There's a vegetable garden, take-home chutneys, a cafe component with Double Roasters coffee, a produce-driven menu, and a 110-seat courtyard that demands the drinking of Pimms.  

If The Greens sounds similar to Bugaboo parking lot The Grounds of Alexandria, that's because it is. There's even a petting zoo for the kids on Sundays and the kitchen is run by husband-and-wife Lilly and Nathan Fasan who both spent two and a half years at The Grounds before heading north.

I like The Greens (formerly Norths Bowlo) a lot. Ten points to the bowling club's progressive board for transforming an underutilised space into one of the hottest spots north of The Bridge. The competition green is still used for competition and the Bowling Wall of Fame greets you at the entrance but there's a fresh energy to the place, grinning staff, potted plants lushing up every nook and cranny, and a very agreeable menu.

The Greens has set a standard for bowlo bistros where a steak sandwich comprised of 40 per cent gristle used to be the best thing you could hope for. Oxtail croquettes ($11 for two) are crunchy on the outside and full of soft, braised meat within. Exactly how a croquette should be and I shudder to think how many I could eat if left to my own devices and a jug of beer.

The pork belly ($42) is a fine share-plate for two, sticky and slow-cooked with a shard of crisp skin. It comes with a take-it-or-leave-it celeriac and apple salad and a sausage of black pudding that's sliced lengthways and ying-yanged onto opposite sides of the plate. It's an excellent snag that begs to be barbecued, wrapped in white bread, and scoffed during a barefoot bowls session.

Wood-roasted bull-horn peppers ($11) are limp and weary and accompanying cross-sections of raw zucchini flowers can't energise them. A better side is mandolined raw carrot ($7) dressed with honey, mint, sesame and pepita seeds, honey and carrot being best friends forever.

There's plenty of 'next-time' items on the menu such as crumbed bone marrow with salsa verde ($12), whole-baked baby snapper for two ($45), and honey-and-spice-roasted peaches with Earl Grey ice-cream ($12).

The harbour view sparkles on a summer day when the sun is singing and the birds are shining. Everyone wants a piece of it though and you can expect a flutter of white jeans and Ralph Lauren polo shirts fighting for tables at peak times (The Greens doesn't take bookings).

It can be argued that renovating bowling clubs to this extent is another nail in the coffin of  old Australia. And perhaps it is. But if cocktails and kale salads are what it takes to keep a struggling club from going under, another licorice-infused cobbler, I say.

THE LOW-DOWN
DO… become a member and support the club.
DON'T ... call it The Grounds.
DISH … oxtail croquettes with sweet pimento dipping sauce.
VIBE … family-friendly playground by day, disc-spinning dance floor by night.