Apparently Bar Reggio is a bit of an East Sydney institution. It's a lively setting. Bit noisy in the restaurant. Pizzas are pretty ordinary. Might be good if you're a student and want a BYO place though.

The setting here is amazing - while it's set back from the water, you get surprisingly good views of the harbour bridge. The food's great. It also has a good bar area where you can just pop in for a drink.

I don't really get the appeal of this place as a place to have lunch - it's crowded and ugly. Great place to buy fish though to take home and cook.

Agree that this bakery is amazing. The vegie sausage roll is the best I've ever had. It's tiny, so unless it's a nice day and you're happy to eat outside, take away is the best. Has a good buzz around it - meaning there's normally a queue out the door, but it's worth it. Apparently they've opened one in the city too but I haven't checked it out yet.

This place is the only shop in town, but I could seriously eat breakfast, lunch and dinner here and not get sick of it. In fact, have only had breakfast here, but it's possibly the best breakfasts that I've had. Mushrooms on toast, with some blue cheese through it, and other delicious things. My husband says the coffee is excellent. You can't see the beach from the café, but it has a nice sunny verandah.

Approximate cost: $20

we booked a holiday house for easter through this estate agent. They were really helpful on the phone letting me know which houses were available and made payment from Sydney easy. House was very clean, and photos on the internet of it were actually accurate. Our friends were running late to pick up the keys due to Easter traffic jams (and Crescent Head is about 5 hours north of Sydney), but we rang up and they were happy to stay open for us to be able to get the keys. And they even sell fresh eggs in their office, so we got some of them too! Nice service that you'd expect from a tiny beach town. Holiday houses incredibly good value.

I saw a fantastic play here recently - directed by cate blanchett. Was delighted to discover Walsh Bay - the wharf that STC is on is really cool - very old, and with great views. Has a bar and restaurant there that look good - I'll try next time I go back.

We a Sunday lunch here a couple of weeks in the middle of a massive storm. So, the views were pretty cool as the cafe is directly opposite Balmoral Beach. We'd booked ahead (they only take reservations on the day), but still had to wait about 10 mins for our table to come up. The host of the cafe was very nice. Service was pretty good - friendly. The menu is really nice, but the thing I chose wasn't really for me - it was ovenbaked salmon but it hadn't been cooked all the way through, which is personally how I like it. Otherwise the food was good.

Approximate cost: $30

This is an outlet for Sheridan sheets and towels. It probably depends on when you go in, but I was driving past and thought I would check out if they had anything good, and found a great doona cover, and matching 400 thread count sheet sets, all in the right size for my bed. May be a fluke, but worth popping in. Prices were more than half of what they had been in David Jones and Myer.

Great food, especially the sharing menu. Funky little restaurant. We booked early because were off to the theatre, and the food came in good time. Good wine list. Service was a little bit distracted, but otherwise great.

Approximate cost: $40 a head