So, this was a really, really, really fun place to hang out on a Sunday afternoon. And while during the Newtown Festival should mean it’s a special event, friends say it’s always pretty fun here.
They have different events. They invite in different folks to supply the food. They serve up a wide selection of their own beer that you can try, as well as a cider and gin and tonic.
I love that Sydney has a brewery like this where you can go to the home of some of the beers that they serve up in various bars around the city.
I didn’t have enough stomachs to try them all, but perhaps next time. I arrived early and it was quiet, just opening, and by the time we left, there was a line up to get in and it was heaving.
I like that they are a bit off the main streets of Newtown, hidden away, and I love the warehouse feel, vibe and decor.
This time they had the folks from Le Montreal Shack, and friends, including un vrai Québecois (a real person from Québec), told me that the poutine was good. I had mine with smoked pork belly and thought it was delicious: really smoky and rich and fatty, though someone else in our party didn’t like it, finding it like thick-cut bacon (which is sort of was).
It’s interesting when a restaurant has such a buzz that people have heard of it moving to Sydney without knowing where it is exactly, or in my case, that I didn’t exactly know what kind of food to expect (a Modern Australian take on Thai food). For the last decades, the Griffiths Tea Building has been awaiting something to happen… it’s an unusual shape but striking, visually, and I think it’s exciting that it’s finally been done up, and has tenants like Chin Chin.
Lai Heng and I popped in for a Monday lunch and the place was buzzy. Lots of wait staff, kind of this feeling of anticipation in the air, and folks happy about being in a much-lauded restaurant. Packed by the time we left.
Lai Heng asked how they get the soft-boiled eggs so perfect. I reckon it’s those 62 degree eggs… going perfectly with the rest of the plate, which you can see is an appealing combo or fresh herbs, raw crisp of vegetables, an intense chili sauce, a bit sweet, not too spicy.
Dear reader, I was not brave enough to try what the young people were eating in the restaurant, an apparently common Taiwanese snack: a deep fried dough stick wrapped in a fried spring onion pancake. The amount of starch and grease involved in that made me shudder. Good thing they were young and still, apparently, in good health.
We both had congee, hers with spicy pork, and mine with pork and preserved egg. I have to say that the texture of it was amazing. This is why people like congee: this silky smooth comforting texture that will remind Chinese people of a home kitchen, or perhaps being fed this when sick, as one of the most neutral and easy foods to eat. I approve.
Drop by for a dosa at Masala Darbar. I know that Indian cuisine has contributed many delights to the world, but this is my current obsession. A perfect, crisp pancake that looks like it will be too filling to eat… but is light and airy. The filling, usually of potatoes, may fill you up, it’s true. And then there’s the condiments: a small tin of dahl, some chili sauce (not as spicy as it looks) and a delicious coconut chutney. This really was a very good dish.
It’s location? A new restaurant that has opened up in the strange little strip of restaurants on Cleveland Street between Bourke and Crown streets. South Asian restaurants have had to compete against the long-established and seemingly unbeatable Maya empire. Sushi Suma attracts crowds year after a year. Bar Cleveland on the corner seems a neighbourhood institution. But lots of other restaurants fall to the wayside, the Japanese one with a reputation for rude service, the one trying for fine dining, and the candied apple store.
Masala Darbar offers a really extensive menu, both Northern Indian , and Southern Indian cuisine. Aside from the above-mentioned Mysore Masala Dosa, we had a goat curry, a Prawn Dum Biryani and a crab masala.
My dinner date, an early Tuesday night, is braver than I, so I’m glad I followed her lead. I’d normally think crab was a bit daunting. The dish came with one crab split neatly into two, the sauce was beautiful, and the flesh tasted particularly sweet, digging it out myself.
The goat curry and biryani were good; very savoury. I was a little full after but not too much, with that dosa, two curries and a rice dish. Actually, in consideration, I’d say the dishes are more substantial and more nicely presented than busy Maya da Dhaba across the street.
That certainly seemed to be the verdict of the rest of the restaurant on the weeknight we were there. It was packed for a peak period of dinner and then thinned out, mostly young professional women, that night at least. We had a reason to celebrate so splurged on champagne. We mixed up the proteins by having fried tofu as well as chicken. The spicy sauce was… very spicy. The coleslaw was great. Order at the counter. Loud, casual, fun and ridiculously Surry Hills cool. 
Spice I Am, in my memory, was the pioneer that really lifted Thai food in Sydney from the sometimes mediocre neighbourhood restaurants to something that people were talking about, excited about and lining up for. Soon followed by other great restaurants like Chat Thai and Home, and now having opened up a more upscale branch in Darlinghurst, their original location is still busy, with humble decor and a cash only policy.