Hairy Canary
Phone +613 9654 2471
Hairy Canary is a place where some of the too cool for school set go to eat, drink and be merry. Don’t let this put you off though. The food is pretty darn tasty, despite the fact you may have to wait a wee while to get it. And don’t mind the surly vacant icemaiden waitress either. Like the atmosphere, it offers one something of interest to look at and experience 
EG went the Spanish omelette with chorizo, olives, capsicum and manchego cheese. Cooked in a teeny paella pan, the filling was generous and bursting with flavour - almost juicy with it. His verdict = very good indeed.
I went the corn fritters with roasted roma tomatoes and spicy avocado, with an added side of goats cheese. The corn fritters were good, although upping the corn ratio would have seen them spectacular (nb. for uber “roasted” corn fritters try Mart 130). The spicy avo, rocket and tomatoes sat high atop the stack - a good picquant compliment to the fritters.
Verdict: worth it for the food, but not so good if you’re in a hurry.
as a too-frequent regular at hairy’s, i’m surprised that you had a “surly icemaiden waitress” serving you. i don’t find the food particularly fascinating, but i’ve always been a fan (and now friends) of the staff, and more so their cocktails.
i think hairy’s is above all a pretty cosy watering hole more than it is a food joint. although like you’ve said, the food ain’t that bad either.
7:05 am - January 1st, 2007Hey there solvent_d. Our waitress on the day was less than impressive - we couldn’t crack a smile or a kind word out of her. She mucked up our order (we both wanted sides, but I got both, whilst EG got none). We didn’t complain or raise the issue - in fact we were our usual charming good customer selves. She just didn’t make us feel welcome at all.
She was however overly amiable to a table of german tourists, and to a table of rather good looking gents. I guess on the day we did not match her criteria for cool customers
I will certainly be back to try it out again though. I find there are too few good breakfast venues in the CBD for weekend dining. If you know of any that do something that little bit different - let me know!
11:03 pm - January 1st, 2007that’s terrible; so glad i’m born with ravishing good looks
kidding!
but they’ve had a slight change in staff of late due to the festive season and other non-festive reasons, so i shouldn’t really vouch for them.
the next time you do go, do try their cocktails. my personal faves are their Lemon Cheesecake, Groover Raider and Eve’s Delight.
- mark
2:11 am - January 2nd, 2007Haha…glad your devastating good looks ensure you receive great service at Hairy Canary. Those of us not so blessed must suffer surly service
I’ve only been there once - but I’m sure things will be different on a repeat visit (well, one would hope so anyway!).
Oooh…will certainly go back for drinkies next time though.
6:09 am - January 2nd, 2007Went to Hairy last weekend for a birthday lunch….the food was amazing - we had almost every tapas option, pizza, paella, cocktails, french champage, spanish wine - you name it! Our waitress to my surprise was just fabulous and even got a well deserved $50 tip at the end of it! She was freindly (even though we didn’t fit the ‘cool’ category)….it was a family lunch with ages ranging from 11 to 52….Can’t say the same for the bar guy’s service - who even made an 11 year old girl feel uncomfortable because she asked for less ice in her next ‘mocktail’!! Being a regular customer there for 10 years - I know I will go back as the food never disappoints and the selection of drinks are always great! It’s pot luck with the service - you may have the greatest person waiting on your table - but when you go and pay the bill you might feel like ‘tripping’ them over
1:20 am - August 28th, 2007