After seeing the early Friday night show of the very fun show ‘Velvet’ at the Sydney Opera House (a sexy disco circus concert), we wandered back to grab a 9pm reservation at Riley St Garage (how European, eating so late!). A converted garage in Woolloomooloo seemed like a good place to eat.
We didn’t opt for the banquet but ordered a variety of dishes for the four of us: beetroot four ways, eggplant with miso (delicious, sweet and soft, I’m going to try this!), ricotta spinach ravioli in burnt butter sage (hard to go wrong with this one), and a big tender lamb shoulder. Also some mash potatoes and greens. The wine was excellent.
We even had room for a bit of dessert. I love how they served up one of the dessert cheeses with crackers, green apple and nuts. A generous presentation for ten bucks. The other dessert (mostly demolished in the background) was good too.
There was a bit of that Friday night out on the town feeling, a sort of rowdiness in the restaurant that night. My mood would have preferred one or two notches down on the volume and energy, but that was just me. In all, it was a solid dining experience for food and wine, and there’s something different enough about the atmosphere that it’s a place I’d recommend taking friends to for a night out on the town to enjoy Sydney’s hip-cool, cool-hib vibe.
