Opera Kitchen, Sydney Opera House

Opera Kitchen is not your ordinary food court - it is an iconic food court. Tucked between two Australian Icons - the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, this kitchen is a stellar destination. It is the latest addition in the Opera House precinct, just underneath the Opera House concourse. It features bite-sized menus of popular restaurants such as Becasse, Charlie & Co, Cloudy Bay Fish Co, Misschu and Kenji Japanese in another section. Given the choice of 4 eateries - of course we would try each!

Located on the lower level of the Opera House, next to Opera Bar - It is an ideal place to spend a hot Summer's day with a crisp glass (or bottle..) of Australian Wine or down a beer (or two..) Many people avoid this area of the city because it is too touristy - ie. crowded and expensive. And when you are dining in Circular Quay on a budget - sometimes your only options are Mc Donalds or City Extra. Well, not anymore because you can enjoy the view without sacrificing your tastebuds.

Charlie and Co. Burgers, Westfield Sydney CBD

 Hamburgers. I could write endless sonnets about my love for this food group. I have always been on the hunt for new tasty burger varieties - some fancy, some obtained at a drive through counter at an ungodly hour. Burgers are little patties of happiness in a bread bun, and word on the street is that the newly opened Charlie and Co. has burger affecionados falling truly madly deeply in love with their offerings.

 

Navigating your way through the newly opened Westfield Sydney is hard enough when you get distracted by shiny objects - but Demos and I were on a food mission. The last time we visited this centre was during their opening weekend and I was traumatised by the crowds, distracted by Gucci and pretty much lost in a "Christian Louboutin Opening Soon" daze. It was desperation to try Charlie and Co. that drove us there that day but it was just far too crowded and I just had no sense of direction. Its the first time a shopping mall defeated me (only because I was weakend by hunger). This time I kept my focus, and I sucessfuly led Demos to level 4.

Since we both rushed to get there after work, we luckily beat out most of the thursday night shopping crowd. We were seated almost immediately, but noticed there was a long line of office workers ordering to go. The menu tells the tale of Charlie - the man who gave the human race fire. Well not really, the story is that our mate Charlie "invented" the hamburger by sandwiching the meatballs he was selling in between bread. The rest as they say is history, but thanks to Justin North his legend lives on - with a side of fancyness of course.

Fries with Parmesan and Truffle Oil $8 - i'll get to this soon!

Moncur Terrace, Woollahra (Let's do Brunch - SIFF 2010)

Yes, its all about Back-to-Back Brunches here at The Empty Fridge, and on a beautiful sunny saturday morning in Sydney we headed for a yummy brekky feed at Moncur Terrace.


As we were walking through leafy Woollahra, we were practically melting! It honestly felt like the middle of summer at 11 am, and there were several sun-hungry people who had their beach bags in tow and walked past us heading towards Bondi. Although I would have loved to spend the morning laying at the beach, we were hungry for some Brunch - the sun will still be out the rest of the day, we thought.

Moncur Terrace is a very casual and relaxed Bistro at the Woollahara Hotel. As we sit down inside the now sun-filled outdoor garden area, we can't help but joke that it's the poor-man's Bistro Moncur.. especially as we are here on a mission to try their $25 'Let's do Brunch Special'. This makes choosing what to eat that much easier - and my $25 "meal" came with a glass of Brown Brothers Prosecco. Champagne or Sparkling wine Breakfasts are perfectly fine in my books. However, you can choose between a glass of Prosecco, a glass of Coopers light, bottle of  Aqua Panna still water or San Pellegrino Sparkling Mineral water if you prefer.

Demos's asks me: "I know it's not even midday yet - but they have Peroni on tap here". As I look around, our fellow brunch-ers are already hitting the vino and the beers - so let the man have his Peroni! Although I would have preferred a coffee with my meal, the Prosecco is a light and crisp prelude - I'm not a fan of Prosecco at the best of times (I have this weird aversion to anything overly carbonated, I don't drink cola at all!) but I enjoyed sipping my breakfast bubbles under the very very hot sun. Oh yes, we should re-name this blog to "Dezza and Gezza - the boozehounds" 

The dish that Bistro Moncur offer for the "Let's do Brunch" event are their Sweet Corn Fritters with Barossa Bacon, Poached egg, Avocado and caramelized onion on toasted sonoma bread. My main concern when having corn fritters is that some places might add a sneaky bit of coriander in the batter, and coriander is my kryptonite. So because of this silly food allergy of mine I always have to check and yay! I have the green light!

Look at that perfectly poached runny egg! Corn Fritters are my absolute favourite breakfast dish and the the Moncur Terrace version is absolutely delicious!  The fritters batter itself is sweet - like a hotcake - and not floury at all. The kernels of sweet corn are a welcome burst of flavour, and I smash up some avocado to go with it - creamy goodness! The caramelized onion were sweet and mushy, and spread like a thick butter on the bread. Bacon always adds that salty punch, and this is a very lean piece. I could have done with an extra rasher and a bigger piece of bread, but its all about quality here and not quantity so I cant be Ms. greedy guts. Besides, I need to practice my portion control  ;D

Wagyu Burger - $23.00

Demos decides to skip a traditional breakfast meal as soon as he see's Wagyu Beef Burger on the Menu - with a his beer in hand he has such a huge grin on his face as soon as this towering burger arrives. 

 This has to be one of the better Wagyu burgers we have had. At $23 dollars, it does not dissapoint with its melt in your mouth patty. The minced wagyu rump is absolutely delicious and juicy. It is perfectly seasoned and stacked with all the trimmings - pickles, beetroot, tomatoes...everything you can see in the cross section above was delicious down to the last crumb of the bun. Demos even cut me a little quarted and plonked it on my plate "There - that way you can't say I dont share." True love is sharing your Wagyu Burger, and not just the shoestring fries on the side.

Yes, my inner child cannot help it when there is a squeeze-y bottle of ketchup nearby

 Although Moncur Terrace offers just one yummy dish with minimal bells and whistles for the Brunch Special, the quality was top notch and I would visit again to try the other dishes they had on offer. By the time we finished our meal though, the storm clouds were hovering around us - which was very confusing as we were still a little sunburnt from sitting in the sunshine while enjoying our awesome meal. Lucky for us, the torrential downpour started as soon as we got into our cars. Our afternoon of sitting by the pool went up in smoke, but at least our tummies were satisfied. Win Win. 

Other Posts on "Let's to Brunch" - Sydney International Food Festival 2010

- Signorelli Gastronomia, Oct 2010

- Bitton Gourmet Cafe, Oct 2010

The Woollahra Hotel, 116 Queen St Woollahra 2025 02-93279777

http://www.woollahrahotel.com.au

MONSTER BURGER!!! Tokyo, Japan

One day we decided to take the trip to Odaiba, Tokyo's man made island. This place is way out there and is pretty much an example of what happened in Tokyo during the good times in its economic history. 

The buildings gives a good indication of this considering that they are some of the craziest and outlandish architectural designs - gigantic balls, inverted pyramids and so forth.

Odaiba is also home to theme parks such as Muscle Park, the Toyota History Museum and Display Showroom (where you can take an computerised car for a spin) and a number of outlet malls. After walking around Odaiba all day and checking out the Toyota museum we stumbled through Muscle Park and found the MONSTER BURGER!

This was pretty much the coolest burger ever in terms of fast food. I mean come on - MONSTER BURGER!!!!! We decided to give the burger a go, it would be considered pretty un-Australian not to. 

The burger comes in a cool package - the Monster Box. Also accompanied with a little mini Monster Burger cardboard cut out toy with a launcher you assemble and use to vault the cutout over the tower.

Now the burger itself is pretty big. Consisting of 3 parts - A chicken burger, a bacon burger and a beef burger with bacon. Pretty hard to eat in one go so splitting it up is the strategy to pursue. As a meal set it cost us 1,250 YEN.

Taste-wise, it was nothing spectacular. We opted not to get the teriyaki sauce with it - didn't think it would go well with the tart flavour of japanese mayonaise. The best part was the fried chicken fillet, it was indeed very crispy and has the right amount of spice. The burger section was not the best, the combination of tomato sauce and mayo caused the bread to go soggy. After all the walking around in Odaiba it was still pretty hard to get through. As difficult it is to eat (and finish) how can you say no to such a quirky creation? Only in Japan! If only we had time to try out the mega burger from lotteria...

The Beresford Hotel, Surry Hills

Oh The Beresford. We are going to be such good friends.

How I have fallen in love with your "Betty Burger" - a meat patty with on a HUGE bun, with rocket, beetroot, tomato, pancetta, provolone and lashings of olive tapenade.

And your salt and pepper calamari - nothing says romance then garlic breath after smothering your perfectly battered squid in the aoli.

What can be better then spending a brisk saturday afternoon with a mojito and a beer, pretending its summer and ignoring the cold!

So much prettier now that Mr Hemmes is looking after you, like a mini Ivy - except less skeezy. God bless merivale magic! 

Truly, love at first sight. 


The Beresford Hotel - 354 Bourke Street, Darlinghurst NSW 2000.