Ash St Cellar, Wynyard

As we get older, I've realised it' becomes harder and harder to fit meet ups into everyone's busy schedules which is always a shame. But that just makes catch ups (when possible) even more special! Miss LB Slaya and I always try to squeeze in time together to do what we enjoy doing best - eating food! We definitely took advantage of Merivale's $33 meal deals through the month of March and early April and that is how we ended up at Ash St Cellar that night.

L to R: 2010 Villa Maria 'Cellar Selection' Pinot Noir, 2012 Villa Maria 'Cellar Selection' Pinot Gris

This particular deal came with wine! $33 gave you a glass of wine and a main course. Wine is definitely a welcome sight after a long day at work :P Red wine, as always, tastes much better after you let it rest for a while to let the flavours develop.

Complimentary bread

 

Shellfish and chorizo paella

We cooed over how cute the paella was when it arrived - it was the smallest single serving pan! The shellfish gave the paella such a wonderful depth of flavour and finding a piece of chorizo was like finding a little nugget of gold but I was just sad that there wasn't a crispy bottom which is the part I always look forward to most.

Half roast duck, salad of witlof, orange, olives & walnuts

Duck is one of my favourite game meats so I was a tad disappointed that this roast version was quite dry. The rub on the skin gave it a crispiness that really would've gone well together with tender duck meat.

I suppose Ash St's Cellar's specialty wouldn't be their food but their large selections of house wines on offer. Most customers there seemed to be having after works drinks with a few nibbles on the side - that seems like the way to go!

Ash St. Cellar
1 Ash St
Sydney, NSW, 2000

Opening Hours
Monday - Friday: 8:30am - 11:00pm

Janus, Sydney CBD

One of Westfield Sydney's positive attributes would have to be their choice of eats in their food court. There's so much more than your standard fast food joints on offer. For those of you who don't like the hustle and bustle environment of food courts, you can even venture up to level 6 where they have Xanthi Restaurant, Chat Thai, Chinta Ria, Sky Phoenix, Max Brenner, and Janus, where I made a particular visit this time around with Miss Dentist-In-Training and my other friend E.

Thornclarke pinot gris, $38.00

This was an occassion of celebration, so we decided to order a bottle of wine. Hailing from South Australia, with its flavours of Nashi pears and apple puree, this white wine finished on a clean and crisp note. Can't say I know too much about wines, but this one wasn't bad.

Spicy chorizo, $20.00

Couldn't resist ordering a pizza with chorizo on it. They were quite generous with the chorizo pieces, and bits of fennel, rocket and capsicum added a punch of flavour that made this pizza quite delicious.

Pumpkin, haloumi & pinenut salad, $15.00

I was looking forward to the lemon and oregano vinaigrette that would dress this salad but unfortunately we didn't get any of that. Instead, we got a very oily dressing that didn't have much flavour and only added grease to the palette. Much like when you forget to shake those Praise salad dressings you can buy at the supermarket before you drizzle it onto your salad. The saving grace of the plate was the roasted vegetables themselves - butternut pumpkin, sweet potato, carrot, eggplant and zucchini. I quite enjoyed eating them with the saltiness of the grilled haloumi.

Pappardelle al ragu di agnello e pecorino sardo, $18.00 for entree size

It sounded so promising with its slow cooked lamb shoulder ragu and pecorino sardo. When I see slow cooked lamb on the menu, I'm expecting a meat that's extremely tender, with the flavours infused right in from all that time that's spent cooking. What we got instead was quite a bland pasta dish, where the pasta was a tad slimy and the lamb itself was quite stringy. And where, may I ask, is the pecorino?

Choc-nut fudge brownie, $5.80

We decided we needed a little bit of a pick me up after that mediocre-at-best lunch, so we headed next door to indulge in a piece of intensely rich fudgey brownie. That chocolate sauce cheered us right up!

So do let me know, do you try to save the day after a not so awesome meal by treating yourself to a little something extra afterwards?

Janus
L6 Westfield Sydney
188 Pitt Street
Sydney, NSW, 2000

Opening Hours
Monday - Friday: 11:00am - 9:00pm (closed from 3:00 - 5:00pm)
Saturday - Sunday: 11:00am - 9:00pm