The Dip, Sydney CBD

The Dip was a huge thing when they first opened - good comforting American style burgers in the middle of Sydney? Three cheers for that! I've been many times, but I've never really gotten around to blogging about it as I've never taken many photos, but I finally have a couple!

Good God turns into a semi-night club as the night progresses normally. So it is quite a dark space when you head on down. I wouldn't quite recommend getting the jugs - they are quite expensive for what they are. It's pretty much cordial as it's quite watered down. Definitely light on the shots. But the food is another matter!

Pulled pork nachos, $15.00

Best nachos ever, hands down. Soft pulled pork that's slightly sweet with all that melty cheese and salsa, beans, jalepeno sauce and a sprinkling of spring onion for good measure. Yum.

Southern smoke, $12.00

Yes, I love my pork. It is an incredibly versatile meat I tell you. You can have it on top of nachos and you can also have it in a burger! With apple and cabbage slaw, beans and BBQ sauce, this combination was a winner. Something about apple brings out the sweetness in pork. It's awesome. This burger was incredibly messy to eat with the soft bun, but boy was it worth it. Plus I wasn't going out of my way to impress anyone - good friends deal with friends messily eating burgers :P

The Dip always provides solid food so I never mind heading over again every so once in a while - which I do!

The Dip
55 Liverpool St
Sydney, NSW, 2000

Opening Hours
Wednesday - Thursday: 5:00pm - 10:00pm
Friday: 5:00pm - 11:00pm
Saturday: 6:00pm - 11:00pm

Stitch Bar, Wynyard

The concept of Stitch Bar is one that is quite interesting. This small bar is barely discernable from the street, and the only way of telling that there is a bar downstairs is the bouncer that guards the tiny entrance. The theme of sewing really ends at the entrance, but doesn't mean that the area downstairs isn't cool. We managed to snag a booth that night after a booking was made (which I highly recommend you doing if you want seats without waiting!). I already knew what I was ordering after a quick glance over the concise menu and was pretty excited. It sounded pretty awesome!

Mack Ducky Dog, $19.00

Apparently the sausage was supposed to be duck, orange and pistachio but alas I didn't discern any three of those flavours. The foie gras and truffle sauce were also not that distinguishable in taste and instead left only an oily feel in the mouth. I was looking forward to a big hit of truffle :( However, the curly fries were the saving grace of the plate. Crunchy and tossed in a spice mix, these were very addictive!

We didn't have anything to drink at Stitch that night, but I have heard good things about the cocktails there. Next time I visit, I'll probably just go for some drinks and give the food a miss. But a bowl of curly fries on the side whilst you're sipping on your drink sounds like a good idea!

Stitch Bar
61 York Street
Sydney, NSW, 2000
http://www.stitchbar.com

Opening Hours
Monday - Wednesday: 4:00pm - 12:00am
Thursday - Friday: 12:00pm - 2:00am
Saturday: 4:00pm - 2:00am

Jazz City Milk Bar, Darlinghurst

I think I felt heart palpitations a little upon hearing that there was a southern American chef who cooked up fried chicken and waffles in Sydney. Authentic regional southern American cuisine and New Orleans Creole/Cajun cooking in the heart of Darlinghurst? I say yes a million times over to that! K, CM and I arrived early at around a quarter past six and there were many empty tables but unfortunately majority of them were all booked. They did offer us a table but told us it was reserved for seven. We are generally fast eaters so that didn't faze us much. We quickly decided what we wanted from the concise menu.

Pork belly burger, $18.00 + $4.00 extra for onion rings

There were so many slices of pork belly in this burger! There were Boston baked beans, pickled cucumber, tomato caramelised onions and lettuce along with the fatty pork belly. But what we won me over were those onion rings. I am so glad we forked out to get the onion rings because they were so awesomely crispy and as soon as you bit through the crunchy batter, the sweet onion came through. They were just so addictive!

Mushroom and onion burger, $17.00

This was the pick out of the two burgers! Beef patties and burgers are just meant to be. The combination of the ground beef patty with swiss brown mushrooms sauteed with caramelised onions, lettuce, tomato, mayo, pickle relish and a blue cheese foam made it a succulent burger that was delicious to eat. Albeit a bit messy to eat, but all the good burgers are ;) And the sweet potato fries? So much better than the ones I make at home and your regular fries (but that may be because I am a sweet potato fanatic). I want to know how they make these so moreish!

Chicken and waffles, $24.00

Though I enjoyed the mushroom and onion burger, I loved loved loved the fried chicken and waffles!! Mmm check out all that maple syrup being poured onto this plate of awesomeness! There were a few hidden pieces of spinach under the fried chicken with brown butter but that was forgotten as I savoured the chickeny, waffly and maply-ness :D Overall this is a dish that combines my favourite flavours of sweet and salty into one.

Alas we were all much too full to order dessert and instead walked back to Town Hall to spend the rest of the night chatting inside a much too air-conditioned Starbucks. Coconut cream pie I will come back for you!!

Jazz City Milk Bar
Republic 2 Building Courtyard
Palmer Street (between Liverpool and Burton Street)
Darlinghurst, NSW 2010

Opening Hours
Lunch  Thursday-Saturday: 12:00-2:00pm
Dinner  Tuesday-Saturday: 6:00-10:00pm
Closed Sunday & Monday

Snag Stand, Westfield Sydney, CBD

Sweet post summer school celebrations! Went out with a couple of friends to see "Wreck-It Ralph" today. Yes, I know it is a child's movie and yes, it has been showing for a few months already so it's pretty old. But despite that, the cinemas were pretty full which was quite surprising! I also enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. The plot was actually very creative and it's quite different from what has been coming out in cinemas recently. A very nice change.

We also decided to grab hot dogs afterwards from the Snag Stand in Westfield Sydney. Who can say no to hot dogs and cheese? :D

Toulouse, $9.90

How could I resist truffle aioli? I thought the sauteed onions and toasted brioche added a sweet element which contrasted with the rosemary mushrooms and salty pork sausage. I did find the sausage to be quite salty nearing the end though... But it wasn't too high in sodium and I definitely enjoyed it! Though I think the entire hot dog would be a bit too much.

Spicy Spanish Chorizo, $9.90

This one was really good! I liked it even more than the Toulouse. With sun-dried tomatoes, chipotle mayo, baby rocket and shredded Spanish goat's cheese, what's not to like? Loved the slight spicy kick from the chorizo and chipotle mayo. That goat's cheese was also all sorts of cheesy amazingness and it definitely wasn't overpowering in flavour so that the chorizo flavour was lost. I think this was the pick out of the two!

Oh Westfield Sydney food court, you've yet to disappoint me! Can always count on you for tasty lunches (:

Snag Stand
188 Pitt St
Level 5 Westfield Sydney
Sydney, NSW, 2000

Opening Hours
Sunday: 10:00am - 6:00pm
Monday-Wednesday: 10:00am - 6:30pm
Thursday: 10:00am - 9:00pm
Friday-Saturday: 10:00am - 8:00pm

Hartsyard, Newtown

After waking up early in the morning when I had another extremely late night trying to catch up on uni work, and then spending a good few hours down in the wood workshop at uni, I was definitely looking forward to the architecture revue of 2012 - "Games of Homes". But obviously that doesn't come before going out for dinner first!

I have been very keen for Hartsyard after reading many reviews circling around the blogging sphere. A wanted to get there super early so that we wouldn't be late the for 7:30 start for the revue - but perhaps we got there a little too early... The staff were still eating dinner when we entered! They apologised that they weren't open until 5:30 so we went looking around in a nearby poster shop before going back. One of the staff ladies was super nice and apologised again for having to shoo us out earlier on but we were unfazed because even we knew it was much too early for dinner! We were promptly seated and I was immediately enraptured by the cute mismatched vintage napkins that adorned the tables!

I already had my heart set on the fried chicken so it was then a choice of another dish. We were all intrigued by the dandelion and chicory salad so that was ordered to sate our curiosity.

Dandelion and chicory salad, $17.00

The salad itself came with wonderful pieces of pork crackling that were intensely crunchy. There were dandelion and chicory leaves which have a slight bitter taste upon first bite but then a subtle sweetness comes out the more you chew which paired wonderfully with the mustard dressing and the salty French cheese. The oozy yolk of the soft-poached egg added creaminess and a squeeze of grilled lemon added that extra zing to complete the dish.

Cold-smoked fried chicken, $28.00

House made hot sauce to pair with the chicken

Oh my, look at that crispy batter on that chicken. It was glorious I tell you, glorious! The chicken tasted so good without the hot sauce that I was almost tempted not to use it but then boy am I glad I did! It had great flavour, but don't worry for those of you who cannot handle chilli - it wasn't spicy at all. But the unexpected surprise of the dish was the sausage gravy which I definitely did not expect to love as much as I did! It was so creamy and flavoursome and together with the fluffy biscuit/scone? My mouth was in heaven. This gravy had me coming back for more!

When it came to desserts, all three of us zoomed in on different things and finally cut it down to two. We had such a hard time choosing and when we asked the waiter which one he'd recommend, he said that both of them were excellent so what choice did we have but to order both? ;) Our inner gluttons coming out despite already being content from the salad and fried chicken (which was definitely deceptively filling because of the oil, especially with the creamy gravy!).

Deep-fried cheesecake + popcorn icecream, $16.00

When I saw deep-fried cheesecake, I expected a big fat slice of blueberry cheesecake coated with a batter and then deep-fried. So expect my surprise when this high-class restaurant quality dish came to our table! It definitely was beautifully presented. The popcorn icecream and cheesecake sat on top of a lemon curd with some yuzu jam next to it. There was caramelised popcorn pieces, blueberry powder and frozen blueberries! The popcorn icecream was amazing. It was salty and sweet and creamy and hit all the right places. The deep-fried cheesecake was also enjoyable with a nice batter and cheesy innards. So good!

Peanut butter + banana sundae, $16.00

This dessert was very sweet and heavy! Yet it was devilishy decadent at the same time. The pretzel icecream with a peanut butter crumble and salted fudge? Yes please. It also paired excellently with the banana donuts that were hidden amongst the overflowing fudge - it spilled out all over the sides as you can see in the picture! Despite feeling full, we devoured both desserts in no time at all.

When we entered Hartsyard, it was completely empty and we were the first patrons of the night! However, as we were leaving at 7, the place was jam packed full and buzzing with people so I'd say if you wanted dinner, booking seems like the way to go. The food definitely did not tick any health boxes here, but it was a treat all the same. Highly recommend this place!

Clutching our stomachs, we made our way to watch the Revue where I proceeded to laugh all night to the point where my cheeks hurt! Definitely a winner and worth every cent of the $15 I paid for a ticket! Can't wait to see next year's production (:

Hartsyard
31 Enmore Rd
Newtown, NSW, 2042
8068 1473
http://hartsyard.com.au

Opening Hours
Wednesday - Sunday: 5:30pm until late