Slide bar-restaurant-club

I caught up with Rodna, Caroline and Jill on Friday night at Slide bar-restaurant-club in Darlinghurst for a spot of dinner. Unfortunately the website doesn’t show any photos of the actual place because it is the unusual décor that makes this bar-restaurant-club a unique experience.

This place is a mix of everything from crystal chandeliers to the scribbles of modern art hung around the walls, emphasized by fluro blue spotlights. The dining area is on a raised platform highlighted by blue and white floor lights (think Saturday night fever style), you almost feel as though you have stepped into a different dimension.

The food

We selected this restaurant because the prices seemed pretty reasonable with Mains around $16, sides around $5 and dessert $8. If you order your dinner before 7:30pm you get 10% off the total bill (come to think of it, I don’t think that they gave it to us and no one on the table remembered).

Whilst the prices appear to be reasonable you end up getting what you pay for. The portions were pretty small and when Caroline’s snapper came with nothing else besides soy sauce, she ordered white rice and was charged another $5.

Rodna and I ordered ‘medium’ for our beef tenderloins and pretty much got a rare piece of steak, because it was so small it seemed like too much of a hassle to have it taken back to the kitchen. There were only 2 desserts to choose from, lemon tart and tiramisu and both were very ordinary.

Slider Cocktail : Vodka, peach schnapps, watermelon liqueur, guava, ruby grapefruit & cranberry juice $9
Roast Duck: Homemade pancakes, finely sliced cucumber & hoi sin sauce $18

Beef Tenderloin :Flame grilled with chunky fries $20

I don't think that I will come back for dinner in a hurry, but I highly recommend this place if you're looking for somewhere to have drinks.

Catching Up..

So I found her, and we caught up for dinner last night at Masuya (I’ve been to Masuya before, but tonight wasn’t about the food). It was great seeing her again and she was exactly how I remembered her. She’s doing well and had some exciting news for me; she’s getting married in May! The ring was absolutely gorgeous!! (especially the way that the diamond is set from the side view) and her fiancé seems like a really nice guy. She asked me to be part of the bridal party (Chinese style not i.e. not a bridesmaid), which I’m very excited about.

2006 is going to be an exciting year.

Cafe Sydney

I had been dying to try Cafe Sydney for months, when the time came to suggest a place to eat before watching Carl Barron at the Opera House, Cafe Sydney seemed perfect.

Café Sydney is located in Historic Custom’s house (right across the road from Maccas at Circular Quay). To get to the restaurant you must catch the lift up, where you will then be greeted by the wait staff upon your arrival. The layout of the restaurant is very comfortable with a glass ceiling letting in plenty of light and the décor giving the room a classy yet relaxed feel. The dark wood finishes and entry lifts reminded me of Zeta Bar at the Hilton (but a lot brighter).

The view is stunning and if you book early enough you can grab yourself an outside table. We chose to sit inside this time as rain was expected, it turned out to be a good choice as the glass doors next to us were opened up to give a ‘sitting outside feel’.

The staff at Café Sydney is generally quite young and funky which I guess helps set the mood and feel of the bar. Our waiter was a young guy (with David Beckham hair) who seemed to try a little too hard at trying to be ‘very professional’. He always stood with his hand clasped and spoke so softly that half the time we couldn’t hear what he was saying, we would just nod and smile and ask each other what he said after he had left. During the night Betty made it her mission to try make him crack a smile or to relax just a notch, he wasn’t going to budge.

• Woodgrilled veal cutlet with potato and garlic cream, turtle beans, pancetta, celery heart, sage, roast tomato and aioli 36.00

• Tandoori roasted blue eye cod with eggplant, mustard, baby spinach, choko chutney and raita 34.00

• Oven roasted snapper with steamed asparagus, lemon, watercress and sauce gribiche 36.00

• Spring lamb with sourdough, pecorino and basil crust, crushed kipfler potatoes, baby green vegetables and sauce vierge 36.00

Overall the mains were pretty good although a bit pricy for what it is (you're probably paying for the view and ambience.

Dessert platter 39.00

The dessert platter changes regularly (so don't expect to have the same thing when you visit), this time we had a pecan and peach tart, a tropical trifle, a rich black cherry and chocolate cake and gelato with almond bread.

The other girls seemed to enjoy the platter but I was a little disappointed. I found the pecan tart to be a bit dry and would have been better matched with ice cream than cream. The dark chocolate cherry cake was very rich and drenched in a bit too much liquor making it rather soggy at the bottom. The gelato was nice but very ordinary, the trifle on the other hand got the thumbs up from all of us.

Whilst the experience was good, there's probably a lot more places I would rather try before making a return visit.

Cocktails @ JY's

It was a fun and relaxing night

With plenty of cocktails...

And a few games of Charades. The highlight of my night had to be Ken and his crotch pointing 'Free Willy' moment.

Thank you JY for a great night!

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Driving around Epping last night was very strange for me. It brought back a flood of childhood memories that I had long forgotten. It’s funny how much I could remember, I was only so small. The streets were all so familiar, if I ignored the details it would almost look as though nothing had changed.

I remember walking past the brown cellar doors with the hand painted grapes and running my fingers along the wood panels, I think that someone took me there for pizza once but my memories are a little jumbled. The wood panels are gone but the oval windows are still there, in its place is a Korean BBQ…time escapes no one.

I pretty much grew up in Epping because her family would baby sit me whilst my parents were at work; my parents were always at work. My sister wasn’t born till I was 5 and if it wasn’t for her I would have been a very lonely child.

She was five years older than me, had hair like mine and the best Barbie play set on earth! We fought; we hung out and did everything that real sisters would do. When she had school holidays she would come over my place and then I’d be the boss because we were in my domain!

Then I started school and because of the distance we saw each other less and less (as you get older it also becomes less cool to hang out with someone 5 years younger than you). I never forgot her, and when we did see each other we’d always share all our secrets.

I haven’t seen or spoken to her in years; I don’t even know where she is. Last night brought back too many memories – I have to find her.

Here's an idea...

Work is still a bit slow at the moment so I chat with my friend Luke (a fellow recruiter) over email. Luke got engaged last year and is looking to get married somewhere really swanky in the next 12 months. He mentioned that he had to stick to a guest list of 100 people. I started having a whinge that it would be very hard for me to stick to only 100 guests when the time came.

This is what he suggested:

“Hold interviews with every potential guest to screen for their levels of motivation.

Obtain references from previous weddings that they've attended

Maybe an admission fee should be charged? That would deter the stingy people

Not that hard to get to 100 then... : )”

Nice Luke Nice.

Breakfast @ Mezes Brighton

We've always been close, even after high school everyone kept in touch. Something that we do on a regular basis is meet up for breakfast in Brighton, so when I got the call this morning I expected it to be like any other breakfast. A few of us couldn’t make it, but if they knew what I know now I don't think anyone would have missed it!

No, I'm not talking about the good food.....

And I'm not talking about the good company...

I'm talking about the fact that Roula was sporting a massive 1 carat diamond on her finger and sprung the suprise that Andre proposed on New Years Eve!! Oh-My-Gosh! Congratulations!!!! The wedding is set to happen before the end of this year!

That now makes 2 engaged girls in the group with Roula & Chrissie the brides to be (is this a sign that we are all growing up!?!?)

Andre & Roula (Taken @ Christina's engagement earlier this year)

Congrats again! This is so exciting!!

New Years Eve 2005

10..9..8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1 - HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!

Number 1, Macquarie St (aka The Toaster) was the place to be on new years eve 2005. Great people, fabulous food, all you can drink and a magnificent view! Big thanks to Dee and Family for such a great way to end 2005.

Looking Lovely ladies!

The crowd below

The view...

9:00pm fireworks

When you go to a party hosted by Italian's you can guarantee great food.

Home made antipastos (perfectly roasted with a hint of garlic and a generous amount of olive oil), homemade lasagne (you just can't compare homemade to what you eat when you go out!) there was also schnitzel, chicken skewers, a meat wrap with bread crumbs plus a lot more.

The desserts...I was having such a good night that I forgot to pay attention to what I was actually eating, one word...YUM!

I liked the theme - It meant something... all the little boats on the harbour also had love heart lights, it was a beautiful sight.

This was taken as we were making our way back to the car; the crowd drew my attention for a few reasons. It reminded me the time Jacky and I walked back to our hotel hand in hand after celebrating new years in Time Square, New York. What the photo doesn't capture is the music and excitement of everyone dancing in the street; all races all ages. It was such a fabulous sight, it’s what the real Australia is all about.

Happy 2006 everyone!!