Vividly Chandon @ love.fish Barangaroo

May 23, 2019May 23, 2019Leave a comment

Right down near the wharf at Barangaroo, it’s an area where it’s easy to catch a ferry, check out the Sydney nightlife and enjoy a meal at the waters edge.

love.fish is a seafood restaurant located at this Barangaroo precinct. It is a casual eatery and has a superb menu celebrating Australia’s quality seafood options. Simple food prepared extraordinarily well.

During the Vivid light display, love.fish have collaborated with Chandon to create an intimate pop-up bar to celebrate. Fitting with the light concept, they have created a range of cocktails, sparkling with bubbles and colour!

They have put together a couple of super interesting cocktails featuring Chandon, including:

GOLDEN WATTLE: Chandon Blanc de Blancs, marionette apricot brandy, castanga Bianca, cucumber and cardamom

LILY PILY: a cosmic royal blend of Chandon S bitter orange, marionette blackberry liquor, Seppeltsfield apera, and a splash of cranberry

DESERT ROSE: a delicious citrus bouquet, floral notes created with Chandon brut rose, marionette orange curaçao, maidenii, sweet vermouth, grapefruit lemon thyme

All the drinks feature a bright lit up swizzle stick in keeping with the VIVID theme.

You can grab a meal from love.fish, whether it be a bunch of snacks which the pop up bar serves or you can have food from the full menu too. We enjoyed oysters, tuna crudo on a betel leaf, salt and pepper calamari and wild red spot crispy whiting and chips over a few of the above mentioned drinks.

A great place to get quality food, refreshing drinks and check out the VIVID lights

We recommend arriving around to take in the sunset before the light show starts. We hope you enjoy!

LOVE.FISH

7/23 Barangaroo Ave

Wulugul Walk

Barangaroo NSW 2000

* images – pushplay media

Sydney Vegan Tours

April 13, 2019April 14, 20192 Comments

Sydney Vegan Tours has just started up in Sydney after having success in Melbourne. The Vegan community in Sydney are growing and it’s great to get an insight into restaurants and stores available in Sydney for Vegan diners to find some delicious food options.

Sydney Vegan Tours are offering tours in different locations, beginning with the tour we experienced in Glebe. For $89, they take you to a few places including the Cruelty Free store and three different food locations. It’s super great value for a lovely day out and the opportunity to try different foods and meet new people.

The meeting place was at the Cruelty Free shop on Glebe Point Road. It’s a great meeting spot, whilst you wait for people to arrive you can look around at what the shop has to offer and even buy yourselves a few things. They have over 3500 vegan and cruelty free products including cooking ingredients, ice cream, snack food, sweets and even pet food. The store also sells Vegan make-up, shoes by Birkenstock and Doc Martins as well as a range of handbags. It really opens you eyes to a great range of products all in the one location.

Meeting the group is easy since the guide Sarah (and on this occasion Dan as well) is there in the Sydney Vegan tours T-shirt. We also receive a environmentally friendly shopping bag, some products (Vegan Aioli by Dibble and Bennetto chocolate) and some fact sheets to read through. We also hear about the tour for the day and are our way.

A walking tour is great to explore an area and get a sense of the amazing stores and cafes around, whilst also meeting many like minded people and hearing a range of life experiences. We really enjoyed this aspect of it.

We walked down Glebe point road where we pass a few Vegan places (not on this tour, but incorporated into some of them) and head into Victoria Park (cnr Broadway and ) in the Sydney University surrounds. We make our first cafe visit to the Gardeners Lodge cafe. In and old historic building, it has been converted into a Plant based cafe, boasting a wide range of Vegan items from cakes to sandwiches and even pastas. This comes to us from the famed ‘Gigis’ superstar chefs.

Here we begin with a coffee of our choosing, espressos, cold brews, hot chocolate or turmeric latte if that’s your preference. Coffee beans by Flying Pig Coffee.

Whilst we wait for our mains, the lovely staff bring us some Vegan cheese and Charcoal crackers which was polished off pretty quickly! So good you wouldn’t know the difference.

We the quickly polished off a few panini, our favourites were the oyster mushroom with raddicio and vegan blue cheese on a crispy sourdough. We also loved the schnitzel (plant based) roll with avo, lettuce, tomato and vegan mayo.

The next stop on the journey was to Salts Meats Cheese. You would not expect this place to be Vegan, however they have an amazing all you can eat pizza and pasta Vegan menu at $20 pp with any drink purchase. They had some amazing pizzas using Vegan Cheese! There are plenty of plenty of pizzas available. We enjoyed the eggplant pizza, the Patatufo with ‘not-Zarella’, roasted potato, rosemary, truffle, garlic as well as the Zucca – pumpkin purée, crispy capers, and walnuts.

They also have pastas on the menu such as the Rigatoni All’Arrabita, Linguine Al Funghi – vegan cream, mushroom and roasted hazlenuts, Rigatoni Alla Norma – not-Zarella, eggplant, napolitana as well as Seasonal Linguine – napolitana, broccolini, cherry tomatoes, basil, pangrattato. We didn’t have pasta on this visit but it’s good to know it’s available.

After this we took a walk down Ambercrombie street to Something for Jess Cafe. It’s an eclectic little place, quite rustic in its styling. We like that they have art for sale on the wall, showcasing local artists, with some money being raised for charity.

Food wise they have a weekly menu change with their fritters and we tried mini zucchini fritters with salad and sweet potato. We tried some amazing cakes – the apple and cinnamon bread was phenomenal!!

After this stop the tour finished and we thanked the hosts for a wonderful day. We thoroughly recommend this to meet new people and find yourself introduced to new Vegan stores to visit.

Use booking code TWT for 20% off your next booking on a tour

Sydney Vegan Tours

sydneyvegantours.com

Thai Thae – Hurstville

April 12, 2019April 21, 2019Leave a comment

Only a short 2 min walk from Hurstville station is Thai Thae. A causal thai eatery with a huge kitchen and fully stocked bar.

Not your run of the mill thai restaurant, the menu boasts authentic thai with Bangkok street dishes, showcasing a huge menu of with interesting entree additions and also some chefs recommendations for the mains. If you’re coming with a group, they also have a few different banquets.

The head chef Nikon trained under the winner of Iron Chef Thailand, Chumpon Jangprai, so he certainly knows his flavour combinations.

For the entree we had curry puffs, as well as one of their signature dishes, one of our favourites was the duck larb, a lovely combo or shredded roast duck tossed with Larb served on Chinese cabbage. It had a nice flavour kick to it.

We also really liked the Roast Duck Curry and whole steamed barramundi with lime, chilli and ginger.

We ordered a few extra things including a green curry and satay stir fry! Both were generous serves.

Drinks wise, they do serve alcoholic drinks as well as a great range of mocktails and juices. We loved the lychee mocktail and virgin mojito.

We finished off with a rice pudding topped with strawberries.

The staff here were kept busy with lots of customers and were friendly in all interactions.

Thai Thae

1/33 Macmahon st, Hurstville 2220

(02) 8971 0797

Page Two, Randwick

April 3, 2019April 4, 2019Leave a comment

We were, for many years, locals in Randwick. It’s a super busy place with so many people around due to its proximity to the hospital, UNSW and racecourse. There’s lots of shops, restaurants and cafes. It’s often hard to select where to eat. Page Two cafe has popped up on the brunch and lunch scene, on Belmore Road. What is so nice about this cafe is, that whilst there are plenty of seats indoors, they have a beautiful little outdoor space with a garden at the back, and decorated with hanging colourful umbrellas from the roof.

We were greeted warmly by staff and welcomed to the cafe. We chose to sit in the outdoor garden and we were given some menus to decide. We made our selection, taking three dishes to share. It was lunchtime so we decided to have two salads and a salmon crostini to share. This came atop a slice of sourdough, topped with avocado, capers, dill, red onion, cream cheese, lemon and balsamic glaze.

For the salads, we had the ‘healthy salad’ with spinach, kale, avocado, poached eggs, quinoa, pumpkin, beetroot and hummus.

Our favourite was definately the poached chicken soba salad with lotus crisps and sesame dressing.

They use in house made beans for their coffees and also sell shakes, leaf tea, and freshly squeezed juice. We tried the Tropicana; watermlon, mint and pineapple which was very refreshing.

Pop in for an easy and reasonably priced menu. There’s all day brekkie on offer too.

Page Two cafe

Address: 122 Belmore Rd, Randwick, New South Wales 2031

Phone: (02) 9399 6294

Hours: Monday – Friday: 6:30am-5:00pm

Saturday – Sunday: 6:00am-5:00pm

Website: http://page-two-cafe-coffee-shop.business.site/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Page-Two-799338696917425/

Ampersand Bookstore and cafe

March 28, 20191 Comment

As you walk down Oxford St, Sydney in Paddington, you’ll find yourself passing by Ampersand cafe & bookstore. Make sure you step inside.

Downstairs, it looks like a familiar cafe, with indoor and outdoor seating, but make sure you head upstairs in one of the three levels and find a seat amongst the floor to ceiling bookshelves.

Set into three rooms, consisting of books aplenty, organised into their themes with comfortable seating, this is somewhere you could absolutely sit for hours. Order your food at the front, and it will be delivered to you as you immerse yourself in the books.

Whilst it is only a small menu, the food is interesting and they also have some daily salads, sandwiches and pastry goods.

A couple of options using black rice, we chose the brekky bowl with Bircher and sticky black rice with figs, cinnamon and fresh fruits. We really liked this as it was quite different to your normal Bircher.

French toast is an option, baked or poached eggs and smoked salmon is on the menu but we opted for a familiar favourite – the eggs Benedict with crispy bacon and creamy hollandaise.

We were hungry so we also shared one of the fresh Reuben Bagels. It was filled with a super flavoursome pastrami, cheese and sauerkraut and this was the winner on the day.

For those wanting lunch, there’s a burger, steak sandwich and even a black risotto or polenta chips.

Coffee is by Little Marionette and the mocha was a good drop, complete with Lindt chocolate. We also had a cold drip which we certainly enjoyed. Smoothies and teas are also available.

Pop in for a nice meal and a good read.

The Observatory Bar @ The Langham, Sydney

February 23, 2019Leave a comment

The swanky new bar, located in the heart of Millers Point, on the lower level of the Langham Sydney has opened up as a lounge bar, serving up some amazing cocktails with clever flavour combinations. Themed with a basis on nature and Australian ingredients, the Observatory Bar is not your run of the mill cocktail bar.

This bar is not just for hotel guests, rather a sophisticated space to come as a bar destination for those looking for some quality drinks.

The setting is intimate and the decor is inspired, with a classy bar vibe featuring astronomy themed furniture. The space has velvet chairs, ottomans and plush lounges. Floor to ceiling bookshelves with art and stocked bar trolleys, they’ve done a great job keeping to the theme.

We enjoyed a few special cocktails prepared by skilled Melbourne bartender, Jimmy Burchett, who took over the bar for the evening, with his charismatic and hip personality, serving up some incredible cocktails along with the bar’s signature serves.

Jimmy made his cocktails, whilst narrating the story behind each one, which was thoroughly appreciated.

We tried the BAYSIDE – an oceanic twist to the Southside, this drink features Cedar Fox Dry Gin, sea vegetables, river mint, Strangelove Hot Ginger Beer topped with a vanilla and cucumber foam.

The NOT ON TAP is a dairy free and bourbon shake featuring Bulleit 10 Year old American Whiskey, IPA reduction, Chartreuse Yellow. almond Milk, peanut butter and ripened banana. Sort of like an alcoholic shake!

IN THE MOMENT was a beautiful cocktail to sit and sip on with the Cedar Fox dry gin, dry sake, Imbruglio, lemon oil and spritzed. We loved the kick to this.

If cocktails aren’t your thing, there’s an exclusive and varied wine and rare spirit list to choose from.

The food menu has an emphasis on sharing, perfect to order a few to accompany your drink. These treats are delectable and we very much enjoyed their take on a Saganaki cheese on a crudo, flavoured with slipsmith gin, honey and thyme. We also had the mini wagyu tacos and caviar topped sour cream, shallot and chive donuts.

We enjoyed our visit to the Observatory Bar in the Langham and would like to thank all staff for the hospitality provided. Thank you also to 3 degrees marketing for extending the invitation.

Observatory Bar

The Langham Sydney

89-113 Kent Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia

T 61 (2) 9256 2222

E tlsyd.info@langhamhotels.com

The Alexandra Hotel – Leura

February 21, 2019February 23, 20192 Comments

Fancy a getaway only 1.5 hours away from the Sydney CBD in the picturesque town of Leura? Look no further as we have the tips for you!

It’s hard to visit Leura without spending a small fortune, as there’s a number of extremely expensive lodgings and restaurants in the town and surrounds. However, we will point you to somewhere that is extremely good value for money at high quality.

The Alexandra hotel, established 1903 is the only licensed hotel in Leura and a short stroll from the mall. It is an old quaint boutique building with ornate trims and stained glass windows.

The hotel is sectioned off into a number of areas, with a sports bar and lounge bar (with floor to ceiling bookshelf). There’s also plenty of space for a party or function.

There is also plenty of outdoor space to enjoy.

The hotel is right beside Leura train station, but the noise isn’t obvious at all. The hotel aptly has has a railway theme to it, with the outdoor bar in the beer garden called “platform 3”, and a Leura Rail sign featuring in the dining room.

We also stayed in the hotel. It was a comfortable heritage room with vintage furniture, double bed and modern bathroom. The rooms have old world charm with some modern convenience including the addition of a/c and tv. The room opens onto a balcony with a nice outlook of the hotel’s backyard beer garden and out to the valley below.

The hotel is a great spot to dine, whether it be lunch or dinner, pull up a stump at either of the two beer gardens for a causal vibe or for proper sit down meal book a table in the dining room, named “Redfern Bistro”.

There’s something for everyone, casual food including burgers and pizzas, with the pizzas made in the wood fired oven in a traditional manner by Marco Marano.

The summer menu, prepared by chef Anna Borna features modern Australian gastro pub food, beautifully cooked and presented.

We were seated in the dining room and ordered a glass of bubbles.

Their Garlic bread made on a house baked baguette and is topped with melted garlic and parsley butter an ideal start to the meal.

This came out with the confit mushrooms dish, a tasty vegetarian opttion. Pan fried portobello and button mushrooms cooked in olive oil with rosemary and lemon with feta, almond and coriander dukkah (gf).

Other entrees on offer include oysters, pate, calamari and baked haloumi.

For the mains, the Pan roasted duck breast instantly piqued our interest. The meat was cooked to perfection, skin nicely seasoned, served with duck fat potatoes and rustic heirloom carrots. It’s accompanying home made Peking duck citrus sauce was brilliant and kept us searching the plate for more of it.

From specials board, we couldn’t go past the pan fried and seared ocean trout. This was a splendid fish dish, the skin salted, nicely rendered and crisp. The flesh was perfect; a lovely pink orange hue, flakey and melt in the mouth followed by the beautiful flavour of the fish. The sauce was a delicious combination of smoked paprika dill and grapefruit veloute, served with roasted potatoes, charred leeks, broad beans, peas and cherry tomatoes. Perfect Bistro fare and one of the better fish dishes that come to mind, highly recommended.

Whilst we were extremely satisfied at this point, we had to go with the dessert option on the specials menu, the banana spilt. Here it is the classic dessert that has been pimped up with two bananas, deep fried in a Moreish crisp salty batter. This has been placed atop a butterscotch sauce and served with vanilla bean ice cream. So tasty, it was irresistible .

It is worth driving up to the Blue Mountains for the charm of this beautiful old pub alone and the scenery in the area is an added bonus.

The Alexandra Hotel is well located a short stroll from the boutique town of Leura and a short drive to the tourist sights in the area. Book a room and make for a short getaway.

We would like to thank the Alexandra hotel and staff for their hospitality and Spooning Australia for the invitation to dine.

https://www.alexandrahotel.com.au

Agrarian Kitchen – Tasmania

February 18, 2019February 20, 2019Leave a comment

We went to the Agrarian Kitchen after visiting Mona (Museum of Old and New art). From one quirky establishment to another, Agrarian Kitchen has set up in an ex mental asylum and this time we were committed. The fit out was impressive, keeping many of the original ornate features and sprucing them up.

The dining room had plenty of natural light and a good playlist contributing to a great dining atmosphere.

Once seated, it didn’t even register what this building previously housed. The service here was impressive from the start, with many of the waitstaff greeting us on the way in and showing genuine enjoyment for the restaurant.

They weren’t without error, but dealt with the situation well. An incorrect dessert, which cannot entirely be attributed to the waitstaff, as there was two puddings on the menu. This worked out in our favour as we were rewarded with an extra dessert F.O.C.

With an emphasis on fresh, seasonal and local ingredients, with staff foraging the restaurant garden for ingredients. Each dish was presented nicely with an emphasis on sharing. The flavours and textures of each dish were very notable.

There were plenty of potatoes on offer around town, the Agrarian utilising this ingredient for their potato scallops/cakes, which had a nice crisp batter, and each scallop had a slice of locally sourced potato which they served with a tasty house made tomato sauce.

The pear, prosciutto and stracchiatella was beautifully presented, and a nice cool dish for summer. This dish had a great combination of flavours the sweetness of the fruit, saltiness of the prosciutto and creamy texture of the stracchiatella.

The farmer’s cheese dumpling was a singular pastel yellow in colour, with a souffle like texture with zucchini, olive and parmesan adding a good hit of flavour.

The pick of the bunch was the half wood smoked duck to share. The duck itself was tasty enough on its own, the skin so crisp, so good there was none to spare. It was served with a range of condiments to enhance the flavours, including mustard pickled cherries, which happened to be in season and the sweet damson plum sauce, both combined very well with the duck. The was also served sides including the deliciously crunchy roast russet burbank potatoes and an aussie favourite beetroots with shallots in red wine vinegar.

After this, we decided to share desserts and the salted honey ice cream and fennel pollen was a simple sophisticated dessert which went perfectly with the Belgrove Rye; a locally distilled craft spirit.

A great brunch or lunch venue not to be missed, the restaurant is bright, the service great and the food enticing.

Arnott’s Sundaes now at Event Cinema Gold Class

February 17, 2019February 17, 2019Leave a comment

Out goes the choc top for us as we now yearn for more Arnott’s biscuits sundaes at our next movie date.

We had the pleasure of attending a screening of ‘What men want’ at Event Cinemas Bondi Junction in their Gold Class cinema to celebrate Event Cinema turning Arnott’s Biscuits into ice cream sundaes! And it’s not just what men want, everyone wants these sundaes.

The iconic biscuit brand, that has been in operation over 150 years now features as one of the key ingredients in a new range of sundaes available to purchase for those heading to Gold Class cinemas.

Arnott’s teamed up with the cinema, working with each other to identify most popular ice creams and biscuits to develop a range of biscuit themed sundaes.

Image – original spin

Featuring the ever popular Tim Tam, Mint Slice, Monte Carlo and Caramel Crowns, you can purchase a mouthwatering sundae for $25 and have it delivered to your reclining couch before, or during the film. This sundae is served in a glass almost bigger than ourselves. The glass is filled with three scoops of creamy ice cream carefully placed, topped with the Arnotts biscuits, in house made hot fudge sauce topping, whipped cream and waters or dried fruit (depending on the option selected). The favours and textures certainly work well together and the sundae has brought back a feeling of nostalgia where you can share your ice cream sundae over a movie and it has brought our favourite biscuit classics to the fore.

Whilst they may not be good for your waistline, they are certainly good for your tastebuds and level of happiness upon consumption. You’ll love the richness, decadence and texture of the sundae and we’re sure that this will satisfy that sweet craving.

With four indulgent flavours to choose from:

•Classic Tim Tam: scoops of creamy vanilla bean and chocolate obsession ice cream, warm chocolate fudge, waffles, malt crispy bits, Tim Tam biscuits, whipped cream and a cherry on top;

Image – original spin

•Minty Mint Slice: scoops of choc mint and chocolate obsession ice cream, warm chocolate fudge, Mint Slice biscuits, chocolate malt crumble, choc coated wafer crumble bits and whipped cream;

Image – original spin

•The Full Monte Carlo: scoops of creamy vanilla bean and berry ice cream, Monte Carlo biscuits, raspberry crumble, strawberry coulis, vanilla malt crumb, fresh strawberries and whipped cream;

Image – original spin

•Salted Caramel Crowns: scoops of rock salted caramel ice cream, salted caramel popcorn, malt crumble, Caramel Crown biscuits, warm caramel fudge, whipped cream, honeycomb, classic wafers.

Image – original spin

Arnott’s Sundaes are available now at all Event and BCC Gold Class Cinemas across Australia.

Image – original spin

Whilst you’re there, you’re also able to order popcorn, food and drink and candy. The food and drinks are delivered to your chair and Gold Class makes for a luxury cinema visit.

Thank you to original spin for the invitation to attend, to Event Cinema for hosting and Arnott’s for the collaboration.

Rosenbaum and Fuller @ Bondi Beach

February 16, 20191 Comment

This cafe is in a busy area in Bondi off Hall street where there’s heaps of cafes to try. Rosenbaum and fuller has only been open a few months and trying to pave their way in a busy industry. We visited after finding this via Instagram and liked the idea of its vision with an ethical and sustainable supply and use of fresh organic ingredients.

It is a cafe by day and restaurant by lunch and dinner, they often have live music in the evenings with some dinner specials.

We like the set up of the space, it is nice decor, ambience and the kitsch features, like the hanging bouquets and alcohol bottles. The pottery cups are also a nice touch.

The service was excellent, the waitress was very helpful and personable and dealt well with our many questions.

We really enjoyed our meal, although only 2 of the party ordered since the menu online differed to what is actually on the menu when you arrive (and some of us decided what we wanted before we arrived and they didn’t have it). In addition, the printed menu is a bit vague, ie “avocado on toast or mushrooms on toast”. In reality, the food is far more creative, interesting and enticing than the menu suggests. So we recommend taking a punt and giving something a go because it is better than it sounds.

We had the gnocchi with mushrooms, kale, potato and a poached egg which was super delicious.