4 Dining Spots To Check Out The Next Time You’re In Sydney, Australia
Some restaurants you must check out.
After more than two years of being locked down, we know you can’t wait to book that air ticket and fly off for that much-needed vacation. If you’re looking for a getaway to Sydney, Australia, here are some restaurants you must check out.
High above Sydney’s skyline lies one of the best cocktail lounges in town. A heady mix of mid-century decadence and contemporary touches with gold-veined marble, intimate tables and attentive service ready to greet you as you step off the curved brass staircase.
We are talking about Dean & Nancy on level 22 of the cool A by Adina apartment hotel in Hunter Street. Here you can order a Sakura Martini, served tableside, sample bold flavours and leave your worries far below.
And what’s really cool is that you watch the sun set and see the city come alive.
We decided to splurge, ordering a Dean & Nancy seafood tower with lavish servings of oysters and champagne mignonette, coral prawn ceviche, calamari larb, scallop san choy bow and torched miso and roast garlic scampi. We were bowled over. We could have added caviar but the tower was more than substantial at the princely price of AUS$240 (about S$245).
We also ordered the roast whole chicken with trimmings, croissant and whiskey stuffing which was so succulent the meat was falling off the bone. Then there was the Angus rib eye, a generous serve of delicious, pink, prime steak seared just right and served with chimichurri, shoestring fries and steamed broccolini. Definitely over the top but absolutely scrumptious. By the time we finished our mains, we were so stacked, there was just no room for dessert.
Dinner at Dean & Nancy is special, for a special occasion to share with someone special.
Dean & Nancy is at Level 22, 2 Hunter St, Sydney, 2000, A by Adina Hotel
Opening hours:
Wednesday to Thursday (4.30pm till 12 midnight)
Friday to Saturday (4.30pm till 1am)
Email: cocktails@deanandnancyon22.com.au
For more info, click here
One of Sydney’s last remaining heritage-listed, wool stores smack in the middle of Circular Quay, has been beautifully converted into a lively four-four-storey, drinking-and-dining enclave, anchored by Grana restaurant on the ground floor.
Grana in Italian means grain, which is the heart of what the restaurant does - sourcing their grain from local NSW farms, then milling them onsite and turning them into specialised flour. This in turn is made into great bread, pastry and pasta. Grana champions sustainable Australian produce and ingredients through an Italian lens.
Grana’s ambience is warm, lively and fun with smiling staff whose enthusiasm for its food is beyond reproach. We decided to do share plates - from the house-made seaweed infused gigli pasta with king prawns with arrabbiata sauce and a touch of hot chilli, the split king prawns from Skull Island in the Northern Territory grilled with black pepper, citrus and chilli, snapper served with broad beans, and potato aioli and grilled organic chicken with nduja, leeks and rocket pesto. All the mains were yummy as you can could the freshness of the ingredients. We also had a selection of vegetables from the charred asparagus with garlic vinaigrette, smoked cauliflower with black barley salad and almond sauce and roast pumpkin.For afters, we tried the coconut yoghurt pannacotta with orange bitter granita.
Head chef Gianluigi Castaldo’s menu is as eclectic as it is delicious. This is definitely a restaurant you can easily take your parents, your date or a group of giggling girlfriends - and they all will feel equally at home.
Grana is at Hinchcliff House, Ground Floor, 5-7 Young Street, Sydney 2000
Opening hours:
Tuesday to Saturday, dine-in lunch & dinner (11.30am-11pm)
Email: grana@hinchcliffhouse.com
For more info, click here
Nothing like a chilled bottle of Krug to welcome us when we lunched at Crown Sydney’s fine dining Italian restaurant a’Mare. It simply set the tone for a delectable meal that followed. a”Mare in Italian means “by the sea” - a name chosen to probably reflect its harbourside location in Barangaroo. Chef Alessandro Pavoni cut his teeth as a chef when he was a child in his nonna’s kitchen in Northern Italy.
a’Mare’s ambience is as Italian as it gets - effusive, effervescent, efficient. What sets it apart from others, is that the whole fish was effortlessly deboned at the table and the rock lobster and spaghetti was beautifully served at the table too. If you can’t get to the kitchen, let the kitchen come to you. We feasted on a plate of crudo selection of sashimi with citrus dressing, Calabrian chilli and crustaceans oil; summer vegetables wth almond and tomato emulsion; spaghetti all Chitarra a’Mare with rock lobster, cherry tomatoes, garlic, basil and chilli; charcoal butterflied spatchcock chicken with chilli and capsicum glaze and Ligurian olives; whole snapper and specialty dish veal tenderloin in breadcrumbs served with baby capers and pine nuts. All excellent choices, beautifully executed. As we had room for only one dessert, it had to be Tiramisu al cucchiaio, and what a treat it was. As Italians would say “cibo molto buono.”
a’Mare is at Crown Sydney, Level 1 (Ground), 1 Barangaroo Avenue, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia
Opening hours:
Lunch
Wednesday to Sunday (12pm - 2.30pm)
Dinner
Tuesday to Thursday (5.30pm - 12 midnight)
Friday to Saturday (5.45pm - 1am)
Sunday (5.45pm - 12 midnight)
Bar
Tuesday (3.30pm - 12 midnight)
Wednesday, Thursday & Sunday (12pm - 12 midnight)
Friday & Saturday (12pm - 1am)
Email: RestaurantReservations@crownsydney.com.au
For more info, click here
Chef-restaurateur Phil Wood admits his wife Lis, does not even know how to boil an egg. So he does all the cooking at home and at his newly opened neighbourhood restaurant, Ursula in the leafy residential suburb of Paddington. The former Rockpool chef has created an intriguing menu with Asian overtones.
"I want it to be pretty relaxed," says Wood. "Beautiful food in the kind of beautiful venue where you can have dinner with your grandparents one night, and take a date the next day or have lunch with your mates.”
His lobster and mango was delightfully delicate and delicious, spiced with a little XO chilli sauce and strewn with cashew nuts. His roast chicken is “the” dish to order as a main - brined and steamed before roasting and served with gai lan leaves, mushroom and konbu butter. The chicken tasted so succulent, it simply melted in your mouth. We also tried the vegetarian dishes fried halloumi, served with only, lemon and minted peas and the coral trout, boned and butterflied in a sea of rich butter cream sauce with trout roe and greens. For desserts, we tried the Pandan custard with lime granita and pineapple sorbet, a refreshing mouth cleanser.
Wood has a tendency to add generous amounts of French creamy sauces infused with Asian flavours but his enthusiasm knows no bounds. What is also endearing is the quality of service by friendly, smiling and knowledgeable staff.
Ursula's Paddington is at 92 Hargrave Street, Paddington NSW 2021
Opening hours:
Tuesday to Saturday, lunch and dinner
Closed on public holidays
Email: info@ursulas.com.au
For more info, click here