Sydney seems to slowly be getting her groove back. Barangaroo was alive with people when I popped down last weekend to check out the Sunset Sessions.
Sliding into a padded booth on the double-decker party bus’s upper deck gave us a birds-eye view of the drinker’s corral. Alongside a bus-based DJ booth and cocktail bar putting out a great Davidson plum old-fashioned ($18) and an old man saltbush margarita ($18), there’s a Rivareno Gelato cart scooping out icy fruit-based granita. If you’re after something more substantial, local smokehouse, Nola, have set up camp, and are turning out tender slices of their famous brisket. We ate ours as a brisket box ($26) with corn salsa, ‘slaw and a dinner roll, plus tart house-made pickles to cut the fat.
Make a night of it by spending some quality time in your own head at Darkfield. In a compound of shipping containers just next to Mordor (Crown casino) they have their own Archie Rose bar to fuel you up for any of the four experiences they have on offer ($22–$30/ticket). I took in Coma and Flight, with my viewing hours of Air Crash Investigations finally proving useful for being on a doomed plane. Don’t go it you’re afraid of the dark...
Shake off any big feelings with a walk up the Wynyard Tunnel into the heart of the CBD. City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore’s vision is finally coming to fruition with full and vibrant eateries spilling out onto the car-free George Street along the length of the light rail route. We stopped in at Kingway Malatang directly opposite Chinatown stop. It’s a popular eatery with a futuristic feel. They separate their food stations with fresh meats and vegetables up front, and the seafood, dumplings, noodles and mystery balls in the rear. It’s an extensive selection, with (well-labelled) items ($17/500g) I hadn’t seen before, including rolled omelette (tamagoyaki) and pork knuckle in brown sauce. The classic spicy soup has a good level of heat but lacks a bit of the aroma and intensity of other malatang joints. It’s hard to feel ripped off through when a meal for two (that you both struggle to finish) along with two cans of Calpis ($4/each), comes to the grand total of forty bucks. The kitchen was nice and quick, even with a full house, and the saucing station had a good range of options to customise your soup to your personal liking.
Sunset Sessions | Barangaroo 4pm – 9.30pm, 4 – 20 January 2024
DARKFIELD | Barangaroo running every half hour 2.30pm – 9pm to 21 January 2014
