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
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
posted by Bel at
3:28 PM
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