Review : Hartsyard

33 Enmore Road

Newtown

8068 1473

e: hello@hartsyard.com.au

Mon-Tues : Closed

Wed-Sun : 5.30pm till late

I know, I know we are very late in coming to the table on this one - seems every blogger & reviewer has been here before us & pretty much said it all.

So why you may ask, are we even bothering with this blog entry?  Because the food at Hartsyard is so good & we want to shout it from the rooftops, that's why.

Truth be told, we have had our table booked for a couple of weeks - as soon as we looked at the menu and read 'fried chicken' and 'poutine' we were in.

So we arrive on this ultra cold Saturday evening to a restaurant that is warm  and very inviting

The room has been designed by Ashley Couch and what a great job she has done. We love the industrial aesthetic & have stolen a few ideas for our new apartment!

Review : Glass Brasserie

Glass Brasserie
Level 2,
488 George Street,
Sydney

Tel: (02) 9265-6068


Mon-Sun 6pm - late


So after our fabulous breakfast at Glass Brasserie, we decide to return for dinner and then a night at the Hilton
We have been needing a little time out - what with our current rental being up for sale and the endless open homes. Yep, time for a little relaxation.


We arrive at the Hilton and settle into our room at around 3.30pm. It is a cold, wet, miserable Sydney day and the first thing we notice is how cold our room is.   
A quick check of the air-con tells us the room should be a pleasant 22 degrees - not so, the room is freezing. 
We try to up the ante on the air-con, but it seems stuck at 22 degrees - a quick call to reception is no help, they offer blankets - come on this is the Hilton - we don't want blankets!  So we shiver for the next hour or so. 
Another call to reception results in an engineer coming to our room - he can't seem to sort out the problem either.
We head down to dinner hoping the air-con situation will be sorted by the time we return.

Review : Bar Mattino - Sunday Roast

96 Abercrombie Street
Chippendale

Ph: 9699 1442
e: barmattino@aol.com

Mon - Fri: 07:00 - 17:00

Sun: 08:00 - 16:00

It is no secret how much we love Bar Mattino - it is our favourite cafe, hands down.

Regulars for breakfast, we have only popped in for the Sunday Roast on a couple of occasions.
Recently we stopped by for the Roast Lamb & the Roast Chicken (both massive and equally spectacular) - but today we are here for the king of roasts, that's right The Mighty Roast Beef!

Review : the corner house

281 Bondi Rd
Bondi

02 80206698
info@thecornerhouse.com.au
Facebook
Twitter

Tues-Sat 5pm - midnight
Sun 5pm - 10pm

After our fabulous lunch at Panama House, it just stood to reason that we needed to visit its (big) sister restaurant - the corner house.
So thanks (again) to Nat from Folke & boys from the corner house - we are heading out this Wednesday evening to do just that.

The corner house is situated just down the road from Panama House, in a space formerly occupied by Castile Pizza.

We are seated in the front section of the restaurant overlooking Bondi Rd, we snuggle into our corner bench, enveloped by the warmth of the room.

Now, prior to our visit we had read Simon Thomsen's review, with all it's talk of hip, young things & music loud enough to rival a rock concert - well not tonight.
Tonight, it is blissfully quiet & relaxing - sure there is the odd 'hip, young thing', but there are also families enjoying a night out. Tonight it has the feel of an up market 'local' - somewhere for family & friends to come together and enjoy great food and wine. 

Review : Hilton Breakfast (Glass Brasserie)

Hilton Sydney
Glass Brasserie
Level 2,
488 George Street,
Sydney

Tel: (02) 9265-6068

monday - friday 6am - 10am

saturday - sunday 7am - 11am


As anyone familiar with our blog knows, breakfast is one of our favourite meals. So when Lorna O'Neill (many thanks Lorna!), from Hilton Sydney invited us to sample Executive Chef Carl Middleton's new breakfast menu - well, it was hard for us to say no.
Carl's resume is very impressive. Coming to the Hilton fresh from his stint as Group Executive Chef, Lilianfels Spa & Resort, he headed the kitchen at Darley's where he achieved a Good Food Guide Chef's Hat back in 2011.
Middleton's new role at Hilton Sydney, also sees him taking responsibility for hotel dining, Zeta Bar, Marble Bar, Caffe Cino, in-room dining and events.

Prior to Lilianfels, Middleton served as Executive Chef at the Four Seasons in Sydney where he oversaw all hotel dining as well as the hotel’s restaurant, Kable’s. Middleton has also worked as Senior Sous Chef at Quay.

Review : Mad Spuds Cafe

479 Crown Street
Surry Hills

Ph: 02 9698 8108
E:info@madspuds.com.au
Facebook


Mon closed
Tues-Sat 8am-6pm
Sun 9am-6pm

We are a bit perplexed as to how a cafe going by the name of "Mad Spuds", has escaped our attention for so long.
Buggles and I are long-term lovers of the humble spud - and are constanly on the search for inspired potato offerings.

So finally having heard about Mad Spuds (thanks to them following us on twitter), we quickly decide a visit is in order - and soon.

According to the cafe website, Mad Spuds sources their organic potatoes from Robertson, NSW. The potatoes are grown in rich red volcanic soil, and watered from natural springs and are an excellent source of fibre, low in fat and the skin is rich in vitamins and minerals - you don't need to convince us!!

So this Saturday morning as we awake with a craving for a spuddy breakfast, we make our way to Mad Spuds Cafe.

Review : Panama House

251 Bondi Road
Bondi

Ph: 93650839
Facebook

7 days 7am til late


My old stomping ground of Bondi is not an area we visit nearly as often as we should. The dining landscape has changed dramatically and it really is a suburb we need to be paying a lot more attention to.

Panama House is one of newer establishments to hit the Bondi Road strip and what a welcome addition it is.

Brought to us by the chaps behind 'shop & wine bar' and 'the corner house' - Panama House endeavours to take us on a culinary journey through Central & South America with a stopover in Mexico, on our way to good ol' Southern USA.

Review : The Union

Union Lane
(opposite Union Road Car Park)
Penrith

02 4721 4501

Wed-Sat 5pm - late

We have been wanting to visit Ross Dobson's relatively new eatery The Union for a while now - so after a visit with our very cute new nephew, we decide to do just that.

We manage to score a table for the first sitting at 5.30pm.

Armed with our GPS we manage to find the restaurant relatively easily. Accessed via a carpark, you climb the stairs & enter a warm and inviting room - sort of Penrith via Newtown. 

Once seated, we order some drinks and check out the blackboard menu. The menu is extensive & choosing is difficult. It is also very reasonably priced, with the most expensive dish around the $19.50 mark.

Review : Rockpool

107 George Street

The Rocks

612 9252 1888


enquire@rockpool.com.au
reservations@rockpool.com

Lunch Friday & Saturday
Dinner Tuesday to Saturday


It has been many, many years since we last dined at Rockpool. It was certainly before it’s ‘renovation’ and long before we started this blog. We have visited both Rockpool Bar & Grill and Spice Temple many times, yet we have never made it back to Rockpool.


We both still talk about the highlights of that meal. For me it was the ‘Best ever bacon and egg sandwich’; individual components of that dish escape me now, but the flavour and its impact on my emerging palate will never be forgotten. I long to sample that dish again.


For Buggles the highlight was the Passionfruit Souffle, finished at the table with a generous pour of a lush, passionfruit sauce, or was it an anglaise? She can't remember... she just recalls it as one her best dining experiences.


It was this first visit to Rockpool, along with an earlier visit to MG Garage (it was the fanciness of the mini table cloth carpet sweeper that had us agog on that occasion!) that set us on this fine dining adventure…..and we haven’t looked back since.

Review: Ms G's

155 Victoria Street
Potts Point

8313 1000

Lunch

Friday 12pm - 3pm
Sunday 1pm - 5pm


Dinner
Monday to Saturday 5pm – 11pm

During the holidays we like to pretend that we are ladies of leisure and have established the 'ladies who lunch' group with Squeak's big sis and her two lovely daughters, H & A. Past visits have seen us frequent Quay, Bistro Moncur, Manu at L'Etoile and District Dining.  Impressed with our 'taste' of the place at the recent 'March Into Merivale's 'Milkbar Memories', we decide to head in to Ms G's to sample the regular menu.

We, once again, are impressed by the decor - eclectic, cool and raw. Seated at the back with views towards the city we peruse the drinks menu.