag. It’s been home to pool tables, $10 pizzas and beautiful cocktails, it was a Thai restaurant back in the ‘90s, where there was “this lady that used to make coconut milk down in the cellar”.
It was in 2013 when the city was seeing its small bar licensing change the local nightlife scene that Sondra and her husband and business partner James Hillier realised their Botanic Bar “needed to evolve”.
They opened Golden Boy alongside and its growing popularity then led to it absorbing the old Botanic Bar space and cellar next door to create a second dining room.
“Botanic Bar still has the comfy booths, the marble, the brass and the luxury, and Golden Boy has its own personality, but it all works together,” Sondra says.
Sondra has been in the heritage North Terrace building for about 20 years, and in that time, she’s seen neighbouring businesses come and go; but says the vibrancy and community of the east end is unmatched.
“East End Cellar’s actual cellar used to be our cellar, so we’ve had a long relationship with them, they used to go back and forth with sack trucks,” she says