THE 2002 SYDNEY SURVEY

Hugo’s Bondi - Wildfire - Beppi’s - The Oyster Bar - Shiki - Kingsley’s

There was one defining moment when I realised I was truly back in Sydney for the annual Sir Hinchalot survey. Not so much a case of the Good the Bad and the Ugly but the New, the Old and the Should Be Dead.

I had heard rumours that some of the top name eateries were in trouble. As mentioned here before, a lot of diners, even the professional ones, had grown sick of the Olympic Games- hyped prices of $50 mains and eight bucks for chips, thank you muchly.

According to the Gourmet Traveller some big names suffered in 2002. Some closed, and some found a lot of clean white linen tablecloths with not many people sitting near them.

The supposedly hottest place – Otto’s at Woolloomooloo – was scandal-ridden after John Laws became the largest shareholder, rather than the biggest spender. One distraught manager reportedly dashed through the main restaurant clad only in his underpants. And he had to persuade to put THEM on.

Gave a new slant to the old song “ Otto drives me crazy so Otto’s grotto go!”

But the defining moment in a week of culinary research in Sydney was at the trendy new Hugo’s on Campbell Parade in Bondi. What a location! On the Bronte rise of Campbell Parade, above the greasy fish’nchips and ice cream stretch that is redolent of Manly and Glenelg’s Jetty Road.

Hugo’s, where James and Jodie dined (before he became a bachelor again and she became Jodie with an H).

We sat above that wonderful, endless, crescent-shaped beach where summer yearners were already trying to bake and we ordered a dozen natural oysters.

They promised Coffin Bay but the oysters were spawning in SA so we settled for Sydney Rocks.

My lunch partner queried the bill. “ Sorry, we only had one dozen “, she said.

She was right and so were they. But the dozen natural oysters cost $42.

Almost made one crack the old joke about “ Hugo eff yourself”.

But Sydney is a great town for a fish adventure. Take Beppi’s in Darlinghurst for example. This classic Mine Host has been there for more than forty years. They still bring out the trays of fish and vegetables to show you what is on offer. The scampi and the barramundi, the yabbies and the field mushrooms.

Beppi’s is still one of the few upper class consistent nosh houses in Sydney where he tells you he serves genuine New Zealand whitebait – and he does. It is not that crap from Taiwan or the pretender stuff from Tasmania. And it is not the min-sardines that Greek restaurants around the country pass off as whitebait.

Beppi has the real stuff. Lightly fried in tiny fritters. Worth a visit.

And, in season, their white asparagus is a given.

(Beppi also has homemade gin, laden with juniper berries, for martinis but that’s another hiccup story).

Speaking of booze: Wildfire, in the old passenger embarkation building at Circular Quay, is the buzziest place in town. It is huge. Socially and geographically.

And they have the biggest cocktail menu in the world. As a red wine drinker I was actually enticed into a bourbon cocktail called Kentucky Caipirinha. It had bourbon, obviously, plus vanilla sugar and mountains of fresh crushed lemons. It won the Kentucky derby for me.

Went back a second night to Wildfire. Not impressed at the start of the night when we planned to share a “ chef’s cold seafood entrée platter”. It was priced at $45 and we were told it was not big enough for two people.

Instead we had a stunning salad of blue swimmer crabs and hazelnut mayonnaise. It came in four segments which was heaps for two people but it cost more than twenty dollars where twenty-dollar entrees and $15 desserts are the norm.

Wildfire is one of the gems on either side of Circular Quay. So is Aqua Luna for a salad or a ham and cheese toasted sandwich. So is the Opera Bar for a fillet of Atlantic salmon on a bed of cucumber, pear and walnut.

Kingsley’s is an apparent poor sister of Otto’s at Woolloomooloo. Shouldn’t be. I had a great seafood platter there. An entrée size was enough for two with a few extra salt and pepper prawns thrown in. Great mussels and tender salt and pepper calamari.

They also had crab at $99 a kilo, which we passed on.

The Oyster Bar, in the shadow of the Opera House sails at Circular Quay had a dozen Sydney Rocks at half the price of Hugo’s and a generous, if over-cheesed, Caesar salad.

The Hinchalot order was for a dozen freshly-boiled, peel-your-own, prawns. They were fresh. They were firm. They were a healthy boiled red in colour. And the location is a gem.

And to wrap up the nosebag excursion : A dinner visit to one of the most reliable and best Japanese restaurants in Australia.

It is called Shiki. Not to be confused with Shiki in Adelaide. It is in The Rocks in Sydney and they serve one of the best and most consistent sushi plates and shabu shabu in this country.

We were the only Caucasians there. Obviously by occident, sorry, accident.

The slivers of beef for the shabu shabu dish are rimmed with fat for the Japanese palate but the quality of the meat and the crispness and freshness of the cabbage and mushrooms and sprouts is so good I don’t mind scraping the fat away.

The Great Sydney Restaurant Excursion proved several things. There are great restaurants there. The buzz at nosheries on both sides of Circular Quay is palpable and wonderful. They will find increasing resistance to their high prices.

And $42 for a dozen fresh but mediocre Sydney oysters is not an experience to repeat. Aw shucks!