A short Sydney break

Over the long summer break it can be easy to fritter the weeks away if there is no actual “holiday” planned.  I’ve let this happen in the past, only to find that the weeks of inactivity have failed to recharge my energy for the year ahead.  As mentioned in recent posts, I’ve tried to learn some lessons from previous break-failures by making the most of a time many people envy.  Getting away is key to the “holiday experience”, but not always possible.  The last trip was fairly recent – September – and the next one will be long – over a month – but is still far in the future which is why I decided to take advantage of cheap airfares and head up to Sydney for a couple of days.

While I was away, I caught up with Reality Raver for dinners, drinks and sweet treats and Reemski for a spectacular burger.  (It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to anyone that, in 48 hours, I ate at eight places and drank at four bars.)  Really, the perfect break!

Mamak

In the “Great Australian Bites” feature for their first Weekend Australian Magazine, The Age defectors John Lethlean and Necia Wilden celebrated Sydney’s Mamak as a truly authentic roti joint.  Other mainstream media have also hailed the food there, but it was Penny’s blog post that really pushed it up into my must try list.  As soon as I’d checked into the hotel, I grabbed my folder of google maps and headed on down to Chinatown.

There were at least half a dozen dishes on the menu that I really wanted to try, but I was planning a “progressive lunch”, so Mamak was to be my first course only.  With that in mind, I chose the roti telur bawang and a teh ‘O’ ais limau.  The tea was great – not too sweet, with the perfect amount of ice – and the roti was fresh.  I probably should have stuck to the simple roti canai (which is, in fact, what was brought to me first) as roti TB can tend towards sogginess and the plain roti looked so delightfully fluffy/crispy.

Din Tai Fung

During a bit of a Twitter-moan about the inconsistent XLBs around town, Ed mentioned that Sydney was the place to go for dumplings.  A quick call for nominations went out and Noodle Sue and Jetsetting Joyce heartily recommended Din Tai Fung.  Even better, it was in the same area as Mamak.  Better still, they had a nice little table for me even though I didn’t have a booking.

As at Mamak, I wished I had a couple of other people with me so that more of the menu could be sampled.  Drawing on my over-ordering technique from the China trip, I decided to order more than I could eat and leave some of it without guilt.  The XLBs were lovely – the skin was sturdy enough to hold the soup, but translucent enough to complement, rather than overwhelm, the filling.  The noodles with a pork, tofu and broad bean topping were pleasant enough, but not earth-shattering, and the pork bun really was a dish too far.

When I got up to leave, the waitress did offer to box up my leftovers, but I wasn’t confident that a solitary XLB, half a bun and some noodles would really re-heat well.

Spice I Am

Sydney has some wonderful Thai food, but unfortunately Spice I Am (Darlinghurst) didn’t showcase the best of it.  That’s not to say it wasn’t nice, just that it wasn’t particularly special despite the rather special prices.  The fitout is lovely, the seats are deceptively comfortable and the service is competent (the waitress steered us to the right hand side of the restaurant, pointing out that the other available tables were close to what proved to be a very noisy birthday group).  The starters – excellent crispy fried prawns and betel leaves, and a lovely carpaccio (really, a ceviche, I suppose) of hiramasa kingfish – set our expectations to “high” for the mains.  Unfortunately, those expectations were not met.  The mains (a “seasonal special” of duck salad and a beef curry) were okay, but not hitting the heights that great Thai food can.

bills (sic)

bills is an institution.  Last time I was up north, the Darlinghurst cafe (which I believe is the flagship of his expanding empire) was closed for renovation.  I was determined to have a bills breakfast this time around.  In preparation, I went through a long process of lowering my expectations, as I figured there was no way that it would be anything other than disappointing.  I guess that means 2010 has been chock full of surprises so far: neither bills nor Avatar sucked as much as I expected them to; in fact, I enjoyed them both!

bill  - or, at least, his menu writer – makes every effort to ensure that the breakfast tourist won’t go away disappointed.  The iconic dishes (ricotta hotcakes and corn fritters) are highlighted “bills classics” on the menu.  Reality Raver had the hotcakes and they were the fluffiest, most delightful pieces of breakfast puffery I’ve ever tasted.  I went with the corn fritters and bill might not know much about punctuation, but he knows how to celebrate a key ingredient – these were much more corn than fritter, which is just as they should be, but so often are not.  The coffee was also excellent.

Plan B

Plan B was another item on the itinerary that had been entered my consciousness via the raves on blogs.  Having forked out the big bucks for Mr Perry’s wagyu burger, I felt I had to try Justin North’s version at less than half the price but what seemed like more double the enthusiastic support.  The lovely Reemski had ordered the burgers and scored a table by the time I got there, but I have to admit to getting a little worried when she demonstrated the size (tiny) of the burger.  My anxiety disappeared when she described how thick the patty was (and how much extra fat North adds to his burger mix).  The burgers arrived and… it really is worth making sure you make time to get your hands on one of these if you’re in Sydney (and if you live in Sydney and haven’t tried it yet? Get down to Clarence Street stat!).

Reemski’s photo has me wanting another one (and also lusting after an iPhone!)

Busshari

Even though I let my no-alcohol-weeknights policy go for the break, I was able to stick to fresh fish Thursdays, thanks to the sushi chef at Busshari.  We had prime seats at the bar, which helped us decide on exactly what we wanted to order from the sashimi and sushi selections.  The agedashi tofu and miso eggplant were both deliciously silky and the desserts (a pumpkin mousse and a sesame tart) capped off the meal nicely.

Zumbo Patisserie and Cafe

A year ago, I hadn’t heard of Adriano Zumbo.  Thanks to his contributions to Masterchef, grabbing some macarons at the patisserie was a must and Reality Raver was kind enough to take me over there on my way to the airport.  The selection behind the counter was breathtakingly pretty – there were ten varieties of macarons available and I was saved the agony of decision-making by the fact that the boxes fit ten macarons.  Easy! One of each.

As they were packaged they were identified but it was really too much to take in.  I heard summer pudding, black sesame, something with balsamic, fig, red wine… I figured I’d be able to identify the flavours when I tasted them.  I had a preview of the macaron-y deliciousness at the cafe where we tried a chocolate-filled mint treat.  I’m still dreaming about the amazing iced chocolate…

Yumbo Zumbo

Ah, Sydney – I’m already planning my next visit!

Related posts:

1. Shanghai and Beijing – one mouthful at a time
2. A break from reality
3. Febfast – time really does fly when you’re having fun…

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