As one of the first properly warm Saturdays, I think everyone who wasn’t at the beach was at Holey Moley Newtown. We had to wait a few minutes to order our food and drinks, but the staff were energised, cheerful, and happy to help however they could.
The bottomless brunch promotion gave you a choice of one of three themed cocktails, a set brunch menu, bottomless beer, wine, and cider for two hours – and 18 holes of mini-golf.
The brunch consisted of the typical arcade/carnival food – waffle fries, burgers, and fried chicken (with vegetarian and vegan options available), but the cocktails showed a playful spark of creativity. We both opted for the Nutty Espresso, which came garnished with a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup and another one grated over the frothy top of the cocktail.
The main attraction of the day was the 9 new holes (although the Nutty Espresso cocktails were a CLOSE second). The mini-games were exactly as creative as you’d expect, with fantastically punny names.
We started out on the Ssslippery Ssslope, a nostalgic play on the classic Snakes and Ladders board game, before moving on to play the Bedrock’N’Roll.
I particularly liked the Draw Fore – a nod to the classic card game that’s been dividing siblings and causing fights for decades. While many of them had convoluted courses, this one was a simple flat platform – with game prompts cleverly designed to stimulate some healthy competition between you and your friends.
The new holes are well-considered throwbacks to pop culture, with references to everything from classic games like Snakes and Ladders and Uno, to figures like Elvis, Houdini, and Forrest Gump (with a surprise Trump reference thrown in for good measure).
The mini-golf courses are a great way to get silly with your friends. The fact that you could walk and clamber all over the oversized props unimpeded contributed to the childish delight of it all. I highly recommend grabbing a cocktail or three – the courses become infinitely harder (and funnier) when the room is spinning just a little.
– Liv S.
Liv S. is a Sydney based copywriter and avid consumer of negronis. Her interests include mini-golf, trying new things, and triple utterances. Check her out at tenderlcreative.com.au
