Sydney Part Two

This is part two of my posts talking about my recent Sydney trip. I wanted to use this post to concentrate mainly on some of the food places I visited while I was there. I did do other things than eat (I know, suprising!) like shopping along George St & Pitt St and through the beautiful Strand Arcade and QV Building, taking one of those yellow Sydney ferry's to Manly etc. but I just wanted to keep this post about the food. I did have a few average experiences on my first day with food and coffee, but once day two came I was on a roll with the great food. One of my favourites that I didn't manage to get a picture of was the Pork and Fennel sausage roll and lemon tart that I had from Bourke St Bakery. They were amazing - so much so that I scoffed them down without a photo. 

The Double Cheese & Bacon Burger with Parmesan and Truffle Chips.

On my second night for dinner I decided to walk back around to the Opera House where there's a bar and restaurant right on the waterfront. I decided to go with Opera Kitchen and sat up on a table closer to the water where I had beautiful views of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge lit up, as well as the city behind me. While the food is pretty expensive (especially for a burger and chips) it was worth it for the views and the food itself was delicious, especially those parmesan and truffle chips!

This just shows how close to the Opera House I was. It did end up raining that night (other than that I had pretty great weather) so I ended up moving in under cover near one of the heaters which was really cozy.

Adriano Zumbo's store at Star City Casino.

This was one place I was really excited about visiting. Adriano Zumbo, for those who don't know, is a patissier who's appeared on shows like Masterchef with his croquembouche, macaron tower and V8 cake. This particular store has a dessert train which I really wanted to try, but unfortunately I didn't get to experiece that as it wasn't on the day I went.

Cakes on display

Beautiful lemon meringue tart

Adriano Zumbo purchases

Macarons - (not in order) including Pineapple, Popcorn, Salted Butter Caramel on Toast etc.

Zumbo is famous for his macarons and the really unusual flavours that he creates. I was really looking forward to trying the popcorn one which so many raved about but I didn't find much of a popcorn flavour there. My favourite ended up being the Salted Butter Caramel on Toast. The caramel filling was just amazing and I savoured every mouthful!

Zonuts - Mango Rice Pudding and Hazelnut

Zumbo has created his own version of the famous craze that is the cronut. I got one of each flavours to try (these change pretty often) and while I enjoyed the Mango Rice Pudding flavour, it was the Hazelnut one that truely converted me to a zonut lover.

Hartsyard restaurant.

I'm not even sure where or how I found Hartsyard, but I'd read some really good reviews and when I saw the American style menu on their website I booked a table straight away. The majority of the items on the menu are intended for sharing but as I was on my own I just went with the one main and dessert.

For my main I chose the Fried Chicken with biscuit and sausage gravy. Very American and done really well here, the chicken was tender and I loved the crunch of the coating.

Pumpkin Pie - Rice custard, Jack Daniels Ice Cream, spiced pear, pecan praline

When I saw Pumpkin Pie on the dessert menu I knew that was my only choice - I love pumpkin pie and don't get to have it very often. While the dessert was beautiful, and wonderfully presented I was a little disappointed to find that it wasn't actually pumpkin pie, but pumpkin spice cake. Despite my initial disappointment I did really enjoy this dish, although it was so rich that I just couldn't finish it!

Drinking Apple Cider at Opera Kitchen and enjoying the beautiful views and sunny weather on my last day

A new favourite drink, Rochdale Cider - I need to find this in Melbourne!

Breakfast at Baroque - Poached Eggs, Mushrooms and Speck on sourdough and a skinny latte. I'd almost given up hope of finding a good breakfast place around The Rocks area when I stumbled upon Baroque in my online searches. I decided to give it a go and was impressed

Places mentioned in this post:
Bourke St Bakery
633 Bourke St,
Surry Hills, NSW

Opera Kitchen
Lower Concourse Level
Sydney Opera House
Sydney, NSW

Adriano Zumbo
Star City Casino
80 Pyrmont St
Pyrmont, NSW

Hartsyard
33 Enmore Rd
Newtown, NSW

Baroque
88 George St
The Rocks, Sydney
NSW