Edible Sydney

[Goemon 0]

Anyone have recommendations for good places to eat in Sydney? I just had a very tough lobster at Doyle\'s with a very nice view of the opera house. But it is obviously a tourist trap.

 

Any local flavours to recommend? I staying at a hotel next to this big pointy thing...

 

Thanks in advance!

[damian 0]

Did you lose my email address or have I pissed you off? I could talk about food in Sydney forever. Should have asked.

 

Doyles is a bit of an easy one, a tourist trap, or a place to head if you want to give a client a nice view over an outdoors lunch. I am talking about the one at Watsons Bay, but the one in the city is much the same. Watsons Bay is a nice 'upper class' area. The bar next to the restaurant used to be one a great place to get pissed on Sunday arvo and watch the sun set over the city. It gets pretty image orientated and ego driven, but mainly in summer when everyone is outside to be seen.

 

Other popular places in the area of the Rocks/Harbour are Bel Mondo, Rockpool, Celcius (expensive) and the MCA Cafe.

 

If you feel like getting a taxi and eating at places that may well have shut or changed hands for the worst then give these a go. It has been over 4 years since I was a local and who knows what these places are like now:

 

- Sean's Panoramic: a basic little place at the northern end of Bondi Beach.

 

- Bill and Tony's: eat upstairs, a mega basic Italian joint. I lived near here and ate there once a week. The veal with tomato on melted mozzarella is the best plate of food I can remember. Besides a small blackboard they don't have a menu. It used to be very cheap. The salad (lettuce leaves) and fake orange juice is free. It is on Stanley Street in Darlinghurts. You can walk there from the pointy thing: head east for William Street which run to Kings Cross. After a short while down that road turn right onto Crown Street, past the hookers and tranys. Then about 2 blocks up towards Oxford Street turn right. B&T's is on the right with a gelato and espresso shop downstairs. I still miss this place so much. It is was cheap and messy and good.

 

- Near the pointy thing go to China Town and look for the very well known and busy BBQ King. A lot of the menu is crap (don't order the traditional western Chinese stuff like chicken with cashew nut or beef and blackbean. Like always, it is rubbish). I like the peaking duck, the BBQ pork, the fried tofu with chilli, the hot pots, the spinach with garlic, the lettuce leaf bowls (cant spell teh correct name... san chow bow). I don't know a whole lot about the pointy thing area, so cant recommend anything around the block.

 

- If you want to spend some cash then try getting a seat at Tetsuya's. You need to book in advance. It is a mix of French and Japanese and very good. Not for you if you don't like 8 courses of small taste sensations served on an otherwise empty plate. You will eat plenty of food and wont go hungry. If you want Italian doen by Japanese chefs then look up Certo. It is also in the city.

 

- cafes: better in summer, but take a taxi to Bronte Beach. There is a really small strip of cafes at the southern end. I have had good food at Maverik. They have really good breakfasts. Most of the places there are good. Bondi is good this time of year, winter - less tossers in hotted up cars from the south western suburbs and generally less crowded. I used to live next to le Paris Go Cafe jus off the main drag. The food isn't amazing, the breakfasts used to very simple and good. It wasn't trendy. It was my local so I went there a lot.

 

- Long Grain: this is kind of near the pointy thing. Thai food and a bit-too-trendy bar with cool dj and slinky crew. It can be a great place to eat though. It is a little south of where Oxford Street joins the city, on a hard to find quiet warehouse street just on the edge of the city (kind of towards the central train station).

 

- Balmain: get a taxi or a ferry. Just about everything is good there. Balmain is likely one of the best city suburbs in the world, except it doesn't have a beach. It's a pretty good spot.

 

- Salt. I used to really like this place in Darlinghurst but the last 2 times I went there it was crap. It is a typical designer trendy place with a trendy cocktail/cigar bar in the back. All part of a small trendy boutique hotel. If you are in the area then take a look around. There is a lot to eat and drink here. It is almost impossible to explain the location, but down the hill from a second hand clothing shop called Blue Spinach is a fish and chip place hat makes the best chilli salt quid rings in Sydney. On the way to that is Bill's, a cosmo cafe in which an ex gf's gay brother used to cook. I used to go there a lot as a result. No idea what it is like these days. In teh other direction past Kings Cross is a place called Cicada. Some cool factor going on but good food.

 

- In the city: there is heaps. A good start is to head up to Martins Place and find the 'old post ofice building. It is on the left hand side of the downhill end. Go in there and down to the food and bars in the basement. Quite nice architecture and some ok food and bars. Full of city suit types and a few wankers. I used to eat great steak at a place called Prime. That was 6 years ago though. Further down at Circular Quay is a place called Sydney Cafe. It's kind of hard to locate, upstairs froma bar called teh Customs House, with a great view over the freeway and then over the water with the bridge on the left. Better food than Doyles. The places from the Rocks around the bay to the Opera House are a bit obvious and can be bad value, surviving on trend factor rather than great food. I worked in that area so had most of my business lunches there. One place we would frequent was called Aqua Luna. It was wanky, but had some good food. They used to serve deep fried pigs ears but took them off the menu. Apparently I was one of the few customers that ordered them. If you want the best and biggest meat pie on earth then go to the classic 'business lunch' place in the city called The Angus and Beefsteak. Order the large burgundian pie and a bottle of heavy read wine.

 

Although not immediate tourist places, most of the places I mentioned are pretty well known, obvious picks so a good taxi driver or hotel clerk should know them. There are 1000's of places to eat in Sydney and these ones are not even the really good ones, just the ones that I remembered first. I am sure there are heaps of more with-it people that can recommend what is good these days. I am likely showing my dated experience. Some are a bit expensive but if you paid for Doyles the they wont come as that much of a shock.

 

And for what is now the worst kept secret in Sydney, go to the Old Fitzroy Hotel. http://www.oldfitzroy.com.au/ Really good laksa and it used to be removed from the unfortunately common wanker factor that Sydney's buzz and ego can generate. It is a bit popular with the loud pom backpacker crowd and with this world cup soccer on at the moment I think it will be a bad choice as, with most Australian pubs, the atmosphere will be ruined by a big tv screen showing sports.

 

I have just had 20 minutes of loud as anything umpah bands umpahing up the road past my window. I can see tuba bobbing up and down past my window as I type. This place is so different to Sydney. Have fun. If you want German food go to Una's in Darlinghurst. Most pizza is average. Authers Pizza in Paddington (top of Oxford street) is ok, so too a heap of small local corner places in inner city suburbs like Surry Hills. They dont even have a name that I can remember, they are just corner pizza places with three tables and a few posters on the wall. It is imposible to describe their location, but they do as good as many NY pizza places. The kind of place that a visitor has sadly got no chance of enjoying.

 

If you are there for work, make sure you take a lunch time walk from the Opera house around the botanical garden on the waters edge to Wolloommoolloo than cut back to the city through the park. I spent 2 years walking to and from work that way and is one of the the reasons why I complained like a child in Tokyo after a few months of the subway crowds

 

The umpah bands have done a u-turn and making their way back down my street. The bands in the front have stopped at a bar up teh road and everyone is drinking beer in their umpah uniforms. They keep coming, its the worlds longest unpah procession.

[Goemon 0]

Sorry for not emailing, but:

a) I thought I would get your attention more quickly on these low-bandwidth forums

I wanted other people to benefit from your (and others') pearls of culinary wisdom.

 

Will check on those places you've mentioned so kindly above. I'll be in the offices today and tomorrow, but Mrs. G is roaming about in my absence.

 

oompah oompah oompah.

 

I'm wondering whether the Australian pubs will get some special pass to open late for the Australia-Italia match late tonight?

[js 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by Goemon:
Anyone have recommendations for good places to eat in Sydney?

Recommendations:

1. Catch a bus to one of the northern beaches, grab some fish & chips from the local shop and sit on the beach watching the waves roll in.

2. Pack a lunch, walk along one of the many tracks situated along the harbour and snack at leisure.

3. Alternatively, the Sydney Fish Markets have good places to get a nice lunch and sit in the sun watching the fishing fleet/seagulls.

Most of the restaurants in the Sydney CBD are pretentious - all the good eateries are in the suburbs and not that easy to describe.

[Goemon 0]

cheers, SubZero. I was thinking to head out to either Manly or Bronte beach tomorrow for lunch/dinner before flying back. Haven't decided which yet.

 

Heard that the oysters are great/cheap in Sydney Fish Market.

[js 0]

Yes, when entering the Fish Markets main vehicle entry gates, try the shops located to the far left – there’s one over there that only specialises in oysters. It may not be open mid-week but give it a go, otherwise just shop around in the main market.

 

Generally oysters are divided into which river system they originated – mostly northern NSW river systems. Others come from interstate.

 

Personally, the best ones come from either the Karuah, Manning, Hastings, Nambucca or Clarence Rivers.

 

If you like prawns, go for smaller ‘school’ prawns – they’re far tastier than the large king prawns and not as tough.

 

Enjoy.

[Goemon 0]

Thanks for the tips; we ended up having lunch at the Icebergs Dining Room and Bar in Bondi, located just above the Bondi Icebergs swim/fitness club:

 

The vittles: softshell prawns

 

The view:

 

Followed by a nice walk over to Bronte Beach:

 

Thanks for all of the tips.

[damian 0]

Glad to hear you got out again. Icebergs has a great view (I never really rejoiced in their food though)

 

I gf also agrees with Subby. The most memorable food from her Sydney visit was a hamburger with milkshake and FnC from Bundeena and also half a kg of prawns wrapped up in paper eaten on the beach.

 

BTW, you can see one of my old apartments in this picture. The apartment was a dive, but the position was ok Being a convict was terribe.

 

[Ocean11 0]

 

Where is your alcoholic beverage...?

[Goemon 0]

There's a bloody Bloody Mary in the background there. Here's another one at the Opera House:

I found that Sydney knows how to make a proper bloody mary, unlike the "tomato juice with some ice cubes in a bathroom glass" variety you get in Tokyo.

 

le_spud: Forgot to mention that we also checked out the Fitzroy Hotel for some prawn laksa:

 

Was this your place? It has a great view!

[Ocean11 0]

What a relief! Bloody Mary did cross my mind but I was worried it might be guava juice or something.

[Goemon 0]

guava juice? psshaw! There was also some obligatory wine somewhere on the table there. Everywhere we went, wine lists were thrown in our faces. Australia seems quite proud of the advances in their grape juice.

[sunrise 0]

Fish and chips on a nice beach is definitely the go. My sister and I did that at Bundeena last time I was in Oz. Maroubra beach is also great if you're in the eastern suburbs. Much less built up than Bronte/Coogee/Bondi.... though Bronte is a fun place. My parents still live 10 mins walk from Maroubra beach, so the beach is my first port of call whenever I hit town, especially in swimming weather. Glad you enjoyed Oz.

[damian 0]

Brown meat chicken laksa, thats what I like. None of this tasteless white breast meat or fancy plawns. But guys in suits at the Old Fitzroy

 

I agree, it is usually pretty easy to buy a

good Bloody Mary in Sydney, especially Balmain. More often than not it would be good. London and Tokyo: more often than not it was a let down (if bought in a random London bar then it was a reliable let down. I really should have learnt my lesson much earlier). You may get a good BM, but Sydney is the biggest dog and bicycle hating city I have ever seen. The attitude is pathetic.

 

What is that shelter on the rocks?? Wouldn't have thought the authorities would allow that to remain for long.

[Goemon 0]

 Quote:

guys in suits

Maybe they were transvestites? There seemed to be alot in the area as we walked back towards William Street. Most of the crowd was decidedly suitless though.

That shelter was someone's makeshift home just below the path in Hunter Park.