Somehow I’m the queen of subtext in my recent posts but my god if you gaiz think of other things, you are so rude!
But summer is officially over in Oz and sadly, there’s no time for Golden Gaytime anymore. Unless you’re the kind who likes to eat ice cream to keep warm, and then you can have a look at more items to take a pick from. I have relatives in Italy who convinced me that it’s best to eat gelato when it’s cold. Seriously. Who are they kidding?
One day, I was invited to view a theatre short all the way to Penrith. I thought it was a perfect excuse to go around the city. Not that Sydney and Penrith are entirely close (Penrith is close to the mountains), but it was a good stop over before heading up.
Fortunately, that weekend, Sydney seemed to have something up its sleeve. The annual Sydney Night Noodle Market was up and how could I not resist eating some of the best Asian hawker-style grub around New South Wales, right? So I went up to Hyde Park and gave it a go.
I’ve been avoiding restaurants in Australia because they are damn expensive. In Sydney, a restaurant can cost around $25-40 dollars on an average. Some even demand reservations. It’s crazy. Even New York is starting to look cheaper.
In Leura though, I had my worries that we would be out of a table for dinner because there was hardly any restaurant in the area. Fortunately, Leura Garage was open and they had a nice cozy space with awesome food at a reasonable cost. It’s actually a renovated garage opened up to curious transients like me. If there’s such a thing as clean grit, then I suppose this restaurant has it.
Parched from going around, my friends and I started with some drinks. I ordered a capirinha, a drink I had no idea how it tasted but the idea of cachaca, lime, and muscovado sugar delighted me immensely. I honestly haven’t tasted cachaca before but figured that what I don’t know won’t hurt me. And boy was it good. I could drink it everyday and never tire of it.
Choosing what to eat was a lot difficult because there were tons to order. We’d order everything but our stomachs had its limits. Considering our diets, we had an Ocean Board, a tray of seafood, then roasted heirloom vegetables, and some pork ribs. We thought it was a modest selection but wow… didn’t think we’d get a lovely treat for its price.
The Ocean Board arrives first and I started to hate the world. Just how can you eat such a beautiful platter of food? Seafood fresh and glistening, wobbling slightly at the slight nudge, an unexpected tease that we couldn’t resist. To this day, I still suffer thinking how awesome that food. If I wasn’t hungry, I would have savoured her more. Maybe sang songs and poems. Danced a little. Maybe treasured those flavours a little more in my mouth.
But just when I was letting that oyster slide in my mouth, here comes the pork with the roasted vegetables. Well… that’s another thing. The thing with pork ribs is that you expect it to have particular flavours. It isn’t exactly a barbecued rib, but the braise had enough tartness and sweetness that pork just makes me sing with joy. It also had bacon flakes on top. Not the bacos kind but paperthin bacon flakes. Or chip in this side of the world. It was such a harmony of flavor that I regret forgetting the Ocean Board.
Dinner at Leura Garage was a good introduction to the awesome food found in Blue Mountain. Not that I managed to taste others during my trip, but it’s set such a high standard that I’ll probably be expecting nothing but the best from other restaurants in the area.
I’ve been here in Australia for a while and I am fortunate to live in an area that has good ambience. I’ve got a garden for a neighbor and a bus away is the coast. That said, I don’t really get to go out a lot. PhD life is quite busy. Very busy, in fact. So I’m really fortunate when friends invite me to go out. This time, I head way up north to Leura for a weekend.
My darling Singaporean friend dragged me away from my books and invited me to join her and her friend to Leura. I… confess… I really don’t know anything about Australia other than Junior Master Chef, the Sydney Opera house, and the Great Barrier Reef. I’m a waste of a resident so when the opportunity arises, I try to get to know more about Australia. Continue reading
So my friend came over Sydney and we decided to hang around one afternoon around the harbour area.
By the time dinner came, it was hard for me to choose a restaurant because I realize that on Sundays, most restaurants close quite early in Sydney. So we chose a random restaurant at the Rocks which had the most Australian flavors I can imagine.
Now what makes Australian flavors? I have no bloody idea. Maybe it’s aboriginal food? It’s not like Master Chef has taught me to properly assess what makes Australian cuisine. If anything, it has shown me how diverse it has become. So to find an Australian restaurant was quite daunting.
As we sat down for dinner, we thought why not take something crazy, at least? That night, we thought it wouldn’t hurt to have a crocodile. They’re mean animals anyway. No one would cry if the world lost another croc. Maybe.
Anyway, we gave it a shot expecting a profound or new flavor or texture.
Instead, we got chicken. Croc tastes like chicken. Now I don’t know if that’s how it’s supposed to be but yeah… I guess we had higher expectations from a croc.
