Alira

Let me just start off by saying one thing. Alira, I have a massive crush on you. Oh no wait, two things. Promise I'm not doing the Bar Guide in alpho order.

Holly and I had tickets to the Clinique Superfood Superskin dinner party at Doltone House in Pyrmont. All day we'd been discussing what sorts of things we'd see on the menu that night. Salmon, definitely. Chia seeds, absolutely. Goji berries, probably. Bread, NOWHERE. Alcohol, tough to tell, but it doesn't exactly do wonders for your skin so it's fairly safe to say probs not. So considering Holly and I aren't the smallest eaters I know, and lord knows we love a drink, a little bit of preparation was needed juuuuuuuust in case our fancy dinner party ended up involving us crying into our raw mushroom and tofu lemongrass broth (which it kind of did).

Pyrmont and I have never really spent THAT much time together, but I knew if we were on Darling Island Wharf for dinner, we were only going to be a hop, skip and a cocktail away from some nice bars, hopefully involving some arvo sunshine, nice bevs and scrummy starters. Some TimeOut Bar Guide mapping recon was completed before we left the office - turned out Alira was a teeny walk from where our event was being held. Yesssssssssss.

What TimeOut said:

"Alira is the ideal locale for some after-work drinks where you can gather your thoughts as the sun sets over the harbour. As far as ground-floor locations go, they don't come more picturesque than Alira. The bar and restaurant is nestled on the far side of Jones Bay Wharf, secluded from the hustle and bustle of the nearby CBD. The bar has been well designed so that the interior and outdoor spaces blend into one another. The well-considered cocktail list boasts an excellent Bloody Mary and a sweet-yet-sharp Aperol Sour with limoncello, Aperol, vanilla sugar and orange bitters. Don't worry if one drink turns into a few and it's dinner time; the menu features a two-person, DIY, wood-grilled lamb sandwich."

What Bel said:

Well they were spot on when they said tucked away! We were second guessing ourselves as we walked along the length of Pirrama Rd thinking hmmmm, it HAS to be here somewhere! But our thirst for a good cocktail before we tucked into some delicious superskin food was strong strong strong, so we hung in there and found it in the end! Literally, the end. Like, THE end of Pirrama Rd just about. Turns out it was about 5 wharves further along than we thought it would be. What losers. Anyhoo...

Alira has got possibly one of the BEST spots in the pm on the whole, entire harbour. When Holly and I arrived, maybe around 6.15, it was completely drenched in that really delicious afternoon sun that makes everyone look tanned and gorgeous. It was a little windy. Ok, a lot windy, but while the sun was out, it was really lovely. You don't get massive views of the harbour because it's right at the shore end of the wharf but that kind of doesn't matter. It's sunny, it's super adorable, and it's walkable distance from my house. WIN WIN WIN.

The OTHER thing TimeOut were spot on about is the layout of the bar. Inside are long wooden benches to eat and drink at, the walls plastered with colourful and crazy posters mainly from the Middle East and Spain. Holly and I mentioned that it looked like it would be really cosy inside in the cooler months too, with big, rustic rugs on some of the walls.

The same benches as inside are on the outside too, as well as a few smaller tables for littler groups. And there are lanterns EVERYWHERE! I have got SO much time for lanterns. So there you go, Alira, you had me at lantern.

Holly happens to be one of the massivest foodies I know, so when we grabbed our menus from the waitress, she was straight into the food, which must have been like torture for her. So much of it looked so so good, but we weren't there for huge eatin' we were there for drinkin' / time wastin'. We knew we'd be fed at the Clinique dinner, so we didn't want to fill up. Although hindsight would tell us we should have eaten as much as we could have BUT THAT'S ANOTHER BLOG POST LOL. Cocktails were definitely in order though, and we thought we'd go for the Sours. I ordered an Amaretto Sour and Holly got the Pisco Sour.

The drinks were like liquid summer, mine much sweeter than Holly's which was quite sour but still fantastic. Um, which is why they're called sours. Der. The thing I've never really understood about sours though is the egg white. Why? I don't understand why it's there, what does it mean? Sours are always delicious, but egg whites smell. So if you order one ever, DON'T PUT YOUR NOSE TOO CLOSE TO THE GLASS. Trust me on that one.

Our bevs were fantastic, but we're both renowned cocktail skullers so we thought 1) these are going to disappear in an instant if we don't order food and 2) we're about to go to a dinner party that serves food that's good for your skin. Food that is good for your skin doesn't generally include any good stuff, like carbs. So we thought we'd order a couple of plates to share. Preferably the ones that come with bread. Everything looked incredible so we got our waitress to help us pick. She told us the Morrocan eggplant salad was the most popular starter, so we got one of those, and she recommended the sheep's milk labneh as her favourite, so we ordered some of that too. And PRAISE THE SWEET LORD they came served with TWO DIFFERENT KINDS OF BREAD. Totally amazin'.

I'm not even kidding, the eggplant, I could have bathed in. It was so scrumptious and packed full of flavour. The labneh was smooth and creamy and just a little bit bitey, just like good labneh should be. The flatbreads that came out were yummy just in themselves. The thicker version was nice and toasty warm and not too doughy like some bad flatbread can be. And the thinner crispy version was like eating this scrumptious smokey paper. YUM!

Had we known that we would be served these miniscule, beauty-industry-sized courses at the Clinique dinner (they were super super tasty dishes prepared by Luke Nguyen just TEENY!) we probably would have preferred to stay here, sipping our Sours and eating our way through Northern Africa, the Middle East and Spain. Oh well, plenty of time for that.

Alira

Shop 120, Jones Bay Wharf

26-32 Pirrama Rd

Pyrmont 2009

(02) 9518 4884

Ash St Cellar

Friday afternoons are always rough for everyone in my office and occasionally, we drop our perfect model employee facades and take off early for a bev.

This particular Friday afternoon involved tedious workshops, stupid going-nowhere meetings and mindless reporting so a few of us at around 4.30 downed tools and headed down to Ash St Cellar for a soul-soothing vino.

AND the best part is, it was the first bar to kick off my TimeOut challenge!

What TimeOut said:
"This little laneway bar is the jewel of megaclub complex, ivy. It caters for everyone from wine Luddites to the more adventurous types, who head straight for the tongue twisters. True, chef Lauren Murdoch may have dropped the pans to run Felix, Merivale's new Parisien-style bistro, but Alfie Spina has left Omerta to take the reins. The list is filled with interesting wines from around the world at every price point. Head over on a Monday for movie night - $35 gets you the flick, a glass of wine and tapas. It's the wine bar you love to love where you get a taste of ivy without the queues, and one of the most attentively thought-out wine lists in the city, put together by Merivale's group sommelier, Franck Moreau."

What Bel said:

My first thoughts were, "Wow, this place is exceptionally cute", closely followed in second place by "It's a three minute walk from work - WHY THE EFF HAVE I NEVER BEEN HERE BEFORE??!!?" Honestly, this is a really quaint little wine bar, styled outrageously cutely, with a really relaxed, yet super chic vibe.

Like they mentioned in the TimeOut blurb, it's tucked in a little laneway right behind the ivy entrance, which oddly enough on this particular afternoon, had a bevy of security guards and even a police officer standing guard. Hmmm... But anyway, the laneway is lined with gorgeous Frenchie cane chairs, and the bar itself is wide open with a cluster of little tables inside. I'm really bummed I didn't get any photos of the inside of the bar, but since I'm still on my blog training wheels all I have is my iPhone, and it was much too nice a place for me to be papping people enjoying a glass of pinot noir with my camera phone.

We snapped up a little table outside and started poring over the wine list. I can tell you right now - it is ENORMOUS. It's grouped together by region, making it a bit easier for wine connoisseur wannabe's like me to pick something. Us gals had a hankering for a red, while the boys tucked right in to Coopers. After much careful consideration and many a "But OOH what about this one?!", we decided on the 2007 Coto de Hayas Campo de Borja Crianza from Spain which was this amazing red that was really deep and at the same time a teeny bit fruity. Yep, that's my amazing wine review right there. Please see above mentioned wannabe statement. The funniest part was when we tried to pronounce it and then the waitress slammed us with this hugely eloquent pronunciation that we could only dream of being capable of. You know the ones, where they go "Ohhh you mean the *insert amazing Spanish that makes you feel like you just said fuck really loud or spat on the ground*?". Yep, those ones.

Just a quick note on the service though, it was very attentive but not annoyingly so, and we all pained for one of the staff members in particular who'd been working her shift for all of two minutes when someone knocked into her and she copped a pretty decent amount of red wine spillage. All of 5 minutes later she was back at it, and SMILING of all things. That would have absolutely ruined my night.

While we didn't get to experience any of the amazing tapas due to other pressing engagements the group had (sadly, mine involved Gossip Girl and takeaway at home, but my compadres all needed to take off), we did however, order some nibbly olives to snack on, which where divine! Multicoloured olives marinated in a beautiful light olive oil with garlic and chilli YUMMO. I only tried a couple, not because I didnt want to eat the whole bowl because, trust me, I could have,  but because I was thinking more of the poor souls aboard the 431 bus that would have to cop my stinky garlic olive breath on the way home.

So all in all, a lovely way to spend an early mark on a Friday afternoon. Lovely wine, plenty of laughter and even a special guest appearance from J Hemm himself!

Ash St Cellar
1 Ash St, Sydney
(02) 9240 3000

It all started with $3.95...

A rainy disgusting day in Sydney and all I can think about is wonton soup. While waiting for the Boy in the AMP Centre I thought, hmm, what do I normally do in this kind of situation? A-ha! Newsagent!

Due to my almost-clinical addiction to magazines, there weren't a lot that I didn't already own, until I spotted TimeOut.

Having lived in the seaside city for almost a month now, I really thought I would have stumbled across this little gem long before I actually did, but that's neither here nor there. I'm hooked. Wholly, completely, utterly hooked.

How did this inspire me to start blogging again? Well friends, IT CAME WITH A BAR GUIDE! A Bar Guide I want to complete from cover to cover. So there it is. My challenge to myself. Before the 19th of November 2011, I, Belinda May Rowntree, will have been to each of the bars, pubs and lovely clubs featured in the 2011 Bar Guide and sampled their wares. Not in order, not by genre, but by feel, and week-by-week (more likely day-by-day...) cravings. What a ridiculously awesome way to explore my new hometown, enjoy rollicking good times with friends and get absolutely sozzled at the same time.

This is going to be amazing...