travel food wine lifestyle
Have you ever wanted to take your tastebuds to Myanmar and beyond? Then you will truly enjoy the current series of delicious Indochine inspired tasting menus at Bistro Mekong located at Shop 5 / 100 Edinburgh Rd. Castlecrag on the Lower North Shore of Sydney.
There’s always an excitement in the air every time I go for an Izakaya dining. Not only does it remind me of our big Friday night after-work food and drinks with work mates during my 6 months stay in Tokyo, but this Japanese gastropub style offers a great selection of delicious small to medium size dishes / trendy tapas style food along with a wide variety of alcohol particularly beer and sake. It’s a good time! In recent times, Sydney has embraced Izakaya dining and it gives everyone an opportunity to experience this lively, vibrant and casual way of dining.
Sandwiched between the iconic Luna Park and the Harbour Bridge, Ripples Milsons Point offers excellent views of Sydney’s landmarks and breathtaking water views of the harbour. Dining here isn’t just about eating, it’s also a feast for the eyes. I’ve visited this restaurant twice in the last two months celebrating a lunch time birthday party, it seems a popular choice amongst my circle of friends. During both occasions, the restaurant was covered with clear vinyl plastic panels, a protection from those wintery cold winds. It’ll be nice to go back this summer when there’s no covering for an uninterrupted view of the harbour and beyond.
When we last stayed at Dusit Thani Manila, Benjarong Thai Restaurant was still on the mezzanine level but recently it has undergone an enormous makeover
The first time we experienced the taste of Salt Grill by Luke Mangan was last year during our first cruise with Pacific Eden. Although you pay to dine here, this onboard restaurant is very popular, lunch and dinner reservations get fully booked within hours of boarding. Despite our attempt to book early, we ended up on the waiting list, which is the next best option as it usually pays off, thankfully the lovely staff were able to accommodate us for lunch and things even got better when Luke Mangan came to say hello at our table.
When choosing to dine at Rockpool Bar & Grill, you can expect great food, impeccable service and an upscale dining experience. It is one of Sydney’s top restaurants nestled along Hunter St. in Sydney’s CBD.
It’s the middle of winter in Sydney and if you’re looking for a lovely meal to nourish the soul in a warm, inviting and cosy ambience, Bistro Mekong in Castlecrag is the place for you. Their inspired menu by countries along the mighty Mekong River – Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam offers flavoursome and bold dishes that will warm you up from cold winter nights.
Newtown, a vibrant inner west suburb of Sydney is synonymous for trendy eateries, coffees, pubs, bars, designer boutiques and vintage shops. It’s one of Sydney’s most colourful suburbs, and an epicentre of multicultural food. It is just a matter of making a decision of what type of cuisine you want to dazzle your palate and satisfy your culinary wanderlust with.
If you’re looking for a new HOT SPOT for Italian dining, Zona Azzurri is the one. The 140 seater restaurant is the latest addition to the ever changing restaurant scene in the inner-city suburb of Alexandria. This suburb was once the epitome of industrial Sydney, but now it’s switching gears to becoming a mix of high-rise residential areas, upscale offices, and home to trendy restaurants, cafes and shops.
Decades ago, the leafy Kellet St in Potts Point was once a busy social and dining scene in the Cross, a mixture of top notch restaurants, trendy cafes, massage parlours, pubs and residential area. Over the years, a number of businesses have closed their doors except for a few iconic venues that have become Sydney institutions. Thankfully new places are popping-up and hopefully they will bring back the once buzzing scene of this lovely street.
Adding to the vibrant food scene in Surry Hills is the Chin Chin Restaurant which opened late last year, a sibling to the very popular and successful Chin Chin Melbourne which offers a modern take on South East Asian fare, particularly Thai cuisine. The restaurant occupies the Griffith Teas Building along Commonwealth St, one of Sydney’s landmark buildings.
This is my second visit to Bellbird Dining + Bar located on the ground floor of the imposing Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre in Casula, South West of Sydney, since it was launched earlier this month, link here. It is fascinating to see how luscious the vegetable garden has become, some veggies have sprays of white and coloured flowers attracting hardworking bees which are vital for plant pollination. The surrounding foliage is denser and you can hear birds singing, oh yes, the abundance of bellbirds populating the riverside which the restaurant takes its name.
