Kangaroo Meat Anyone?

If you have been reading this blog long enough, you would know that no holiday of ours is complete without good food.

And even though we were in aussie land for a short 3 days, we made sure we ate well. Since we couldn't check into the hotel before 3, we took the time to explore The Rocks which was situated just a stone's throw away from the hotel. We were spoilt for choice. There are so many cafes and restaurants in the area that we didn't know what to choose. After some deliberation, we decided to try our luck at Fortune of War - Sydney's oldest pub. And what better pub food can we have but fish and chips?

The beer battered barrumundi accompanied with the thick-cut fries were deep fried to perfection. I could really taste the beer in the batter. I think the lunch would have been more perfect if I had a glass of ale or beer to go along with it. But after much disrupted sleep on the plane, beer was not on my priority list.

Unlike Singapore, food does take a while to arrive in Sydney. It definitely take some getting used to. But I guess, it kinda teaches us patience and to learn to live life at a slower pace.

I can't help but to take a picture of this very witty sign displayed outside the pub. It's Chinese New Year here in Singapore then and I could just imagine how many of our unmarried friends would love to use this as a retort to their elders. Haha.

We spent the 2nd day doing some touristy sightseeing and ended up at the Hyde Park Barracks for lunch. They had a cool Italian restaurant in the grounds and not wanting to explore further (it was 2+ in the afternoon and most restaurants cease their lunch service at 3pm), we ordered the prawn and lobster ravioli in pumpkin sauce for me and a slab of pork belly for the hub.

I love the ravioli and it reminded me of the wantons back home. While the pork belly was not too fat nor greasy, we felt that the skin could have been crispier. When eaten with the poached peaches and fresh grapes, it tasted fantastic.

With its quaint architecture and good mix of interesting shops, one of my favourite places to shop has got to be the Strand. And because it was lunch time and we didn't want to jostle with the crowd out there, we settled at La Rosa at the Strand. Between the both of us, we shared an antipasti of oysters done two ways with the Hiramasa Yellow Tail Kingfish Tartare. Although this was definitely not the best oysters we have eaten, they were decent enough for our fussy palate.

I love my pasta and had to order the Mum's Angel Hair Pasta with Braised Free Range Chicken in Rosemary Sauce. The pasta was cooked to al dente perfection and the chicken was tender. However, I expected to taste more rosemary in the sauce. 

Always one to shun carbohydrates, the hub chose the Seared "Ocean" Leather Jacket Fillet for his main course. The dish also comes with some calamari and vegetables. We were so full that we had no room for desserts by the end of the meal.

To be honest, I didn't expect so many Italian restaurants in Sydney. But I must say they are all doing a really fine job. The menu they have are extremely varied and contain non of the run-of-the-mill dishes like spaghetti carbonara or spaghetti bolognese. Definitely something Italian restaurants in Singapore should consider. But it also means I never ever find my favourite tiramisu in the dessert page. :(

Because our hotel room comes with executive club privileges, we settled the rest of our meals at the hotel. So yup, we definitely ate more than what you see here. It was a pity that we didn't have the luxury of time to explore some of the more popular restaurants in town but all these that we visited above do just fine as well :)