An Autumn tasting platter at Saké The Rocks
Being a Sydney food blogger, I get invited to lots of new restaurant and bar openings, menu launches and events.
It’s torture really. But in doing so, I pick up a tonne of food-filled knowledge and it’s only fair I share my latest learnings:
Saké launches new gin bowls at The Rocks and Double Bay restaurants
Saké Manly has been serving us their signature gin bowls all summer. And praise the gin lords because these supercharged G&Ts have crossed the bridge, and are now being offered at Saké The Rocks and Saké Double Bay.
There’s three gin bowls to choose from, all featuring Australian craft gin, and served with fresh botanicals and artisanal tonics. Your drink is made all pretty with things like dried strawberries, hibiscus and rosebuds. And these epic cocktails are served in a goblet-like glass, so you can get your nose right in there to sniff the flora.
So, if you need an excuse to visit this top Japanese joint (and for some unknown reason Saké’s unicornly-good dumplings and sushi ain’t enough), these gin bowls do a sufficient job.
My favourite gin bowl: Fruit of their Archery
The new Observatory Bar in Millers Point is LUXE
Continuing on the booze slinger theme, there’s a new bar in town and it shoots for the stars. The Observatory Bar – named after the nearby Sydney Observatory – is right at home tucked into the ground floor of the five-star Langham Sydney. It oozes opulence.
And the star-gazing theme continues throughout a cocktail menu that’s imaginative, unique and quite the magical adventure. I’m a big fan of The Neap Tide – a cocktail of wattleseed gin, finger lime, paperbark smoke and sea asparagus, topped with a Sydney Rock Oyster. I mean, there’s a fricken oyster on top of your drink!
Read more about Observatory Bar and some of Sydney’s other top new city bars here.
The Neap Tide and its infamous oyster
Izu Village Restaurant: a new(ish) hot pot haven in the Sydney CBD
Last month, Zomato invited me to check out Izu Village, a traditional Japanese hot pot restaurant in the Town Hall-end of Sydney’s CBD. An all-you-can-eat trip to Tokyo? Of course, I’m keen. But given the only thing I can cook is baked beans, sometimes fried eggs, I brought Jude along to do all the heavy-lifting at this DIY dinner.
You can read the full story of what happened here. But a condensed version would involve lots of delicate meats being dunked in a sizzling pot of broth, and an endless parade of sides, noodles, sushi platters and desserts. With broth splashed everywhere and a table bursting with colourful little dishes, our dinner at Izu Village Restaurant was a lot of fun. Here’s what it involved.
Winter calls for hot pot
Darlinghurst’s Rumpus Room swaps Italian for Malaysian
You might remember the cute little Italian bar Rumpus Room, found in the backstreets of Darlinghurst. Well it’s got new owners, a new menu and a new offering that’s really quite unique, as I recently discovered.
Confusingly, you can still order a carbonara and mushroom risotto at Rumpus Room, along with a handful of other Italian dishes. And a few Australian classics like fish and chips have also been thrown into the mix. But Rumpus Room’s new speciality is mostly Malaysian. That means, Sydney, we have a new spot for authentic sambal eggplant and beef rendang. Climb on board.
Read a full restaurant write-up on Rumpus Room here.
Beef rendang, with fragrant rice and pickled vegetables
The Smoking Panda launches a new classic cocktails menu
The Smoking Panda – you know, the tiny city bar tucked above Hotel Coronation on Park Street – has just launched a new drinks menu, and classic cocktails are the show-stealing star. There’s 15 carefully-curated cocktails to choose from, spanning signature, tiki and retro classics. Think Blue Lagoons, Sex on the Beach and Harvey Wallbangers.
You know the drill. You can keep reading about The Smoking Panda here.
And shit gets set on fire at The Smoking Panda
