Saturday, 25 July 2015

Sydney aquarium

I've been without internet for two weeks, but I'm sat in a bar that offers free wifi so might as well try out the blogger app on my phone.

Today I went to Sydney aquarium - as with anything like this I half feel like it's cruel for the little critters to be put away for our amusement, and half feel like it's really wonderful... You know, like, oh my god I'm so close to a shark right now but I know it can't eat me cuz of the shark proof glass and that's AWESOME. It is shark proof right? Because that genetically modified shark in Deep Blue Sea was pretty hardcore, I reckon he could've got through the glass today. 

My favourite thing was in the very first tank you come to, a platypus! I had no idea they were so small and cute and playful! 


I also discovered something new, a dugong. The Sydney aquarium has two, both rescued and both unable to return to their natural environments, despite efforts to reintroduce them to the wild. 


There were also some really gross or scary things, such as:






But I did find Nemo...


So all good. 

The aquarium was pretty packed, it's obviously a popular attraction. My ticket cost $40, which works out a bit cheaper than the one in London - I never went there though so can't compare! 

Recommend for rainy days if you are the type of person who doesn't mind battling mums with buggies to get a good view. Which I am not.

I'm now sat in Cargo Bar, just a bit further along Darling Harbour, and I really can't complain about the view :) they do pretty nice pizzas here - always check the specials.


I'll write some better posts when I am with functioning internet again!

#amyinsydney 

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Sunday, 28 June 2015

Essenza, Sydney shopping, churros and Queenie's

A couple of weeks ago I sprained my ankle, because, you know, it's difficult to walk down the road to dinner when you're completely sober and wearing a pair of shoes you've worn a million times before without falling flat on your face. Anyway.

Essenza


A sprained ankle didn't stop me from enjoying a really delicious Italian meal (albeit with a bag of ice tied to my leg by several napkins to keep the swelling down) at Essenza. I had the chicken kiev, which didn't resemble any chicken kiev I've ever had before, but was bloody good.


The staff at Essenza were super lovely and the place felt very authentic, I can't wait to go back there on a day I don't need to be carried to my table...

We were there for a birthday celebration so they brought out a medley of desserts complete with candles and sparklers when we'd finished our food!




The birthday boy was most pleased!



Sydney shopping


Before I left London, one of the things I knew I would miss was the shopping. London is full of gigantic chain stores, vintage shops, designer label stores and one off boutiques... it's not that I could afford to go shopping much, but it was always nice to know it was there. There is a Topshop, Zara, Uniqlo, newly opened Forever 21 and soon to be H&M in Sydney's CBD, so I have plenty of my 'home comforts' but I'm not 100% sure yet where to go for some really good (not expensive or designer) shopping outside of the CBD.

I tried to do a bit of shopping outside of my norm and ended up with a great pair of boots, some cheap and cheerful makeup and some, erm, questionable beauty products... see below.



A photo posted by @amy_340 on

The boots cost $79 (around £40) from Wanted, a chain here that have a real range of shoes and prices as well as a variety of niceness (technical shoe term).



Kmart's own brand of makeup is incredibly cheap, but actually quite nice. The simple, clean packaging is really enticing - I mistook it for another brand until I saw the prices.



The beauty products are all Aussie made (I'm almost certain); the face scrub is pretty good but I haven't been wowed by any of the others. The Swisspers eye makeup removal pads are not good - I was using the Johnson's Daily Essentials ones in the UK, which were far better.

 Back to Mejico for churros


I feel like I've had a much more rounded experience in Mejico now because I've tried the churros. I had more delicious Mexican tapas too but it was the churros I was really interested in after last trip's disappointing tiramisu debacle.



So here is the rating:
Dough integrity: maybe a bit too dense for my liking, 5/10
Cinnamon levels: dusted to perfection, 10/10
Chocolate dipping sauce: needed to be chocolatier but very tasty, 7/10

Not the best, but rounds the meal off nicely.

Queenie's


I soooo enjoyed my 'Caribbean curry Tuesday' at Queenie's! It's only $15 and you get tonnes of food, including a coconut naan bread (which is immense), rice, whichever curry you choose and pickles/yoghurt. We also tried the fried plantain which was delicious and I had the Gwaan Gal Sour which is a cocktail of rum, St Germain, pomegranate, strawberry, lime, lemon, rhubarb bitters and egg white. I think I could have demolished about seven of those.




That's about it for now!

#amyinsydney

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Friday, 5 June 2015

Mejico CBD (and some shawarma)

On Thursday night Toreja and I went to Mejico on Pitt Street for some Mexican 'market-to-table' tapas. We had the 'Feed me feast', which costs $55pp and was more food that we could handle! It's more than filled the no-Wahaca-in-Sydney void and is probably going to become our new regular...


Thursday was our no drinking night, so we didn't sample the tequila this time, but Mejico's 'tequila wheel' helps you choose from hundreds of 100% blue agave tequila by price, intensity and flavour, to find your ideal tipple. The Mejico menu insists that if your only experience of tequila is in a shot glass with salt and lime, then you've been doing it wrong. I knew there was a reason I hated tequila. Now I'll HAVE to go back, just to be sure.

In total, we (almost) ploughed through eight sharing starters, mains and sides but left the dessert as we were expecting churros and instead received an extremely disappointing bowl of sludge. Which some refer to as tiramisu. With the feast option, you don't actually select the dishes you receive, which makes for painless ordering - that's a positive - but means that you might get something you really don't like, such as bowls of sludge instead of delicious churros - that's a negative. To be fair, the lovely waiter noticed we had left our dessert and asked if we wanted churros instead but by this time all the savoury food had caught up with us and we were starting to sink into a food coma. Next time, we will specifically request the dessert we want but I'm not holding the non-Mexican dessert against them. Much.

A photo posted by Toreja Curic (@torejacuric) on

So - the savoury dishes we had were: salmon ceviche (10/10), corn lollipops (8/10 - a signature dish that is weird but good), summer salsa (6/10 - kiwifruit in salsa is bizarre), chicken tacos (9/10), vegetable tacos (8/10), achiote chicken (7/10), patatas bravas (10/10) and baby zucchini (7/10). We had specifically said no pork or lamb, so I imagine there is usually more of a mix of meats. The salmon ceviche and patatas bravas really stole the show but it was all super tasty.

Highly, highly recommend Mejico CBD - the atmosphere and restaurant design add to the experience and the staff are fun and friendly.

To make the end of the week even better (food is directly linked to my happiness levels), we had another wonderful encounter! During Vivid Sydney, Martin Place has had a selection of pop up food and drink stalls so we went to get shawarma on our way home from work drinks. If you've seen the end credits of the first Avengers movie, you'll know that shawarma is a bit of a mystery to some people, specifically Marvel superheroes. It's delicious. My second favourite thing about this shawarma, because the first is obviously the taste, is how tidy it is! Kebabs, burritos, burgers... most end of the night food stuffs are so messy, but the shawarma from the guys at Bite Size Delights is mess free, even when you're tipsy.


It might look like I'm frightened to eat my shawarma here... but I'm just frightened of how much I LOVE IT!



And now I'm going to enjoy my three day weekend with a coffee and croissant, TTFN.


#amyinsydney

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Saturday, 30 May 2015

Vivid Sydney

This weekend we explored 'Vivid Sydney' - essentially a city-wide light and sound show. I had seen the temporary installations being set up for the last few weeks and thought it all looked a bit plain but it really does look impressive at night (it's pitch black by about 5.30pm at the moment). As well as all the smaller exhibits, projectors are set up to light up Sydney's landmarks and buildings. I'm told something similar happened in Liverpool (UK) recently and I've been to the Le Mans (France) 'nuit des chimères' in the past, but Sydney's contrast of old(ish) and new buildings, as well as the added interactive elements, means the Aussie's have taken a city light show to a new level.

Here are a few of the highlights from Friday and Saturday nights...


Martin Place is host to several pop ups for street food and a Rocks Brewing Co bar. I'll be testing out some shawarma this week but for now just reviewing the alcohol. (Shocker). Toreja and I both had the 'Swinging Bridge' sauvignon blanc in the bar - it was only $8 a (plastic) glass... I don't think London Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland sold any drinks, alcoholic or not, for £4 so Sydney is already winning. I'd give it a 6.5/10; it was nice but I can't help feeling that the $15 sauv they had run out of would be better. Maybe I just want what I can't have.


A photo posted by Toreja Curic (@torejacuric) on

This one looked like a weird wood and pretty light thing - but it was actually responsive to touch (you should be able to hear the sounds too - like a super modern, upright piano... kind of).

A video posted by @amy_340 on

Instagram

You have to wear headphones for this one, called 'Space Folding' to get the full effect. "Space Folding is a towering cylinder that morphs into multi-coloured patterns of light and sound in response to real-time flight data from Sydney airspace":


A photo posted by @amy_340 on

Super cool.

So if you're in Sydney this week, get yourself down there and see how you'd look on the weird camera that kind of feels like someone wants to landscape their garden in the shape of your face or something. Clearly I can't remember the actual, fun-aside point of this one. But why wouldn't you want to see that?


#amyinsydney

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Friday, 22 May 2015

Mary's - the best burger in town

It's been the topic of much conversation since I arrived in Sydney - where on earth can we go to get a decent burger? In London we were spoiled for choice for dirty burgers, gourmet burgers, burgers with 'gravy', burgers stacked a foot tall... And we made the most of that. (Current debate is 'which is better, Shake Shack or Five Guys?', 'Definitely Shake Shack', 'I'd need to see them next to each other', 'Are we counting the fries too?')

Anyway - great news! Mary's is our new found favourite thing... We ate there on Thursday and loved it so much we ate there on Friday too! 


It looks like a poshed up hole in the wall kiosk, so there is nowhere to sit and eat, but when a burger is so tasty, you kind of just inhale it in a few seconds anyway right? 


I went for 'Mary's burger' and I have to say, it's very similar to the Shake Shack burger, with a 'special sauce'. It's really delicious and getting served by hipsters made me feel like I was visiting a pop-up in Shoreditch! 

If you're in Sydney and need a burger to soak up the booze, don't waste time with 'Maccas' or the place that is actually Burger King but has a different name here... Get yourself down to Mary's on Castlereagh street, it's only ten bucks too!

Also - they gave me free fries. Just sayin.

Here's Toreja loving her Mary's burger:



See that gaze? That's true burger love. 

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Monday, 18 May 2015

CBD nights out

Turns out that being jet lagged is a pretty good advantage when you go out two nights in a row... post-midnight is when I'm the most awake!

Much like central London, Friday night in Sydney's CBD is popular for after work drinks with colleagues. As I currently have no colleagues, I went to meet my Sydney counterparts (including housemate Toreja) from my ex-company for dinner and drinks.

We went to Redoak on Clarence Street for dinner, which offers a a fairly simple (and meaty) but decent menu. I ordered the Brewers Beef; the cut of the day was blade steak - it cost $25 (around £13) and was a good 7/10! It came with chips (hot chips?!), a really tasty jus and simple side salad.


Redoak is popular with beer drinkers and is 'Australia's most awarded brewery' - the food menu even offers suggested beers to partner with each meal. I was drinking wine (pictured below and very nice!) but I asked for some reviews from one of the guys testing out the beer and he gave the following, sort of helpful, words:
  • Beer - delicious
  • Stout - dark, malty, brooding... touch of sweetness that goes down smooth
  • Rye bock - rich, malty, roast and complex

How a drink can be brooding I'm yet to find out. Here's the wine, Ross Hill Shed no. 8, Sauvignon Blanc 2013:


And proof that we enjoyed the wine (+ a photobombing colleague)...



After lots of food/beer/wine we went on The Cuban Place on York Street - there was salsa dancing upstairs but we opted for the more chilled basement bar. There is a good selection of cocktails and the bar staff really look the part. It's a cool atmosphere but the best bit for me was the music... lots of 60s, 70s and 80s pop rock, but not the cheesy, naff kind, the good kind ;).

Last stop was Palings on ivy's level one, open late on weekdays. I've been here for Thai at lunch time too and can highly recommend the food! I really like it here, the whole centre of the building is open, so it's quite different from the sweaty underground clubs I'm used to. The music was decent and there's plenty of space for dancing. This is important. 



Saturday... I spent most of the day trying to work off my booze legs before we went out again, this time to Casino at The Star hotel. There is a whole floor dedicated to different themed bars (including Rock Lily, where a live band plays), a club, restaurants and, obviously, the casino itself. This makes it very easy to go from bar to bar via a blackjack table. If I had any idea whatsoever how to gamble I'm sure I would have. But I don't. So I didn't. I did become engrossed in a particularly boring game of poker towards the end of the night, but I'm putting that down to lack of energy. At 4.30am we got food at Fat Noodle, still inside Casino. They serve until 5.00am and serve Asian fusion food by the baccarat tables. I ordered the Hainan chicken but would recommend the wok tossed beef sirloin, which two of my party had (while I had food envy). Meals are around $20.

No photos of the yummy food, but here's a fun one from a photo booth in Rock Lily:


#amyinsydney




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Thursday, 14 May 2015

Arriving in Sydney

It's done! Left my job, friends, family and loved (if slightly cramped) home in Clapham, London and moved to the other side of the world. Sydney, to be exact.

Being limited to one suitcase (which still came out of the baggage claims carousel with a 'heavy' warning label attached to it, despite my clothes cull) and one cabin case means I'm here with barely any toiletries, not enough clothes and a severe lack of shoes. Luckily, I have moved in with my good friend and (I've since discovered from looking through the bathroom cupboard) beauty addict Toreja - so the toiletry issue is fine. The rest can be sorted with a few trips to the Topshop in CBD or a heavy session on ASOS.

Many Brits will also be pleased to know (I know I was) that Yorkshire Tea bags can be purchased from Coles supermarket. This was an important discovery last night, I can imagine how Captain Cook felt now.

A photo posted by @amy_340 on
So that's sort of the point of this blog - I'm going to try and showcase all the great stuff about Sydney, including places to visit, eat and drink, while also comparing everyday stuff with back home in the UK, such as teabags, shopping and beauty products.

And, just so you know who's talking to you, here is me with my crazy new housemate...


#amyinsydney

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