Is this the best shawarma in Sydney? I think maybe.
I mean, it certainly must be the hippest shawarma in Sydney, coming from the owners of Poly, Paramount Coffee, Reuben Hills and Ester).
It’s perfectly located for us to grab a takeaway (there’s not really space to hang out) and come back to our place and devour the tasty fresh light bread wrapped around chips! And tender chicken and spice. Red onions. Red cabbage.
The textures, flavours, everything together: it worked for us. Shwarmama Yum Yum.
What a nice surprise. I was doing some work at the Surry Hills Library and needed a caffeine fix. I walk out the door and across the way, on the other side of Shannon Reserve, is a big open door (looks like a garage) with the word ‘COFFEE’ written above it. Wow. Perfect. Easy.
And they’ve decided to open a cafe, as a social enterprise, that will eventually have a gallery with local artists. And all the money goes to charity.
In any case, after choosing the most popular flavour, yoghurt with purple rice, we waited while the drink was made up freshly on the spot, and put in a container, with a seal on the top, like you get for bubble tea, and then handed an overpackaged drink, with a plastic bag and a straw. And our drink wished us a Happy New Year, which I found charming. The cup said that the drink tastes best if you wait an hour, but who has the patience?
We dove in and, as described, it is sweet yoghurt drink that has bits of chewy purple rice in it that come up nice and evenly through the straw. It was quite delicious and we both liked it, probably enough to try more flavours, or go back to this one another time.
Perhaps it’s lucky we were only here for a coffee. Though I have to say that while it is standard to pay $4.50 for a large flat white, and $5 for a croissant, that when it adds up, I still think: $20 for coffee and croissants for two people. What an expensive city Sydney is.
It was fun to go with friends to their favourite restaurant, and it’s so close to us in Surry Hills, and I’d already had recommendations to check it out.
Arthur is doing a fantastic job at really elegant food, in a cosy neighbourhood setting and with fantastic value!
$80 for 5 courses seems a steal, especially for the quality of the food. The wine is a little pricy so maybe that’s how they’re surviving.
I pretty much liked everything. It’s as good as it looks, and was as good as it sounded.
I actually can’t decide a favourite.
Well, OK. Maybe the steak with the grilled peppers. That was awesome.
Also, while they offer one menu a night, with two seatings, if you have dietary issues, they’ll accommodate you easily, as they did for our friend that doesn’t like seafood.
(I didn’t take photos of his special non-fish dishes).
The steak came with a fennel salad, which was a good idea. I’ll have to make more fennel salads of my own.
Plus perfect service.
Out with friends with great food in old Sydney town. Life is good, and was even better with Arthur.
We sat outside in the front, which threatened rain but didn’t and was very pleasant. The inside looks nice enough too, a sort of beach house feel, and there was an area out back which I didn’t check out.
We figured out from the menu that you order a basic plate of rice and sides, and then you order other dishes to put on top of it!
We ordered squid (tasty), and king prawns, which came on their own little BBQ grill. Really, really tasty.
And also some tasty, sticky, and somewhat unwieldy ribs!
Oh, and some twice-fried potato patties, which were fine, nothing special but tasty enough (and cheap at $4). In fact, the cost of the food was very reasonable for everything.
The three-course dinner is $150, and each course covers all the bases so there should be something for everyone’s liking. It’s the kind of place where we all asked what each other ordered and then oohed and aahed over each dish: beautifully presented, with imagination, and flavour. My starter was a pasta of sorts made out of squid and mushrooms: a magician’s trick presenting a delicate, slightly creamy delight. There were bits of puffed rice on it too, which, while adding an interesting textural element reminded me of a breakfast cereal. Oh, I loved the little bit of crisp chicken skin hidden in the noodles. Surprise!
I think there’s a perception problem though. The famous cuisine of the region is called cucina povera, it’s using humble ingredients (cooking of poverty) to make delicious, hearty and relatively simple dishes, but full of flavour. So, the food looks deceptively simple, but we thought it was absolutely delicious.
So, I find it a bit weird that some of the other reviews of the restaurant think it’s too expensive. Someone was complaining about $50 a head for a three course meal with an alcoholic drink. I mean: are you kidding me? This is Sydney.
The other thing is that the homemade pasta is made so finely and beautifully, it tastes like it could be storebought, because it’s a little too perfect. I noticed this complaint in another review, and my husband, momentarily, thought the same too.
So, I hope that they can manage to get across that they are making fresh pasta, and using fresh, high-quality ingredients, and that good food costs money, both to prepare and to eat!
In any case, we loved our meal. We asked for a special negroni, substituting campari with amaro, and it was interesting, and delicious. A stronger, darker negroni. We ordered the ‘feed me’ option, and got, to start with, the most delicious bruschetta with burrata, and then a specialty, pittule, deep-fried homemade balls of bread dough. Tasted better than it sounds!
Oh, we also had a delicious sort of savoury pastry.
A pork cutlet on super crisp potatoes was simple and tasty, served with a nice salad. The pasta, strozapretti I believe (priest-strangler is the translation), was a standout. The ragu was simple but full of flavour.
I was really a bit obsessed with pasticchiotto after I discovered it in Salento: a short-crust buttery pastry with a rich custard filling. Yum. Lovely to have one of these on Aussie shores. The other pastry was a little rich, but that’s the thing about Italian pastries.
Oh and to finish off crema di limoncello, a version of limoncello (made by one of the owner’s mothers, I think), which I think I like more than limoncello!
All in all, we loved our meal here and wish them all the success in the world (particularly in Sydney’s competitive dining scene).
It was a good amount to split between us (it’s about 500 grams but that includes the bone) and I was very happy that we were seated in the very corner of the restaurant, so I ended up just picking up the bone in my hand and trying to gnaw off every bit of dry aged rib of beef goodness that I could. They served it with a simple salad, which was good, since I started to fall into a meat coma afterwards.
I sort of like everything about Firedoor. I like the decor and vibe. I love the smell of the fire and grill. The gorgeous handmade ceramic plates. The service. The extensive wine list (and that they have Spanish sherry!). And of course the food.
