Ready for a meat coma? Bring friends so you can try as much as you can.
A barbecue joint has opened up in the back of the George Hotel in Waterloo and it was descended upon by this year’s food bloggers Christmas get-together, as organised by Chocolate Suze (her review here) and Helen of Grab Your Fork (her review here). It’s a great, casual atmosphere. Grab an Aussie craft beer on tap from the bar, and then strategise how you’re going to try as many of the delicious menu items as you can fit in your bellies.
I’ll defer to fellow bloggers, such as Coco and Vine and Ramen Raff, who provide a much more incisive description of the food than I can along with much better photos! It’s always amusing to dine with food bloggers and watch the different styles of photo-taking and food arranging!
Sadly, I wasn’t super hungry that day, but the beef brisket burger was really beautiful (and the fries too, perfectly crisp). The meat was tender and smoky and wonderful.
And I got to sample this amazing tri-tip.
It was fun hanging out with the food bloggers over great food at a new Sydney dining hotspot. I can see that when word gets out to Sydney’s meatlovers, they’ll be beating a path to Hughes Barbecue’s door.
As a Canadian transplanted to Australia, my wonder at the weird flora and fauna around here is likely to never wear off. Since cycads are subtropical or tropical, I wasn’t familiar with them, nor expected to have them on my balcony, but when we moved into our apartment in early 2011, the previous owners had left a half a dozen of these on the top balcony. The Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney tells me that these plants were around even before the dinosaurs, more than 200 million years ago, in the Permian era.
Sometimes I feel pleased with myself to make a nespresso at home, and that it’s easy and tasty. And sometimes, when I’m out for coffee, I remember why I like to go out for coffee. This perfect latte from the Caffeine Project had a nice strong flavour with just the right amount of crema. It sort of transported me somewhere else. And look how gorgeous the presentation is.
And the other thing is that I really love Central Park. The vibe of the place, the design of it, the mix of retailers: it’s a really great mall. The public space behind it is so perfectly designed, it’s vibrant and cool. It gives me a real feeling of loving urban development in Sydney, so watching as new buildings are going up, while sipping a great latte, was a great way to spend some time, on a late Friday morning.
I like the idea of cheap, easy Cantonese food in my neighbourhood, and Mister Dee’s Kitchen, that moved into the newly refurbished Oxford Square complex has a good vibe and a nice space. So, why is it always so empty? Especially, say, compared to the Brazilian cafe, Ovo, seconds away, that has line-ups.
They seem to offer an interesting selection of Cantonese food: dumplings, various classic rice and noodles dishes. But for some reason, they’re just not attracting customers. Get in there quick if you want your Cantonese food fix. Paying for that much space (it’s the largest restaurant in the complex), I don’t see that they’ll be able to last long in this current incarnation.
It’s near where I’ve usually lived in Sydney, and has been around since 2002, so I’m not quite sure how I’ve missed this strange, funky bar off Riley Street in Darlinghurst. It certainly keeps a low profile, and not one of my friends has ever suggested a final nightcap here until… Trevor, who also lives in the neighbourhood, said that he’s always wanted to try it.
It’s packed and buzzy. Granted, it’s a Saturday night, but it has a really fun vibe, a mash-up of colours and lights. The drinks were cheap. It wasn’t too crowded that we couldn’t get seats, nor too loud that we couldn’t talk. I liked it.
Aside from that one time in Bangkok with the bad food poisoning, I love street food. So anywhere that advertises street food hooks me in, whether it’s accurate or not. Le Souk Beirut intrigued me as most of the Lebanese food in the area (and down on Cleveland Street) is pretty casual and seems like it would be served up nicely on the street, so how would this be different?
Still, I was impressed with what they’d done with the place. It was an Oporto before but a very nicely designed one, definitely aiming to not be a fast food place. Exit Oporto and Le Souk Beirut takes over and it’s a lovely space with high ceilings, and windows all around the corner location. Very pleasant.
We sat outside for lunch and watched the world go by. We decided to just go for appetizers, so a big range of stuff, though I wish the very friendly server might have advised us we ordered a little too much. Also that the Lebanese white wine that we’d ordered would be unusual. Tasted almost like a retsina to me, and was a pretty pale pink. In any case, my favourite were the lady fingers, crisp and flaky and delicious.
The kibbeh, bulgur packed around meat, were also pretty tasty. The cheese triangles were fine, and neither of us really liked the falafel, which were dry and I wasn’t crazy about the seasoning.
The labne was a bit tart, too. Good for a casual meal, with reasonable prices, if you’re in the vicinity and craving Lebanese food with nice surrounds. Don’t miss those lady fingers!
I was never sure if the Balkan Seafood Restaurant was officially connected to the Balkan Restaurant a few doors down on Oxford Street that was there from 1964 all the way until 2012 when they moved to Crown Street. It’s quite a scene, with a full barbeque grill the length of the front window, where you can see what’s cooking.
Since one of our party is pescatarian, I thought it would be a good, casual option after seeing 
Served up with some tasty coleslaw, the food was simple and tasty and as you can imagine it, from the descriptions. It wasn’t smoky, as a friend had worried. The only thing is that the mussels on the seafood platter were not cooked but the rest was fine. An easy, casual choice for the seafood lover in your life.
They’ve been around for a long time but I don’t think they’re resting on their laurels. The menu is more interesting than your basic Indian restaurants, with explanations of where the dishes are from, and the service is earnest and friendly.
Other than that, I thought the dishes were good, not outstanding, and the environment fun and we liked the white wine we ordered. If you’re in the ‘hood and craving Indian food, this is a great option, as well for groups of people, or, as you can see from a previous review below (where I show again, my obsession for dosas), that they serve up a nice lunch too.
It’s good to feel confirmed. Since the other two times I’ve been here, I’ve been impressed. So a third time makes me feel pretty confident to say: this place is amazing. Modern Lebanese food. A Modern Australian twist. Reasonable prices for what you get. Friendly service. And most importantly: delicious food (thought the lighting wasn’t great for my iPhone).
The squid dish was a nice surprise. You really can’t tell where the squid is until you dish it out, and my first bite, without the squid, with orange segments, pomegranate and hummus, confused me. But then when you get a bite of the squid with it, it all makes sense. It’s delicious.
It’s rare I meet a dumpling that I don’t like… And these lamb dumplings in a creamy sauce were up to par.
Trevor really like these deconstructed falafel, but for me, this was the least successful dish. I like a bit of crunch on my falafel. But then with the other bits on the plate, I could see how other people would like it.
I convinced Trevor that we had to the the Knafeh since the only other time I’d seen it was at the pop-up Knafeh stores. I liked the almost savoury cheesiness and the coconut sorbet and mint leaves, though Trevor thought it was too savoury, like a cheese course (and the pop-up Knafeh stores are out of this world and have probably spoiled me for all other knafehs).
Mark and James’ Kiwi uber driver recommended coming to Fat Noodle for our pre-theatre dinner, on a Monday night (the show, the final Hats Off fundraiser was SO good, an incredible array of performers from the world of musicals and shows). Going through the food court, it was absolutely packed with everyone else going to the show. So, why not? We headed up to the casino, where it’s tucked into a corner surrounded by pokie machines and other gaming areas. It’s a weird place to be.
I’ve learned that Luke Nguyen is behind this place, so that, and its location means that the prices were about $20 each for the noodle soups and dishes. I know that it’s sour to think that if you find the right noodle soup elsewhere, it might be $10, and I really need to block from my mind that in Canada, where I’m from, these dishes would definitely be below $10. Then again, I remember being with Thai colleagues when they walked by a place with Pad Thai for $30 (overpriced, Circular Quay) and could see them calculating how much this was compared to the $2 or $3 they would pay.