Monopole, Potts Point

Miss Piggy dined at Monopole as a guest of Liquid Ideas and the City of Sydney Council as part of the #urbanOasisTour

Do you ever have a cafe or restaurant on your list even though you're probably never going to get there. Time and geography often conspire again me, so even though I wanted to go to Monople I just never thought I would...or not in the short-term anyway. Often places stay on my list for years, but thanks to a lucky break I got to lunch at Monopole as part of the recent City of Sydney #urbanOasisTour I went on.

We start our lunch with a chat from owner, Brent Savage. He tells us a bit about the philosophy of the restaurant including their focus on organic, bio-dynamic and preservative free wines - this gives them a more "earthy" flavour (a bit like raw milk cheese if you will). Monopole has focus on seasonable produce and they cure all of their own meats in house. As their space is so small this means a constant process of curing, us eating, and more curing. A labour of love I'd say.

We start of our lunch with a fantastic plate of house cures and pickles ($26 for a selection of 4 or $10 per portion). Here we have cured and smoked duck breast; pork neck; Rangers Valley tri tip (bottom of the sirloin); and also Rangers Valley cured beef brisket. I absolutely LOVED this plate of cures and it went perfectly with the glass of Prosecco we were quaffing. The meats were all so flavoursome and I enjoyed the fattiness of the duck that was offset by the zingy pickles. What a great lunch -- a plate of this with a wine is the perfect small lunch.

 

Next up is a mound of lusciously creamy mashed potato that is topped with meaty cubes of salt cod, green peas, pistachio and mint (normally $18). Marry this with some fresh Iggy's bread (normally $5.00) for a bit of carb-on-carb action.

The baby cucumber, celery, fennel and pine nut salad with rye bread (normally $16) was a lovely light dish, the flavours of which went really well with the stronger flavours of the cured meats.

I think the spiced leg of lamb, cherry tomatoes, Spanish onion and feta (normally $28) was one of my favourite dishes. The lamb was super tender with a nice char around the outer layer and the feta was so smooth and creamy. Superb.

Monopole is at 71A Macleay Street, Potts Point. Phone them on 9360 4410.

Buffalo Dining Club, Darlinghurst

Let's take a moments silence shall we to pay respect to the wonder that is pasta served in a GIANT WHEEL OF CHEESE...

So now that you've seen...and drooled...over that photo are you BUSTING to get down to the restaurant that serves this magical, magical dish? I sure know I was.

Buffalo Dining Club is a small restaurant in Darlinghurst that serves up amazing Italian food. There's pasta (of course) as well as cheeses, prosciutto's (and other meats) and a range of other antipasti delights. This place has been on my list for SO long that I'd almost given up hope of finding the time to make it here...so big thanks to fellow blogger T for arranging this dinner.

This restaurant is very very popular (no surprise as the food is amazing) so we arrive just before 6pm in order to nab a table for four. A tip for y'all, you won't be seated until your entire group is at the restaurant...so make sure you pick your most punctual friends for your outing to Buffalo.

We start off with a Pinot Gris that our waitress highly recommends (as it comes from the region in Italy that she hails from).  It's a great wine and I now know 100% that Pinot Gris is my tipple of choice.

Everything we ordered here was spectacular.  Looking at these photos again is making me plot exactly when I can get back to Buffalo for more amazing food - like this Mortadella ($11.00) that has been pan-fried so it has a nice charred layer. Mortadella is slightly fatty so the colourful medley of zesty, fresh heirloom tomatoes is a perfect companion.

I'm always in awe of stuffed zucchini flowers ($14.00). Having grown zucchinis myself I know how flimsy the flowers are. They tear so easily and I just cannot imagine stuffing them with cheese and not having the flowers burst or rip apart.  These zucchini flowers were filled to the brim, but only when we pried the flowers apart with our knives did the river of cheese within escape. Oh So Good!

Burrata ($19 with a choice of any two sides from the menu) has always been high on my list of foods to eat before I start "that diet" once and for all!

The outer layer of this incredible Italian cheese is made of solid mozzarella and the innards are a soft mixture of mozzarella and cream. The Burrata innards were not as runny as I was anticipating, but more like a soft cream cheese. It was pretty amazing. Our dish was served with (our choice of) potato croquettes and cherry tomatoes and also came with some bread and crunchy pretzel type biscuits.  I could actually quite happily head to Buffalo one day for lunch and just have this...

 

It's always great dining with someone who knows a restaurant menu really well. T knew what was what and highly recommend this Ricotta Gnocchi ($18.00). I think this was probably my favourite pasta dish of the night (yes, I liked it even more than the pasta in the giant cheese wheel). The gnocchi was so soft - it was like eating little pillows of cheese.

The crab linguini ($18.00) was another great dish - the crab was succulent and sweet, yet the flavour was quite subtle.

Ah - does this really need any introduction? Cacio e Pepe ($18.00) translates to "cheese and pepper" which is exactly what this dish is - spaghetti with pepper and Pecorino Romano cheese. The pasta is mixed in a giant wheel of cheese to give it that extra cheese WOW factor. If you're curious (I was - so I asked), the cheese wheel is wiped clean each night, stored and lasts about two weeks. Eventually all the cheese melts away on to the pasta and the wheel has to be replaced. I have no idea if this is a traditional way of serving cacio e pepe but it sure works for me. 

And last, but not least, a sensational Tiramsu. Often I find the esporesso flavour in Tiramsu quite overpowering, but our Tiramusu had a lovely mild flavour to and was the perfect way to end a glorious meal.

Like I said before (a thousand times) I really cannot wait to come back here - it's not often that I'm really excited by a restaurant so much so that I plot my return ASAP! And I cannot end this post without saying how friendly the staff are here -- everyone was super nice, just like a big hug from Nonna. Ciao xxx

Buffalo Dining Club is at 116 Surrey Street, Darlinghurst. Phone them on 9332 4052 (and they are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays FYI...and possibly also Sundays?)

Pizza Mario, Surry Hills

My first visit to Pizza Mario was with my blogger friends on the night of our visit to Tio's and Wild Rover. I knew I wanted to come back ASAP as I'd enjoyed one of the BEST pizzas of all time here. Strong words indeed but I don't mess around when it comes to Pizza.

You'll find Pizza Mario hidden within the St Margarets complex on Bourke Street. I find this a really s-t-r-a-n-g-e area.  A courtyard is surrounded by modern apartments that have been developed around the old St Margaret's hospital. The hospital part is really cool, but to me the courtyard is kinda soulless and it's a mega wind tunnel so being outside on a day when there is the slightest breeze is not fun.  But...head in doors to Pizza Mario and none of that matters anymore (you'll also find Morena here plus an awesome looking cheese shop).

We start our dinner with a Ruchetta Salad - rocket, Parmesan, olive oil and lemon juice ($8.00). I always like to have a simple salad when I'm indulging in pizza. I think it tricks me into thinking I'm being healthy. It works for me so it's a theory I'm going to stick with.

Our only meat pizza of the night is the Calabrese - mozzarella, ‘ndujia (hot salame) and gaeta olives ($22.50). I love how THIN the pizza bases are here and they have a wonderful, almost smokey flavour from the wood fire oven. This is a good pizza, but not the one I've been lusting after since my first visit.

Ah, behold my beloved Gorgonzola - con radicchio mozzarella, gorgonzola and chopped radicchio ($21.50). I ADORE the earthiness and saltiness of the gorgonzola on this pizza - I'm a salt fiend so perhaps this is why I love this pizza so much. The radicchio is just window dressing really although its bitterness does offset some of the pungent gorgonzola.

The margherita  ($17.50) is a true Naples style of pizza - tomato, mozzarella and basil ($17.50). It's simple but as is so often the case, the simple things in life are often the best.  This is also the only "red" pizza we ordered for dinner - all the others come sans tomato sauce.  I think this style of pizza just illustrates how gross all those "stuffed crust" abominations really are...blergh. 

Last but not least is the Patate - sliced potato, sea salt and rosemary ($15.00). This is something that I often make at home as I have more rosemary growing on the balcony that I can poke a stick at!  What I make though cannot compare to this.  The base is cooked directly on the floor of the hot oven is just marvelous and I think impossible to recreate in a conventional home oven. Shame.

Oh we also had wine. I think this is a Pinot Gris...whatever it was I REALLY liked it. It was quite sweet in an understated way and I think it paired really well with all the "white" pizzas we enjoyed. Bottoms up!

Pizza Mario is located at the St. Margaret's complex; shop 9, Ivy, 417 – 421 Bourke Street, Surry Hills.

Leura Garage, Leura

Over the October long weekend The Boy and I went for a drive up to the Blue Mountains. My sole motivation was that I had been wanting to try Leura Garage for ages.  Given enough time I will eventually tick every cafe of my wishlist...maybe.

As the name suggests the cafe is located in a former mechanic garage and there are little nods to this all through the decor...a tyre here, a wheel rim there, a few car doors on the wall, some old exhausts on a shelf, a car hoist acting as a wine rack. You get the picture.

 

When we finally got ourselves a table I had massive amounts of trouble trying to decide on what to order. Not because I wanted to eat everything - which I did - but because of the HEFTY prices against each item. $15.00 for a SMALL rocket salad - that's just criminal in my mind, especially when the bowls I saw heading for the tables were pretty petite and I know a WHOLE big bag of rocket costs less than $4.00 in the supermarket. I don't know if the prices were exceptionally high for the public holiday, but still...! If we weren't so hungry I would've gone somewhere else...but I was getting hangry and needed food ASAP.

In the end The Boy and I decided to get two small - albeit pricey things - and go for a light lunch and fill up on dinner when we got home later that night. To start with we choose a Charcuterie Board for THIRTY TWO DOLLARS! My wallet nearly got up and ran out of the restaurant at this point let me tell you. Now, the board was good - everything was very tasty and well presented but I was disappointed that we only got TWO CRACKERS and three small slices of bread with it.  I did ask for more crackers and they came to the table with hassle and no extra cost. I thought the meats provided were really nice - prosciutto, hot salami, a potted terrine and some smoked ham and I liked the addition of a rockmelon ball to accompany the prosciutto.

We decided to get a bowl of rosemary salted fries ($9.00) to pad out the charcuterie board. The fries were really good - very flavoursome and I like the addition of rosemary to the mix.

All in all we had a nice lunch. The food was very nice and the atmosphere of the cafe was buzzy + fun. The fit out of the place is quite quirky and the staff were very friendly. Bearing all that in mind the prices were just beyond what I personally think is reasonable for a casual lunchtime eat, or justifiable so we'll be on the hunt for somewhere new to eat in Leura for our next visit.

Leura Garage is at 84 Railway Parade, Leura - NSW. Phone them on (02) 4784 3391.



And now I'll leave you with some photos of the cicadas that had literally taken over the Blue Mountains on the day we visited. They were EVERYWHERE - either crawling up trees, flying about, having "sexy times" with each other or leaving their dead shells all over the place! The noise was deafening.  It was actually quite magical until one flew onto me and I put my neck out trying to escape it's little claws.

Chirp chirp.