Category: Darlinghurst

The name is derived from Elizabeth Darling and hurst is an old English word for a wooded area. It is now home of fine dining restaurants.

Una’s Darlinghurst

For this edition, we went to Darlinghurst to try one of the legendary restaurants in the area, Una’s. I’ve heard about them for many years, according to their website they have been around since the 70s!

One dish that kept popping up as a suggestion when visiting Una’s is their Schnitzel.

The Menu at Una’s Darlinghurst

If you look at the menu below, you’ll see Schnitzel basically occupies the top 6 main dishes.

You could also order entrees or side dishes, but only if you’re feeling peckish. Their Schnitzel is pretty big.

Jager Schnitzel with Mushroom Sauce – $24.40

Here’s a comparison of the size of schnitzel with a hand of an adult… pretty big eh?

With their schnitzel, you can choose between veal, chicken or pork. Jager schnitzel comes with mushroom sauce, cabbage salad and rosti.

Jager Schnitzel – $24.40

I was thinking about ordering the Gypsy Schnitzel but the temptation of schnitzel with mushroom sauce was too great!

Pork Knuckle with Sauerkraut and Rosti – $27.50

The pork knuckle is even bigger than the schnitzel for only $3 extra. You also get sauerkraut with bacon and the giant rosti.

Cherry Strudel with Ice Cream – $8.90

After a few pints and a schnitzel, you would want something that’s sweet to finish your dinner. Strudel is generally the choice when you go to an Austrian/German restaurant.

A slice of cherry strudel with a scoop of ice cream is only $8.90… yep, it’s not a typo!

Apple Strudel with Ice Cream – $8.90

If you don’t fancy cherry, perhaps you would like to try apple strudel instead?

The Final Verdict for Una’s Darlinghurst:

I’m sure you’ve picked up what you should order at Una’s Darlinghurst from our choices above.

Do you think I should go?

I don’t think you could find a schnitzel for under $25 in the city with this size.

Rating:

Una’s Darlinghurst

7.5 / 10

Taste: 8.0 / 10

Price: $22.40 – $27.50 for main

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

340 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst 2010, Sydney

+61 2 9360 6885

http://www.unas.com.au/

Feb 2, 2020
Sel Et Poivre

Review:

I have heard about this restaurant for quite a while and people seem to be singing praise of the cafe, but I just couldn’t bring myself to visit the area (not a big fan of trying to find street parking there!). So, when I finally went to the area, because I also wanted to try Gelato Messina, I couldn’t miss the chance to pay a visit.

The name is Sel Et Poivre (it is the French for salt and pepper) and it is located at the heart of Darlinghurst’s Victoria Street. From the moment we set foot in this restaurant, François (the boss there) showered us with great French hospitality.

Obviously when you are in a French restaurant there are a couple of dishes that you have to order. Escargots are one of them. To be exact, they were called Escargots gratinés au beurre d’ail or Gratinated snails with parsley and garlic butter. It is advised to order the dish with baguette. In addition to filling your tummy quite quickly, the baguette also enhanced the flavours of your escargots.

Escargots gratinés au beurre d’ail – $16.90

The second entree was more on the pretty side, called Galette de crabe au poireau braisé, à l’américaine (Crispy galette of fresh swimmer crab, leeks and sauce a l’americaine). It was beautifully presented and got quite a strong lobster sauce that complemented the crispy galette.

Galette de crabe au poireau braisé, à l’américaine – $17.50

Two of the mains that we ordered might not be your ‘usual’ types of dish. For the first main, it was steak tartare aller-retour avec sauce Béarnaise,frites et salade (Sel & Poivre steak tartare, seared or non seared with frites, salad and bearnaise sauce). Steak tartare is a raw minced beef that you enjoyed with tartare sauce and egg yolk. The sheer size of the steak might be quite intimidating to some and it was quite a heavy dish!

steak tartare aller-retour avec sauce Béarnaise,frites et salade – $26.90

Sel & Poivre steak tartare, seared or non seared with frites, salad and bearnaise sauce

The last dish of the day was foie de veau poêlé à l’échalotte et pommes-frites (Seared veal liver with a French shallot sauce and frites). It is suggested that you ordered the veal liver medium rare. This way you can actually taste the liver’s texture without being too rubbery. It’s perfectly fine if you love this part of the meat. However, it can be quite pungent for those not accustomed to it. Just like steak tartare, enjoying a liver dish also requires an acquired taste.

Foie de veau poêlé à l’échalotte et pommes-frites – $34.50

The two main dishes came with quite a large bowl of salad and fries.

If both mains are a bit too ‘adventurous’ for you, they also have quite a few range in their menu. Sel et poivre can also cook a special kids menu for your little one(s). We chose chicken with chips. They also gave a scoop of ice cream at the end. It was actually quite a big portion for a kid’s meal.

Special Kids Menu – $14.90

At the end of the day, we felt that we ordered a bit too much, but we just had to finish them all! The only regret was that we didn’t come to Sel Et Poivre a lot sooner!

The final verdict for Sel Et Poivre

Sel et Poivre has everything you could have asked for! They served great food and complimented that with great hospitality and service!

Did you know?

Victoria Street in Darlinghurst is the home of one of the best gelato joints in Australia, Gelato Messina.

Rating for Ester Restaurant and Bar:

8.5 / 10

Taste: 8.5 / 10

Price: $25 – $35 main dishes

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

263 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst

+61 2 9361 6530

http://www.seletpoivre.com.au/

Oct 29, 2014
The Colonial Restaurant

Review:

This week we go to an uncharted territory. The Colonial Restaurant becomes the first Indian restaurant for us to review! We were quite intrigued by its concept of British Indian cuisine. I then invited my friends from the UK to join me and gave an opinion on how ‘authentic’ the restaurant was.

Tapas

Interestingly, the Colonial restaurant has a selection of Tapas on their menu. They creatively transform Indian dishes into Tapas-sized delicacies.

We ordered quite a few Tapas, especially the platters:

–          Onion Bhaji ($6) – Fritter of Onions and spring onion (Deep-fry) served with mint and date chutney

–          The Colonial Vegetarian Platter ($10) – Vegetarian samosa, batata bara, onion bhaji and Paneer Tikka, Served with Mint and Date chutney

–          The Colonial Non-Veg Platter ($14) – Meat samosa, lamb lollipop, chicken tikka and Chicken drumstick, served with mint chutney

–          Seafood Platter – Prawns, deep fried fish and calamari, served with tomato chilli chutney

So, unless you have a dish that you really like, I suggest you ordered the platter. I loved how their complementary sauces worked differently depending on the dish.

A La Carte

We ordered quite a few a la carte dishes which were mostly different kinds of curry. However, I didn’t get the chance to try the vegetarian ones.

Straight off the bat, we were quite fixated with the Railway Goat Curry. The description also reinforced our belief: goat meat cooked in yogurt, bay leaf and saffron! However, we felt that the dish was overshadowed by the others. Our next dish, Chicken Tikka Masala, was promoted as Britain’s National Dish! So, we felt we really must get that. It was a well-balanced dish with capsicum, onion and tomato sauce.

We felt that the best dish of the day was the Mango Chicken. Cooked in mango pulp liquor (you can have the non-liquor version), this dish had the perfect recipe to be my favourite: sweet, tasty and flavoursome. To round up the a la carte menu, we had Beef Dhansak, diced beef cooked with lentils and spiced.

Mango Chicken ($17) – Boneless chicken cooked in very mild spices with coco cream and mango pulp liquor (Suntory Mohala)

Beef Dhansak ($17) – Diced beef cooked with lentils and spices

The Rest

Normally, you enjoy Indian food with either bread (naan or paratha) or rice. They have quite a large selection of naan and rice. I think it is better to have the plainest tasting one because the dishes are already very rich.

You should also order Pappadums and mint chutney as they were very nice!

Unfortunately, this time around they ran out of their dessert special: The Colonial Special Creme Brulee. It might have been a great finish for our lunch. We had to settle for part of the dessert, Gulab Jamun.

The verdict for The Colonial – British Indian Cuisine

I was very impressed on how the Colonial restaurant was very well-presented. You can have the option of enjoying the usual Indian dishes or Tapas-style dishes with Indian influence.

Rating for the Colonial:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $35 per person

Place: 8.0 / 10

Details:

118 Crown Street, Darlinghurst 2010

02 8084 6700

http://www.thecolonialrestaurant.com.au/

Jun 27, 2014
Lucio Pizzeria

Review:

The first time we went to Lucio Pizzeria was because we asked a simple question to an Italian: Beside your home-cooking, which Pizzeria was closest to the ‘real deal’? The answer was quick and certain: Lucio Pizzeria. It is located on a nice side street in the buzzing suburb of Darlinghurst.

Entree

The best value for your money would be the antipasto misto (mixed appetisers), for $26 you got a whole range of stuff, including prosciutto, arancini, grilled eggplant, and olives. For big eaters like me, I strongly suggest this!

If the antipasto misto sounds a bit too much for you, maybe you can try its Fig and prosciutto, Zucchini or Calamari Fritti ($19). However, the portions were rather small.

Main Course

The unique thing about Lucio Pizzeria is that they only serve pizze (or its variation) for the main course. We have managed to order several of them (Siciliana, Fume, Tartufata, Bufalina) and agreed that the base was the best part of the pizza. It was crunchy and chewy at the same time!

The only other main course is calzone, which looked kinda like a folded pizza. I felt that the calzone had more fillings/toppings than the pizza.

Dessert

If you still can’t get enough of the pizza, feel free to order their Nutella Pizza for dessert. It was created using the same pizza dough as the main course, with nutella topping. If you like Nutella, then this is the dessert for you.

Alternatively, I suggest you to try their Affogato. They gave quite a generous serving of ice cream (two scoops) and a strong shot of espresso. The ice cream was pretty smooth and the extra touch of frangelico is always welcomed!

The final verdict for Lucio Pizzeria

Lucio Pizzeria is currently our favourite pizzeria in Sydney. There was a different feel to the pizza base than any other pizza joints! Granted that you might not be getting a big range of toppings, but that’s what pizze are in Italy!

Did you know?

Lucio Pizzeria does not accept bookings, so I suggest you to come to the restaurant early.

Also, being an Authentic Italian Pizza, they don’t do fancy toppings. So you wouldn’t be seeing something like cheesy burst crust with lobster toppings!

Rating:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 8.0 / 10

Price: $20 – $25 per pizza

Place: 8.5 / 10

Details:

248 Palmer St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010

02 9332 3766

http://www.luciopizzeria.com.au/

Apr 30, 2014
Tomislav Restaurant

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Unfortunately, Tomislav has closed its doors for good.

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Rating:

8 / 10 Taste: 8/10

4-course degustation: $94

Place: 8/10

Review:

We went to Tomislav Restaurant for my birthday last week, that’s why this review was expedited instead of the one showing in ‘Next Week’s Menu’ 🙂

You have two options when dining at Tomislav: A four-course dinner or an eight-course dinner. Within the four-course menu, there are four options for each course. However, since there were eight of us, I had to take one of the options off the menu. It was good to see that the menu was specifically catered for us (i.e. only displaying three, instead of four, options).

To start

Luckily I glanced at other reviews before I went to Tomislav. Otherwise, I would’ve missed this delightful entrée. It was simply named Rice Crackers. Before you think about those supermarket brands, rest assured that it wasn’t. They were fine and delicate sheets of rice crackers. For an added sensation to the dining, the sea salt and vinegar option came in a mist spray bottle. We were quite playful with the mist spray and had a very high excitement level!

There were complimentary Bread and Butter before starting the courses. The butter was exceptionally smooth and soft with a hint of coffee! Unfortunately I was only given a tiny piece and that was the only piece I got for the whole night.

Course 1

I was over the moon when the first course arrived. It was Scampi Carpaccio with sour cream and pumpkin juice. The juice was poured from a test tube prior to us eating the course. We couldn’t really see the scampi since it was all covered by condiments. All of the elements worked so well together.

I also managed to try Venison Tartare with quail yolk, mint crumbs and crackers. I felt pretty bad in poaching the tartare from my wife as it was already very small to begin with. It was pretty in the presentation.

Course 2

Another pretty-but-small dish arrived for my second course, Poached Hen’s Yolk with foie gras and green peas. I am not quite sure why the Hen’s yolk was the highlight of the dish when the foie gras clearly dominated the plate.

I was a little bit envious with the people who ordered Grilled Blackmore’s tongue with beetroot and malt ice cream. Two perfectly grilled blackmore’s tongue with grilled onion were so good, especially with a touch of beetroot sauce.

Course 3

Roast Lamb Belly with wasabi and grilled pineapple was my next dish. The wasabi in this dish wasn’t hot at all. On the contrary, it was so smooth and there was no hurt-your-nose sensation after you tasted one. It was a generous serving of lamb belly, perfectly roasted so that you could feel its juice mixing with the sauce. It was an overall sweet and savoury dish.

Roast Veal Sweetbread with purple onions and popcorn milk was the other one I tasted. It was also quite a sweet dish, courtesy of the onions and milk.

Course 4

The least appealing of the three, my last course, Caramel Pudding with toasted walnuts and yoghurt sorbet, arrived. I think the burnt caramel taste over-powered the smooth yoghurt sorbet. I wasn’t too happy for it to be my last dish of the day.

The cheesecake in Vanilla Cheesecake with apple ice and roast apple ice cream was presented in two ways: a diced sturdy form and the more emulsified one. It was a nice combination of sour and cold apple with the heavier cheesecake.

Third set

For the last set of degustation, some of our friends ordered them but I didn’t have a chance to taste. Poached Yellow Fin Tuna looked a bit too tiny for me, but the Roast Quail looked pretty apetising.

Similarly, the braised beef short ribs wouldn’t stand a chance against my lamb belly. The milk chocolate cream cake on the other hand looked very interesting and I wish I could’ve ordered that instead of my caramel.

The final verdict for Tomislav Restaurant

Tomislav Restaurant earned the rights to be amongst the elite restaurants in Sydney. We had a mixed review of individual dishes, but the overall feeling was an enjoyable one. I would have loved it even more if I wasn’t still hungry at the end of the service, since they only served the bread once.

Did you know?

Although Tomislav is technically in Darlinghurst, It is actually located on the opposite of the big coca-cola sign in King’s Cross.

Just like any other top restaurants, don’t expect to see the same menu in a different season. They would keep rotating the menu to freshen up.

Details:

2/13 Kirketon Road, Darlinghurst NSW 2010

+61 2 9356 4535

http://www.tomislav.com.au/

Oct 7, 2012
Bentley Restaurant and Bar

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Bentley Restaurant has moved to a new venue in Radisson Blu Hotel.

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Bentley Restaurant’s Rating:

8.5 / 10

Taste: 8.5 /10

Price: $85 per person

Place: 8.5/10

Review:

This is our anniversary week and we are in for a treat. We had the honour of experiencing Australia’s two-hat restaurant, Bentley Restaurant of Surry Hills. Once we stepped into the restaurant, it was a totally different experience. Instead of spotless white tablecloths and brightly lit rooms, we were taken to sort of dark bar décor with wooden tables and a simplistic table setting.

Duck Liver Foie Gras Parfait – with Puffed Rice & Pickled Raisin

We started off the night with this ‘Appetisers to share’. Beautifully decorated Foie Gras with Rose Petals ensured the night started off with a bang. The combination of strong duck flavour was complimented by the sweetness of the raisins. It was the ‘OMG-I-can’t-believe-it’s-very-good’ dish of the night.

Balmain Bug – with Lamb Sweetbread, Black Bean & Coconut Curd

The Entrée for the Mrs and another nicely arranged. We weren’t really paying attention on the details at first and thought the sweetbread could’ve been a brain. However, the overall combination was lovely and the sauce’s bitterness was just the right amount.

Ocean Trout – with Ocean Trout Mousse & Fennel Pollen

Unfortunately this one was less appealing, presentation-wise. My wife reminisced the sauce to be the same as Indonesian traditional’s pepes, which I wasn’t really fond of. The trout had a really nice texture and the mousse was really soft.

Brussel Sprouts – with Smoked Yoghurt

This was the side dish for the night and it added a little green in what otherwise be a ‘meaty’ night.

Roast Spatchcock – with Sweet Corn Polenta, Pistachio & Asparagus

The spatchcock was roasted to perfection. The polenta and pistachio further enhanced this Game bird’s taste with a hint of crispy texture from one element on the dish I couldn’t quite work out.

Slow Roast Duck Breast – with Cuttlefish & Mushroom

I always enjoy a good duck and – I know it could be disastrous if not handled properly – this one was definitely one of the good ones. The duck was really tender with a hint of sweetness. I’d have to guess that the black grainy thing was the mushroom, but it was very tasty. The combination of the three key ingredients created a unique experience.

Frozen Goats Cheese Mousse – with Violet, Buckwheat Praline & Passionfruit Ice Cream

There were quite a few elements on this plate, the cheese mousse, the sweet and sour passion fruit, the cake, the granules, and the sweet green sauce.

Our opinion was divided on this one. I think that the mousse was perfect without the overpowering taste of passion fruit, whilst she thinks that the passion fruit actually balanced the strong goats cheese’s taste. So you have to try and experience it yourself.

Malted Milk Marshmallow

Technically, it was just a well-burnt marshmallow on a stick, but they presented it in a nice board and a nice-looking stick with malt powder.

The final verdict for Bentley Restaurant

Bentley certainly had the complexity of a fine dining restaurant. Every dish was presented beautifully and tasted wonderfully. Love the different ambience and unique décor of the restaurant. Unfortunately the share plate, Foie Gras, was much better than the rest of the night.

Did you know?

There is also a degustation menu that they offered for $120, but I found it disappointing since it only listed one main and 4 entree from the regular menu, which is not an incentive for me to try.

Surry Hills is a suburb full of exciting restaurants. However, you are wise to check the reviews on these restaurants or you might be left with a high bill and feeling disappointed.

Location:

320 Crown Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010

+61 2 9332 2344

http://www.thebentley.com.au/

Apr 25, 2011