MaestroSid's Profile
Selah [Sydney]
I agree. Along with Etch, Selah has become my restaurant of choice for a pre-show meal if I'm heading to the Opera House. It's so much better than all the tourist-trap restaurants around Circular Quay itself. (Although I am a fan of the new Sake Restaurant in the Rocks.)
BA - 4 nights
I'm heading to Buenos Aires in December for 4 nights and currently have bookings for:
* Sirop
* Crizia
* Resto
* Aramburu
Any feedback on these choices? I've been to BA before and previously dined at Thymus, Casa Felix, La Cabrera, Social Paraiso and Casa Cruz. Of these, I'm thinking I might try to go back to Social Paraiso for a lunch one day since I have very fond memories of it.
I keep hearing mixed things about Osaka. Has anyone been? Should I try to include it for a lunch or dinner?
What's good in Melbourne CBD?
As others have said, the Melbourne CBD is packed with wonderful places. You could stay for three weeks and still not eat your way through all the best ones. But here are my Top 5 for lunch and dinner in the CBD:
LUNCH
Cumulus Inc
Von Haus
Journal
Yu-U
The European
DINNER
Coda
Becco
Bar Lourinha
Gills Diner
Movida
All of these are reasonably affordable, but if you want to splash out one evening then my Top 5 splurges in the CBD would be:
SPLURGES
Vue de Monde
MoMo
Ezard
Taxi
Press Club
And personally, I'd skip Flower Drum for Chinese. The quality's gone downhill in recent years. The best Chinese in the CBD these days is at Idea Fine Food & Wine, and Supper Inn.
dining alone in Sydney
There are plenty of great places to eat alone. By location:
NEWTOWN / ENMORE
Guzman y Gomez - Mexican canteen
Emma's on Liberty - Lebanese
Carlisle Castle - pub grub
SURRY HILLS
Bodega - Spanish
Red Lantern - Vietnamese
Toko - Japanese
Mohr's Fish - seafood cafe
Spice I Am - Thai
Longrain - upmarket Thai
Billy Kwong - Chinese
Il Baretto - Italian
DARLINGHURST
Fish Face - seafood
Omerta - Italian wine bar
Lucio Pizzeria - pizza
sydney itinerary, looking for feedback
Oh, and in terms of Spice I Am... make sure you go to the Surry Hills one in Wentworth Ave. They don't take bookings, but if you get there before 6pm you should be fine. If that's too early, you could always try Longrain which is just nearby. The restaurant is quite expensive, but you can eat in the bar with their cheaper bar menu. Or otherwise you should try Red Lantern or Sugarcane - both in Surry Hills.
sydney itinerary, looking for feedback
Re. Quay, you should definitely ask for a window table, but you should get Opera House views from most seats in the restaurant.
I'd go for Zilver for yum cha. Like most Chinese restaurants, the decor's nothing special and it has quite an uninspiring entrance, but the food's terrific. And you should definitely make a reservation as they get extremely busy and crowded for yum cha.
At the Blue Mountains, Solitary, Darley's and Vulcans are probably the best restaurants - although a picnic's certainly not a bad option. The Mountain Goat Deli or the Blackheath Deli are both pretty good places to buy picnic provisions.
Mamak has delicious roti, but isn't really a restaurant - it's more a quick takeaway joint, although there are a few seats you can sit down on to eat. Definitely very cheap and delicious. The Malaya at King St Wharf (Darling Harbour) is a better bet if you're after a proper Malaysian restaurant.
I've never found good fish and chips at the fish markets - it's all pretty greasy, fried basic fast food. You'd be better off going nearby to Glebe Point Diner or The Boathouse at Blackwattle Bay. Flying Fish in Pyrmont is also really good, and from memory has a more casual outdoor bar where you can eat as well.
Melbourne itinerary, looking for feedback
A great lunch option in Melb is Cumulus Inc, run by the same people as Cutler & Co, but it's in the city's funkiest street Finders Lane and is open all day. Another great lunch option would be Journal Canteen, also in Flinders Lane, or Bistro Vue which is in Little Collins St. Or for a uniquely Melbourne lunch/dinner, check out Von Haus in Crossley Lane.
I'd advise against Pure South, since the Southbank precinct isn't really the nicest part of Melbourne. It's a little bit touristy. For a unique restaurant in the city/Fed Square area, I think you'd be far better off going to any of:
* MoMo
* Verge
* The Press Club
* Movida
* Taxi
Maha is very good too, but the new MoMo offers that same style of Moroccan/African food with much more flair and finesse. It just received a very good review in The Age newspaper. The Movida website is here:
http://www.movida.com.au/
As a general rule, I reckon dim sum/yum cha is better in Sydney - check out Golden Century, Marigold Citymark or Zilver for the best ones in Sydney's Chinatown.
Sydney - cheap dumpling places?
Say Bay Dumplings in Pitt St - outstanding and very cheap. Also worth venturing to Chinatown for the dumplings at Chinese Noodle Restaurant in Quay Sy - it's the closest we have to Camy, and Yee King in Sussex St is very good as well.
Melbourne itinerary, looking for feedback
I'd advise against Tjanabi. Admittedly I've never dined there, but very few locals do, and it does seem to be entirely geared at the tourist market. For a better fine dining experience at Fed Square, you'd be better off going to Taxi - or further along the road to Movida or Press Club. Even the restaurants along the river like Rockpool, Bistro Guillaume or Giuseppe Arnaldo & Sons would be a much safer bet.
Anada is Gertrude St is great fun and very tasty. And in the same street you should also see if you can get a booking at Cutler & Co which is the hottest new restaurant in Melb right now. Ladro is also well worth a look. I'd definitely recommend Gertrude St over anything in Lygon St. The best new restaurant in Carlton is probably Embrasse in Drummond St.
In the city/Chinatown area, you might want to check out Gingerboy, Longrain, Becco and Seamstress.
Victoria St in Richmond is quite fun and buzzy, but fairly basic. If you were looking for more interesting and/or upmarket places in Richmond, then you should try Pearl (one of Melb's best).
Hope you have a great trip!
Best Breakfast in Sydney?
Breakfast has become a big deal in Sydney. Some of the best I reckon are:
* Bird Cow Fish, Surry Hills
* Two Good Eggs, Surry Hills
* Spring, Potts Point
* Vinyl Lounge, Elizabeth Bay
* Swell, Bronte
And I second the earlier recommendation for Bathers' Pavilion
Need some advice for honeymoon Sydney/Melbourne
You couldn't really go wrong at either Quay or Aria, but Quay is generally considered to be the better of the two - indeed the best restaurant in the city. You should also consider Pier at Rose Bay - it has really lovely water views, but you won't see the Opera House or the Harbour Bridge. As others have mentioned, Icebergs has superb views at Bondi. Or you might like to try Otto at Wooloomooloo, or Pilu at Freshwater - at Freshwater Beach, about 25 mins out of town. The Wharf Restaurant is really lovely, but if you've got the money for Quay or Aria you should aim for that.
Definitely give the Lord Nelson and Din Tai Fung a miss (Lord Nelson can be nice for a beer, but there's no real reason to eat there.) For your second Sydney night, you'd be much better off going to Sean's Panaroma, Longrain, A Tavola, Spice Temple or Rockpool Bar & Grill. The Sydney Longrain is def better than the Melbourne one, although the Melb one is still very good.
In Melbourne, you should try at once to get into Cutler & Co in Fitzroy - absolutely superb. Otherwise there's Vue de Monde, The Press Club, Taxi, Cafe de Stasio, Cumulus Inc, Becco, MoVida or Bar Lourinha.
Have a great Honeymoon!
Sushi in Sydney
Uchi Lounge in Surry Hills is really good. And Wasavie in Paddington is well worth checking out as well, as is Toko in Paddington (also has branch in Surry Hills). Best of all possibly is Goemon in Mosman - this is a real find. And if you're wanting to splash out then you should definitely check out out Yoshii or Azuma in the city. Yoshii's the best Japanese restaurant in Sydney. And I'd echo earlier comments for Fish Face, sushi-e and Sushi Choo.
Los Angeles Chowhounder visiting Sydney in March
You should have a great time dining out in Sydney. Longrain and Universal are both really good suggestions - Longrain doesn't take bookings for dinner, but there's a great bar you can wait in until a table comes up. Other unique or quintessential Sydney restaurants to seek out are:
* Quay
* Pier
* Iceberg's
* Billy Kwong (no bookings)
* Bentley Bar & Restaurant
* Sean's Panaroma
* China Doll
* Spice Temple
* Harry's Singapore Chilli Crab
* Wharf Restaurant
Sydney & Melbourne - what is new and well regarded?
Some good suggestions posted above. To add to your list of great new places in both cities...
SYDNEY
A Tavola - Darlinghurst
Etch - City
Glebe Point Diner - Glebe
Mille Vini - Surry Hills
Uccello - City
Pendolino - City
Light Brigade - Woollahra
Restaurant Arras - Walsh Bay
Spice Temple - City
(I dined at the new Spice I Am restaurant in Darlo recently and it wasn't a particularly smooth experience. The service was incredibly uneven and the food, while good, is overpriced given you can get the same flavours for half the price in their original Surry Hills joint. Admittedly I was there in their first week, so things on the service front may have picked up since then.)
MELBOURNE
Cumulus Inc - City
Seamstress - City
Gill's Diner - City
Bistro Guillaume - Southbank
Anada - Fitzroy
Giuseppe, Arnaldo & Sons - Southbank
Church St Enoteca - Richmond
Maha - City
Have a great trip!
Looking for resturants-Sunshine Coast
I'd recommend Alegria at Sunshine Beach, as well as Berardo's, River House and Ricky's River Bar + Restaurant at Noosa. Spirit House isn't bad either. But River House and Berardo's are definitely the top drawcards.
10 days in South Australia - seeking recommendations please!
Star of Greece definitely deserves its hype - great food in a beautiful location. Completely worthwhile I reckon. I was in Adelaide for a few nights recently and had great meals at Farina Kitchen & Bar, Enoteca Cucina, Auge and Mesa Lunga.
Best fish and chips in Sydney ?
The best fish and chips in Sydney is definitely at Fish Face in Darlinghurst - you can eat in or takeaway. But if you want a place that's by the beach, then my tip would be Bottom of the Harbour at Balmoral Beach in Mosman. In the Bondi area, you can't really go past Fishmongers. But here's a link to a few others:
http://www.timeoutsydney.com.au/restaurants/sydneys-best-fish-and-chips.aspx
One night in Sydney
I'm pretty sure that Pier has closed its Tasting Room section, but you could still eat in the main restaurant. Personally I would recommend Fish Face in Darlinghurst - it's perfect for solo diners because you sit up on the little bench tops. The quality's also just as good as Pier or Flying Fish, but for half the price. They only take bookings before 7pm - after that you just have to rock up and try your luck, but there's a pub nearby to wait in if there's not a table straight away. I can thoroughly recommend it. And personally, I'd steer clear of Tetsuyas - definitely not a solo place.
Help Me Narrow My BA List
I think you can definitely skip Casa Cruz and Tomo 1 - Casa Cruz is worth popping into for a drink, but in terms of food you could probably do better. Resto is fabulous. La Cabrera WAS full of tourists (mostly American) when I was there, but the steaks are pretty amazing so it doesn't really matter. For a more local parilla you could try La Dorita De Enfrente in Palermo Hollywood.
My other top recommendations would be Thymus and Casa Felix.
Sydney post-wedding dinner Sunday Night. Help.
Okay, having faced the Sunday night dilemma more than a few times myself, I've now committed to memory all the best places that are open. In terms of a Movida/Gill vibe I'd suggest the following:
* Circular Quay - Pony's your best option here, but you could probably do better by getting out of the city area.
* Surry Hills - you've got three excellent options in Pizza e Birra, Mille Vini and Billy Kwong. None of them take bookings, but they'll let you have a drink until a table comes up. At the first two, you should get a table okay if you get there by 7pm. Billy Kwong tends to be packed by 6pm. Mille Vini's certainly one of the coolest new places in Sydney, and has a very Melbourne feel about it.
* Paddington - the earlier suggestion of Bistro Moncur is a good one, but the other great pub restaurants in this area are the Four in Hand and the Grand National. They're both better priced than Moncur, but with equally good food - especially Four in Hand.
* East Sydney - Time to Vino is a great little wine bar/restaurant that's open on Sundays.
* City - the new Ivy complex in the city boasts four restaurants, the best of which is Uccello which is open on Sundays, and I'm pretty sure you can book. At $40+ mains it's probably a bit more expensive than the others I've mentioned.
Congrats on your marriage, and have a great honeymoon.
Leaving in 2 wks for Honeymoon in Australia - need restaurant advice!
Congrats on your marriage. There are some good tips emerging on this thread. To add my own voice to the Melbourne discussion, I'd definitely skip Flower Drum and instead aim for:
* Vue de Monde
* Interlude
* Three One Two
* The Press Club
* Becco
* Bistro Guillaume
And in Sydney, you can safely skip Rockpool (it's recently downgraded to become a fish bistro). Tetsuya's is amazing but can be hard to get into. Safer bets might include:
* Quay
* Pier
* Aria
* A Tavola
* Icebergs Restaurant
Longrain and Billy Kwong are both fantastic, but you can't book. You'd need to be there by 6pm to be certain of a table, otherwise they'll make you wait in the bar. Est, Becasse, Claudes and Marque are also each superb, but the ones I've listed above all have better atmosphere I reckon (and all of them, except A Tavola, have wonderful water views). And don't panic at all about going to Surry Hills a lot. It's incredibly close to the city, and is actually where most of the city's best eateries are these days. Enjoy your honeymoon!
Copenhagen - any tips?
Have just returned, and can report that Ida Davidsen is very much still open. I had a lunch there which wasn't too bad, but the real finds of my trip were:
* Les Trois Cochons
* Den Anden
* Vespa
* Cofoco
* Luns Restaurant
Copenhagen can be a terrifying expensive place to eat, but the above restaurants all offered outstanding meals at tolerable prices - compared to some of the more renowned places like Noma, Paustian, Geranium or Formel B. I'm sure those places are amazing, but you'll need to take out a bank loan to pay the bill.
Sydney - quest for authentic Australian eats
There are still a couple of places in Sydney that serve "bush tucker":
* Deep Blue Bistro (Coogee)
* Wolfie's Grill (The Rocks)
I haven't dined at either, but Deep Blue Bistro is reportedly the better of the two, and much better value. Wolfie's tends to be a bit of a tourist trap. As others have said, Australia doesn't really have its own native cuisine. "Bush tucker" is essentially a novelty type of cuisine invented for tourists. Since we're a very young country, and multicultural as well, we've tended to take the best of every other nation's cuisine to form what is usually called Modern Australian. If you're eating solo, the best places in Syd for "Mod Oz" are probably:
* Pier Tasting Room (Rose Bay)
* Pony Lounge and Dining (The Rocks)
* Bills (Surry Hills)
* Lotus (Potts Point)
* Element Bistro (City)
* Moncur Terrace (Woollahra)
* Fish Face (Darlinghurst)
* Strangers with Candy (Redfern)
Many pubs now also have good Mod Oz dining rooms attached, where it's quite common to see solo diners. You could try the Tilbury Hotel, the Centennial or the Bellevue.
Honeymoon in Oz
For casual/hip places in Sydney, it's pretty hard to go past Surry Hills these days:
* Bodega - for tapas
* Billy Kwong - for Asian
* Toko - for Japanese
* Pizza e Birra - for pizza/Italian
* Red Lantern - for Vietnamese
* Longrain - for Thai
In Darlinghurst/Potts Point, you might also want to check out:
* A Tavola - for Italian
* Onde - French bistro
* Fish Face - seafood
* Universal - Modern Australian
* Lotus - Modern Australian
* Cafe Sopra - for Italian
Who does the best fish n' chips in Sydney?
Definitely Fish Face in Darlinghurst - absolutely superb. Sea Cow in Paddington isn't too bad either. And Bottom of the Harbour at Balmoral Beach is great if you're prepared to endure the queue.
Copenhagen - any tips?
I'm heading to Copenhagen for 4 nights next week, and know virtually nothing about the city's dining scene? Anyone have some tips for some good quality casual bistros or restaurants?
Paris: Anyone eaten at Racines?
It's mainly a wine bar - and an organic wine bar at that - but they do serve a limited range of meals that are quite tasty, using very good produce. If you were looking for a proper restaurant experience, I'd go elsewhere - but it's definitely a nice place to pop into for a drink and a snack.
Buenos Aires Cafe -- Palermo
Couple of good Palermo options spring to mind:
* Mark's Deli and Coffee Bar, El Salvador 4701 (corner of Armenia)
* Malas Artes, Honduras 4999 (right on Plaza Serrano)
* La Boutique del Libro , Thames 1762
This last one is a fantastic bookshop with a cafe out the back where you can sit all day and read if you wish to. All of those are within easy walking distance of where you're staying, and should be open in the morning.
Sydney Food Itinerary
The best dumpling places in Chinatown are:
* Yee King Noodles, 408 Sussex St
* Chinese Noodle Restaurant, 8 Quay St
* Sea Bay Chinese Dumplings, 372 Pitt St
Golden Century's probably the best of the big restaurants there, and I personally still really like BBQ King (esp late at night) but it's no longer the bargain place it once was. It's not expensive by Sydney standards, and the crispy skin chicken is amazing.
Outside of Chinatown, Rockpool and Longrain aren't going to be kind to your budget. For good value local favourites that aren't on the tourist trail, I'd be pointing you towards:
* Onde - Darlinghurst
* Spice I Am - Surry Hills
* Strangers with Candy - Redfern
* Red Lantern - Surry Hills (has good pho bo)
* Fish Face - Darlinghurst
* Pizza Mario - Surry Hills
* Wasavie - Paddington
As for Bills, there are now three separate outlets in Darlo, Woollahra and Surry Hills. Personally I think there are better places to go, but I suppose it's a bit of an institution to have brekky at the one in Darlo. But the Surry Hills one is probably a better bet for dinner. Enjoy your trip!
Melbourne. Solo. Dinner. $50. Where?
Go to Bar Lourinha on Little Collins - it's a fantastic tapas bar on Little Collins where everyone sits on stools around the bar so you'd blend right in dining alone. They don't take bookings, but if you got there by 7pm you should be okay.
