Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Weekend eats in Sydney


The weekend before last, Tim and I spent a leisurely three day weekend in sunny Sydney.  The weather was blissfully warm during the day, with cold, crisp nights.  Having come from rainy, grey Melbourne, we really appreciated the contrast.

While in Sydney, we went to see the Swans play Fremantle in the AFL (it was a draw),  visited the Art Gallery of NSW to see the Archibald Prize exhibition, went on a free tour of Government House in the NSW Botanic Gardens, and went on the ferry to Manly.

We also ate lots of very good food.  At the top of this post is the Tiger from Harrys Café de Wheels at Woolloomooloo.  A Tiger is a pie topped with mashed potato, mashed peas and gravy.  The trick to eating it is to dig down through the gravy and mash into the top of the pie and let the gravy soak in before attempting to eat the pie.  This avoids gravy ending up everywhere.

Our next stop was to Laduree on Level 3 of Westfield in the CBD:



I had a skinny flat white coffee:


and Tim and I shared this plate of maracons - clockwise from top left - salted caramel, licorice, lime and basil and raspberry:


For me, the surprise hit was the tangy lime and basil.

My friend Karen introduced me to the gorgeous Coco Chocolate in Kirribilli:


The chocolate is not cheap, but it is exquisite.  I bought two blocks of chocolate ($9 each for 70g):


rose and ginger, and caramel, pine nut and sea salt:


Both were good, but I liked the caramel the best.

On a trip to Newtown to visit the Dr Who pop-up shop:


we stopped off for lunch at Thai Pothong:


For starters, we had the Thai fish cakes ($12.90 for 4 cakes):


These were scrumptious - sweet and sour sauce, peanuts, green beans, kaffir lime.

For main, Tim had his favourite - green curry with beef ($17.90):


And I had Pad Se Ew (flat rice noodles) with chicken and prawns ($17.90):


The serves were generous and the food was excellent.  The service was prompt, and the ambience was perfect in the large, open sunlit restaurant.

On our last day, we went for takeaway Mexican at Guzman y Gomez at Manly:



I ordered the Chicken Guerrero burrito (mild):


It was good, but I like Mad Mex better, where you can choose your own fillings instead of selecting from a set combination.

All in all, it was a great weekend.

Harrys Café de Wheels
Corner Cowper Wharf Roadway
& Brougham Road
Woolloomooloo NSW 2011
 
Laduree
Level 3, Westfield, 450 George St
Sydney NSW 2000
 
Coco Chocolate
Shop 12
3a-9b Broughton St
Kirribilli  NSW 2061
Thai Pothong
294 King Street
Newtown NSW 2042
 
Guman y Gomez
Shop 14, Manly Wharf,
East Esplanade
Manly NSW 2095
 

9 comments:

Kayte said...

Oh, I just love it when you go out and about and take photos! That first photo was so interesting with your description how to eat that all, I can see where it could get quite messy if you don't do it right. I have never seen anything like that...learn something new every time you go somewhere! I have never seen a licorice flavored cookie like that...I love licorice so I am trying to imagine how that would taste. Your chicken and prawn dinner looked excellent. Thanks for sharing your trip, always fun to read about it and see photos.

Cindy said...

Looks like a fun trip! I'd love to check out the Dr Who pop-up, and I'm more attracted to that Tiger than I'd like to admit. :-)

Kari said...

Oh, what a great trip! I'd love to try the lime and basil macaron and a pop up Doctor Who shop sounds wonderful. Ditto the chocolate shop ;)

Johanna GGG said...

I just wish there was a veg version of the tiger pie - looks great - maybe I just need to do one myself (when I have the time - ha ha) and the liquorice macaron sounds intriguing - glad you had a good weekend away

Anonymous said...

The licorice maccaroon sound tempting to try.....
lucky you, you've got a fun journey there...

Unknown said...

All of this looks so much better than the turkey sandwich I just had for lunch!!!! I forgot about the flat white coffee-time for a return trip to your neck of the woods-so lovely to visit and the food, oh my ;-)

Cakelaw said...

Johanna, you can get the tiger with the vego pie. Brilliant, hey!

Cindy said...

The Thai food made me hungry for some curry. The chocolate sounded yummy--looks like you had a wonderful weekend.

Anonymous said...

Great post! I was thinking it all looks familiar and I just realised it's here in Sydney! We go to Sky Gardens Yum Cha with the kids in Westfields on a regular basis. I love my weekends in Melbourne, it's great to get away and experience a different city!