As some of you may have noticed from my Facebook page or my Instagram account, I am currently in Sydney, Australia. We have come here on a three week vacation to explore and visit close friends. I have been to Australia a couple of times, but this is the first time I’ve really been able to explore more than just Brisbane. Don’t get me wrong, I love Brisbane. It’s a great city and those I hold near and dear live there, but every time I’ve come to Australia, I’ve always just gone there so this time we chose to explore a bit more of this wonderful country.
While we’ve been in Sydney, we have come to realize that it is actually rather expensive eating out although Sydney does have a magnificent food scene. Asian cuisine is very popular here and Sydney has some of the best Asian restaurants. You’re spoiled for choice. Anywhere from the Lotus Dumpling Bar where they make wonderful dumplings and authentic Chinese dishes to Mr. Wong, one of the largest restaurants in Sydney with a modern Cantonese style menu.
(Photo from Lotus Dumpling Bar)
Our first meal in Sydney was had at The Grounds of Alexandria. This restaurant came highly recommended to us by our host. It is a wonderful restaurant with a few different food options. There are three sections to choose from in this big open building with garden surroundings. There’s the Cafe with a seasonally inspired menu, the Potting Shed with locally harvested produce, craft beers, wines and cocktails amongst fresh florals and greenery, and the Grounds of the City, a coffee house inspired cafe. The food there was wonderful and the environment is absolutely lovely. We vowed to go back there again.
Since Sydney is so into the food scene, there are a couple of big markets that take place in the city. You have the Carriagework’s Farmers Market, a renowned market that takes place every Saturday from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM. You also have the market at the Rocks on Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM and the Fridays Foodie Market from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. We decided on trying out the Fridays Foodie Market and there were so many different foods cooking and so many different vendors selling their local or homemade goods. You could spend an afternoon there, just eating.
While we’ve been here I made sure to make a stop at one of the local Zumbo’s Patisseries. Adriano Zumbo is a very popular and well known pastry chef here in Australia. He even has his own series on Netflix called Zumbo’s Just Desserts, though I believe he only did one season. Anyway, a lot of his desserts are bright and colorful and each one is so good. We had to order a few things from his shop and share so we could all get the chance to taste the different desserts. Such a fun morning.
Our last full day in Sydney was spent out at Manly Beach. I highly recommend visiting Manly if you ever find yourself in Sydney. It’s such a great community. Plenty of shopping and eating to be done. Not to mention the gorgeous beach. There are some great restaurants by the Wharf like The Bavarian and Hugos Manly. Though, since we had small kids with us, we decided to drop in on The Ivanhoe Hotel. They have a great menu with anything from Bistro items to pizza, burgers, and fish and chips. They also have a great bar. We were there around 3 pm so we had burgers, pizza, and drinks. The burgers were really good. As Americans, that is one of the things we have noticed here in Australia. Aussie’s sure do know how to make a good burger.
(Picture of Ivanhoe Hotel by Trip Advisor, picture of drink by me)
We have really enjoyed our time here in Sydney. It’s such a vibrant, international city and the people are great. If you ever get the chance to plan a visit, I highly recommend it.
Disholicious 