Tag Archives: Sydney

A Melbournite in Sydney Part 5: Manly Wine and Shady Pines Saloon

17 Oct

Multicultural Cuisine of…

Bar life!



Manly Wine
8 – 13 South Steyne,
Manly,
(02) 8966 9000

As I end my series of Sydney blog posts, I end with the drinking holes. I’m not going to cover everywhere we drank at, because there were a few, but let me introduce you to two of my favourites, the first being Manly Wine. Overlooking the beach, we walked into a fantasy world of pink flamingos, gorgeous peacocks, zebra striped seating, and bring colours coming from every which way.

It reminds me a lot of one of my favourite places back in Melbourne, Madame Brussels, but a bit bigger, and set on the beach instead of bang in the middle of the Melbourne CBD. We take our seats out the front, and order a few drinks, taking it all in…
While we didn’t stop for lunch (not through lack of staff trying -  we were asked what we’d like to order three times despite repeating each time that we just wanted drinks; we were still kinda full from our Zumbo extravaganza), it was a nice, relaxed atmosphere, gorgeous decor, and a perfect location – other than the inattentive staff (to the point that we actually walked out without paying, having totally forgotten about it – don’t worry, as soon as we realised, we ran straight back and cleared our debts, didn’t want to be chased down by a pink flamingo!), I quite liked it!

Would rate it 7 out of 10.

Manly Wine on Urbanspoon



Shady Pines Saloon
Shop 4, 256 Crown St,
Darlinghurst,

I believe I’ve saved the best till last here. The Shady Pines Saloon. We walked here from our accommodation in the middle of the city, on Kent St, and it was totally worth the last, uphill effort and the 10 minutes searching for an entrance. You can see how we may have missed it, from the signage on the front door…

After receiving huge props in Australian Gourmet Traveller’s 2012 Australian Restaurant Guide, being touted as their Bar of the Year, we were suddenly a little hesitant to head in through that door, but I’d just walked up a huge hill, in heels, and I wanted some vodka…

Wow, am I glad we walked on in. We stumbled into what felt like a time portal, transporting us into a world not our own. An old, American, pioneer, saloon. Wooden tables and chairs, old American flags, candles in old jars, and stuffed beasts lining the walls. Dark and “shady,” and utterly captivating.

Rocking up at around 4pm on a Thursday arvo meant that we were the only ones in there for a while, but as time ticked on, the punters started to arrive, each and every one of them opening the door with a look of amazement on their faces. Like Alice falling down the rabbit hole…

While we regrettably didn’t stay for more than a few drinks, we were both veryyyy impressed by the collection behind the bar…

… and our eyes lit up like little kids on Christmas morning, when we realised the huge bowls of peanuts came gratis. Aaaaan we got to shell them ourselves. LOVED it!!!

Gentlemen, kudos to you – this was by far the best far we’ve ever been in, Melbourne included; it was such a unique experience. And while we clearly were tourists in the area, and weren’t regulars to the bar, we walked in and felt right at home. You know how sometimes you walk into a bar, and the bar staff look at you like “you’re not my regulars….” and you just feel really awkward and like you should maybe just leave?? Yeah, none of that here. If you are in Sydney, do yourself a favour, and get to the Shady Pines. My only regret was that we didn’t get the chance to head back again! Don’t worry Sydney, we’ll be back!!!

Would rate it 10 out of 10.

Shady Pines Saloon on Urbanspoon

A Melbournite in Sydney Part 4: Zumbo!

15 Oct

Multicultural Cuisine of…

Dessert!



Adriano Zumbo
Shop 1A, 40 East Esplanade
Manly,
(02) 9810 7318
Finally, Zumbo. The mother land. The place where my dreams come true. I am an honest-to-goodness sweet tooth, and as such, have been positively busting to try the infamous Zumbo’s sugary delights. As such, I don’t believe this post needs much introduction, let me just show you a photographic representation of Sous-Jeff and I’s Zumbo journey…
Chicken, leek, mushroom and thyme pie
Ok, so I’m gonna be honest here, this was Sous-Jeff’s choice; while I just wanted to get involved in the sugary side of the cafe, Sous-Jeff insisted on something savoury to kick it all off. I’m glad I decided to take a few bites. Oh. My. God. This pie was amazing!!!!!!!!! Up until this point, I was under the belief that the Beechworth Bakery were the makers of the greatest chicken leek pie ever, but I have to say, Zumbo has them covered. And as amazing as the sweets to follow were, this was actually the highlight and my favourite taste of Zumbo!
Lukas rides the tube, $9.00
This little delight was a macadamia dacquoise, macadamia praline mousse, vanilla chantilly, pear tatin and macadamia nougatine concoction. Ummm yeah, it was delicious. Especially that little tube sitting pretty up top.
Charlie Brown, $9.00
Couldn’t really go past something that involved pâte sucrée, peanut vanilla caramel, milk chocolate mousse peanut nougatine. Glad we didn’t. It had a strong burnt caramel after taste, beautifully golden pastry shell, and soft gooey centre. Yum.
And finally, the famous macarons – I went with a salted caramel, and a raspberry shortcake.
Macarons, $2.30 each
The salted caramel tasted like most other salted caramel macarons I’ve had, but I was super impressed with the raspberry shortcake – it was absolutely perfect! And it really tasted like shortcake!!
All in all, the macarons were a good, high standard of delicious, the cakes were amazing, but fairly comparable to Burch and Purchese. But that pie… wow…. absolutely incredible… just wow…

Would rate it 8 out of 10.

Adriano Zumbo on Urbanspoon

A Melbournite in Sydney Part 3: Capitan Torres

12 Oct

Multicultural Cuisine of…

Spain

Capitan Torres
73 Liverpool St
Sydney
(02) 9264 5574
Back in April, my colleagues at the time and I were in Sydney for a few days on a business trip. Working in a health club, we were attending a national fitness convention. And naturally, after a long day of learning, we wanted to get out and try some of what Sydney had to offer. My lovely best friend, Ms Em, and I decided to head out on a dinner date after one particular day of learning. It had been a long day, we were exhausted, and sangria was in order. We meandered on down to the Spanish quarter around the corner from our accommodation and stumbled upon Capitan Torres. Was ensued was an evening of the most delicious tapas and sangria I’ve ever had. So, when Sous-Jeff and I decided to head to Sydney, this place was numero uno on my to-eat list!
Greeted by a lovely Portuguese waiter, we were shown straight to our table – a small bar table. It was 6:30pm on a Monday night, and the place was absolutely packed! Always a good sign. It was a little dark inside, an excited atmosphere of people just having a good time over some good food and drinks.
Looking into the kitchen and watching a whole lot of fantastic looking food making it’s way out to the hungry masses, we decided to try a bit of everything, and went with the following tapas (by the way, everything was delicious, if I had to pick a favourite, it’d be the chorizo, but seriously, could not fault anything!)…
Garlic Bread, $5.00
Calamares Fritos, $16.00

Meatballs (they didn't have the price for this dish on their website, pretty sure it was around $17.00)

Gambas a la Sevillana (prawns with onion, garlic and tomato sauce), $17.50
Chorizo in wine, $17.00
As you can see, it was absolutely delicious, and topped off with a litre of the best sangria I’ve ever had, at the even more delicious price of $25.00, it was definitely a highlight meal from our time in Sydney. If you’re in Sydney, I couldn’t recommend Capitan Torres highly enough; the food is incredible, the service is prompt and friendly, and the atmosphere really is great, like you’re sitting amongst a huge group of friends, just catching up and having a chat and a good time over food, the way it should be :) Get there for dinner ASAP!!!

Would rate it 10 out of 10.

Capitan Torres on Urbanspoon

A Melbournite in Sydney Part 2: Guzman y Gomez and Charlie and Co.

9 Oct

Multicultural Cuisine of…

Mexico…

and America


Guzman y Gomez
Multiple locations (see website for details)
Sydney
Next up in the whirlwind tour of food for Sous-Jeff and I was a stop at Guzman y Gomez. Let me preface this by saying that Melbourne needs these guys, immediately, if not sooner!!! An authentic Mexican experience in a fast food setting, Guzman y Gomez was founded in 2006 with the aim of introducing the Mexican and Latin culture and food to Australia. And it is damn good. Observe:
Soft shell beef guerrero tacos (2 for $8.50)
Spicy chicken guerrero burrito, $10.50
The food at GYG is seriously good and fresh, the service was friendly, efficient and quick (we ate at Newtown and Bondi Junction over the duration of our trip, and didn’t wait more than 4 minutes at either location), and it was genuinely some of the best Mexican either of us have had! Massive winner, need to get this in Melbourne!!!

Would rate it 9 out of 10.


Guzman y Gomez Mexican Taqueria on Urbanspoon

 

Charlie & Co. Burgers

Level 5

Westfield Sydney
Sydney
After their appearance on Masterchef earlier this year and the Googling that ensued, another must for us to try was a Charlie and Co burger. I am a huge burger lover, connoisseur even, and had heard amazing things about Charlie’s business. We sat down to a Federation Burger each, constructed of a freshly baked bun, an Angus beef pattie, tomato relish, tomatoes, lettuce, aged cheddar, a fried egg, bacon, sauteed onion and aioli. I had mine sans egg, plus chips on the side.

Fries, $6.00

Let me start by saying, double points for the fries. Oh. My. God. They were perfect!!! Golden, crisp and crunchy on the outside with nice soft, fluffy potato on the inside. Absolutely incredible.

The Federation Burger, $16.00

And then there was the burger. It was a tower. Looked and smelt incredible. Bacon poking out of the sides. Melted cheese dripping down the pattie. And heart-breakingly underwhelming.  It wasn’t that it didn’t taste good, it did, but there was wayyyy too much going on in there. The relish and aioli clashed, and made the bun quite soggy, which was really disappointing. Kudos to the bacon, which has a really nice smoky flavour, and the pattie itself was delicious, but because of everything else going on, it didn’t pack as much punch as it should have. I had very high hopes for this burger, and don’t get me wrong, it was bloody good! But my top burger is still the Beatbox burg.

Would rate it 8 out of 10.

Charlie & Co Burgers on Urbanspoon

A Melbournite in Sydney Part 1: Peter Doyle at The Quay

8 Oct

Multicultural Cuisine of…

Seafood

Peter Doyle at The Quay
Overseas Passenger Terminal,
Circular Quay West,
Sydney
(02) 9252 3400

 

Apologies for the sabbatical, lovely readers, but this little Melbourne lady has been in Sydney for the last week, enjoying some time away from the world, celebrating my first wedding anniversary with my amazing husband :) Crazy that a year has passed already – turns out being married isn’t nearly as scary as they say… not when you find the right person, anyway! So we decided to celebrate with a week away from home, exploring our own backyard in Australia, eating great food, and enjoying being “tourists.” Our first stop off the plane was lunch at Peter Doyle at the Quay; part my lovely parents’ anniversary gift to us!

We had originally booked a table outside, overlooking the water, but unfortunately we got rained out. The table we were moved to inside had just as beautiful a view though.

We were welcomed with a smile at the door and shown to our table. Our waitress gave us a few minutes to get settled before taking our drinks order, and returning not long later for our food. The service was very attentive, prompt, professional and friendly, which was lovely to have after an early morning flights and a grumbling tummy!

After finding way too many things we liked the look of on the menu, we decided to share a few plates. First up were the prawns – battered, deep fried and delicious! They were so soft, not the slightest bit chewy, and absolutely amazing. Don’t know about $20 for 6 prawns though…

Entree prawn cutlets, $20.00

Next out were the calamari, again, battered and deep fried. And again, not even remotely chewy or fishy. I was looking forward to the passion fruit dipping sauce advertised on the menu though, so I was a little disappointed to get sweet chilli sauce instead. Other than that, perfection.

Salt & pepper calamari, $20.10

10 minutes after placing our order, we caught sight of a dish of garlic bread and decided we must have our own. Great decision. Golden, buttery, soft and crunchy at the same time… yuuuuuuummm!

Garlic bread, $5.00

Finally, Peter’s famous fish and chips – the absolute softest, most delicate flathead fillets I’ve ever eaten (literally fell away on my fork – I ended up having to scoop it rather than actually spike it!), coated in (surprise surprise) battered, deep fried goodness! The chips were decidedly underwhelming, which is unfortunate because you can’t have fish and chips without an amazing chip!

Peter Doyle's famous fish & chips, $39.80

Sipping on Prosecco, while taking in the beautiful view and eating amazing seafood… great way to spend an afternoon on your first wedding anniversary! Even nicer was the trip to Tiffany’s the very wonderful Sous-Jeff took me on to pick out some gorgeous anniversary bling! I am a lucky lady :)

Over to you guys – what’s been your favourite special celebration meal?!

Would rate it 8 out of 10.

Peter Doyle at the Quay on Urbanspoon

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