Hello, lovelies! Hope you've been enjoying the trip so far. I know, the time has flown by and we're already on the last full day of the trip. If you're joining the itinerary late, you can catch up with us at the links below. (Don't worry, we'll wait.)
Click here for Sydney, Days 1 and 2
Click here for Sydney, Days 3 and 4
Click here for Sydney, Days 5 and 6
Day 7 : Friday
Woke up to the realization that today was our last full day in Sydney. Tried not to be sad.
First on today's agenda was the Sydney Jewish Museum, which houses extensive educational exhibits, artifacts and memorabilia, tributes to Holocaust survivors, and highlights of Jewish contributions to Australian society. Our visit was a moving and worthwhile experience.
The museum is in Darlinghurst, as is another outpost of Bills. Bills in Woollahra is where we had our first meal of the trip, and Rebecca had been gushing about the Ricotta Pancakes with Honeycomb Butter the entire week. So of course I had to have them, even after perusing everything on the larger-than-life menu.
Here are the famous pancakes...
..and here's their biggest fan enjoying them at the gorgeous wood communal table.
Half the secret to my 2-lb. weight loss on the trip despite all the incredible food was not eating every last bite on my plate -- the other half was a morning workout each day. Seeing I'd only eaten two of the three 'cakes, our friendly waiter suggested that next time I get a short stack. Hopefully it won't be too long before next time! In the meantime, we can all make them at home with the recipe from Bills Sydney Food available on Amazon.com. (Wow, I didn't realize it until I looked at the book just now, but even though it's his restaurant Bills doesn't have an apostrophe. If you see nothing wrong with that, buy this on Amazon while you're at it.)
After lunch we headed over to Oxford Street for some retail therapy. Jacquie's friends had recommended some great places but unfortunately, therapy is pretty pricey in Sydney. For the most part, if I liked it, I couldn't afford it, and if I could afford it, I didn't like it. $400 for a pair of jeans just didn't make any sense.
But no matter -- we had bigger fish to sautee at Neil Perry's famous Rockpool that night, recently named one of the Top 50 restaurants in the world. Perry's welcome note graces the first page of the menu. "The cornerstone of good cooking is to source the finest produce," he begins, and then goes on to talk about the fishermen's low-stress regime, and how "our shellfish are live and stress free," and that you should get ready to open your wallet wide for "a superior but more expensive product. We could buy cheaper, inferior fish, but this would compromise our philosophy in delivering the best." Way to go on managing sticker shock, Neil! You should be in marketing.
All kidding aside, the food really was amazing -- both in terms of quality, flavors and inventiveness.
For apps I started with the Tuna tartare with classic flavours...
...Rebecca had the Ortiz "Gran Reserva" salted anchovy with tomato confit on toast...
...and Jacquie had oysters.
Then we were ready for the main event. Of the extensive menu, one dish really jumped out for both Jacquie and me: Seared scallop, squid and smoked bacon with squid ink noodles. Unforgettable. Rebecca felt the same way about her Grilled king prawns with goat cheese tortellini.
Though I could have gone home right then and considered it a tremendous meal, you know Rebecca and I are dessert people (we've been known to order four desserts between the two of us) and we brought Jacquie along for the ride with:
Chocolate rice crackle cake -- a crisped rice base with chocolate mousse, cloaked in a chocolate dome.
Passionfruit souffle -- I have no passion for passionfruit, but the girls seemed to like it, and it did look quite pretty.
But the winner by a long shot was the Salty peanut ice cream with Trumer pilsner granita. Yes, you read that right; the granita was made out of beer. Together with the ice cream, it made for a fancy-schmancy take on traditional game day snacks.
There was great debate over which was the better meal -- Serge Dansereau's Bathers' Pavilion birthday lunch or Neil Perry's Rockpool dinner. In the end, it was too close to call.
Day 8 : Saturday
Our last morning included a trip back to Bondi, and to Aquabar, scene of our Day 2 breakfast. One more plate of eggs, bacon, mushrooms and Turkish toast to finish off a fantastic week in Sydney. Happy birthday, Jacquie, and thank you again to everyone who made the trip so special!
Now that I'm back home, I'm doing my best to replicate those eggs, and I even asked for beets with my burger at Chez Maman. Non was the reply. Oh well, I guess I'll start getting ready for Rebecca's birthday trip to Paris in December with something else. Brie, s'il vous plait?
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