Say you’ve got friends or family visiting overseas…
And say you’re visiting one of Australia’s most famous sites, Bondi Beach…
And say you’re hungry. Wouldn’t you want a view like this?
Even if the quality of the food was mediocre, and it wasn’t, this view sort of trumps everything. It’s the perfect place to take out-of-towners for a casual lunch when seeing the sites.
In the meantime, my family liked their burgers, onion rings and this amped up fries.
I thought the food was good. Not bad, not extraordinary, but fine. But it does appeal to tourists (and locals perhaps) with a wide selection on the menu, everything from kangaroo burgers to wagyu beef patties and salads.
The step up to the restaurant seems to be a hazard. People kept bumping into it. I got my foot caught under it while getting up to go inside (we had the table right in front).
But as I said: this view is amazing. The food is secondary.
Look like Uncle Tetsu’s Cheesecake has some competition. The cashier tells me that Pablo is from Osaka but there are stores in all major cities in Japan. It seems like a very similar proposition as Uncle Tetsu’s: a light Japanese cheesecake, not too sweet, sold in large varieties and small tarts.
I couldn’t NOT try one, so went for the matcha tart. It was not what I expected: more of a gooey custard than the light cheesecake that I know from Uncle Tetsu’s, a lovely matcha shade of green, and I have to say: delicious. They’re pretty small, and $4.50 which feels expensive, but it was tasty enough I would definitely consider buying a big one and bringing it to a dinner party. Stay tuned.
The Chat Thai in Chinatown is always impossible to get into (we checked) so we backtracked a few blocks to Yok Yor. My family from Hawaii believe that the Pad Thai is among the best (and most interesting) they’ve ever had, with more sauce than usual, wet and delicious. I was happy to show off how many Thai restaurants cook whole fish here, which I think is stupendous.
A casual Vietnamese meal with the family during the Christmas holiday period. My favourite Vietnamese dish are Nem, the deep fried spring rolls with a delicate rice noodle crust or wrapper. These were suitably delicious and the highlight of the night.
I quite liked the squid dish but it was a bit too visceral for my family. We had a fried rice with red chicken, which turned out to be little balls of chicken, a slow-cooked pork shoulder dish and a beef dish.
I liked the food better the last time I came, two years ago. Something felt off to me this night, the sauces a bit too sweet or some spice combination not agreeing with me.
It’s very hard to figure out where to eat as a casual diner at the Fish Market, and particularly when you have to figure out what to recommend for out-of-town family or friends. Both of my last family lunches (my family and a few years ago husband-to-be’s family), we settled on the Fish Market Cafe.
My soft shell crab burger was nom-nom-licious. I’ll be happy to return to try more menu items. And I like the location on Bourke Street in Surry Hills, quiet but still with a neighbourhood feel, folks walking and cycling by, leafy trees.
Gözleme may be a Turkish dish, but I’ll probably always associate it with Sydney, coming across it at the Surry Hills Market or at Mardi Gras Fair Day or pretty much any other outdoor event, Turkish ladies in head coverings making this delicious and quick snack of flaky pastry and a meat and cheese filling. I like them lots.
As for the gözleme, it was fine. Tasty. I was so hungry, I ripped into it and then realised that they had given me a wrong order. Rather than the traditional minced lamb that I’d order, with an egg as well, it was a sort of salami and cheese mix, which made it quite a bit like pizza. Not bad, but exactly what I wanted.