Opera Bar

I know, I know, I haven't been drinking in bars for ages. It's Christmas. Blame the shopping and the working and the packing. Actually, in retrospect, all those things should have been making me drink MORE not less..

So today is my OFFICIAL LAST DAY OF WORK FOR 2010! Last day of slogging away, working for the man before the big Radelaide Roadtrip commences. For me, the last day of work feels like the last day of school. A whole lot of people doing a whole lot of nothing. The only difference I can identify from the days of old and the days of new, is that DVD re-runs of classics like Philadelphia or The Club are replaced with Cosmopolitans and Canadian Club...

The Opera Kitchen had recently opened on the Lower Concourse at the Opera House, and Holly and I were both really keen to see what the Becasse Bakery, Miss Chu and Charlie and Co looked like in mini, fancy-sort-of-food-court versions of their bigger siblings. All the little mini's looked freaking adorable, but seriously over-priced (Plan B Wagyu Burgers that are normally $10 are $21.50!! Talk about paying for the view...) The other downside for us, was that we wanted drinks too, so we cut our losses and headed to Opera Bar!

What TimeOut said:

"Opera Bar is the perfect place for locals and visitors alike to drink a toast to the most beautiful harbour city in the world. Been soaking up a little too much vitamin D of late? Savour the view from beneath the massive outdoor umbrellas. It gets hectic on the weekends, so arrive early if you want to be sure of nabbing the best spot, and make sure you stick around to catch the sunset. Keep it simple with beer, wine and spirits if watery cocktails aren't your thing. The wine list offers a modest but decent choice of mostly Australian wine, with all but Champagne available by the glass for around $10. There's a good selection of beer on tap too, including Opera Bar Organic Pale Ale and Organic Blonde, both made by Sydney brewers Red Oak."

What Bel said:

We hunted for a table outside under the shades, but considering 1) it's three days before Christmas and 2) we were there right on lunch hour, we probably never really stood a chance. Outside was PACKED, but there were a few booths and tables available inside so we grabbed one kind of near the doors so we could longingly peer outside for any tables that cropped up (didn't happen, wah!). Look at how crazy busy it was!! You'd think the entire CBD workforce was trying to avoid work/wind down before a big holiday break or something...

I feel like I've kind of cheated on this one. I went to a COCKTAIL BAR and ordered a beer. In my defence, I'm not sure a Long Island Iced Tea and rocking back into work half-charged is entirely kosher behaviour and TimeOut said their cocktails were shithouse anyway. So instead of getting a cocktail, although I watched a few get made and they looked really refreshing and totally tasty (maybe looks are deceiving??), all three of us ordered Coronas. Two with lime, one with lemon. In my opinion lime wins HANDS DOWN but Adrian likes lemon. So good on him. Had I actually realised Opera Bar was in the Bar Guide BEFORE I'd ordered I most likely would have gone for one of those organic ones. Just to say I had one. But not to worry - I can have one when I go to Red Oak!





There's another reason I feel like I cheated a little bit. I was there for the food. Not the booze. Since it WAS a lunch date, our primary focus was lunch. So really this was a bit of a bar visit by default. Oh well. best I tell you about the food then!

Wowowowowowowowow! We shared the Opera Bar Tasting Plate, Mezze Dip Plate and the Fennel, Bacon, Pea and Quail Egg salad between 3 of us and it was perfect perfect perfect! The tasting plate had really scrummy things on it like little nori rolls, teeny beef pies, thai fish cakes, spicy chorizo skewers, fig and goat's cheese salad and pickled octopus YUUUUUUUM!! The dips were glorious too, one a beautiful beetroot, another a creamy olive/hummus combo and one a zingy capsicum. The bread was a teeny bit too much though, we didn't get through it all. The salad was the tastiest I've had in a really long time, and it totally renewed my massive crush on quail eggs. Like normal eggs - only cuter and teenier! here's some snaps of our spread...

We started tucking into our goodies when lo and behold, in rocks Matt, who was also down on the harbour enjoying drinks and dins with his work crew! It was actually super funny cos he was griping about how he'd just spent $20 on a burger! He should have come to Opera Bar for a rad feed with us...

Opera Bar

Sydney Opera House

Lower Concourse

Bennelong Point, Sydney

Ph 02 9247 1666

Friend in Hand

I'm so gothic, I shit bats!!

For those of you who regularly tune in to JJJ, Sam Simmons needs no introduction. For those of you who don't have a brain and have never heard of him, he's only the wackiest, randomest, most hilarious dude to grace the stage/airwaves/tv screens in freaking forever.

I've been a super huge fan for a hella long time, I even follow him on the Twit (DORK!), so I was totally totally stoked to find out he was performing/testing out some new jokes at Friend in Hand in Glebe for $10. Win-win! See Sam Simmons super cheaply and tick off another bar as part of my challenge - you beauty!!

What TimeOut said:

"Did you know that this awesome Glebe local has an early licence? You heard us - that's an 8am start every day except Sunday, when the pub opens at 10am. There's always plenty on at the Friend including crab racing, stand-up comedy and theatre sports. Sunday afternoon drinking sessions here are legendary and you can take part in life drawing classes if the mood takes you. Get your beat on with slam poetry on the first Tuesday of every month and race a crab for free every Wednesday. Fancy a little comedy or even doing some stand-up yourself? You can do it on Thursday nights for a tenner. Cheap-as-chips pub grub from the adjoining No Names bistro seals the deal."

What Bel said:

Friend in Hand is probably the most wacked-out pub I have been to in a really really long time. And I mean that in the best way. Matt and I strolled down from our place after dinner in search of beers and Sam-Simmons-laffs. We'd never walked there before and thought we might have got a bit lost, but just in the nick of time, before Google maps backup needed to be called upon, we stumbled upon on Cowper St. For future reference kids - Cowper St is the street right near the school. My new years resolution is to read street signs in my suburbs to avoid scenarios like this moving forward. Not knowing street names in your extremely local area is mucho embarrassing.

I was a bit nervous that it might have sold out considering it was $10 entry, so we headed straight upstairs where the comedy magic happens (ew, I just typed magic like majik for a sec) to grab a seat. It wasn't too packed at all when we arrived, around 7.45, there were still plenty of seats and comfy, worn couches to choose from. At comedy shows I'm always SUPER scared about getting heckled sitting really close to the stage, so we found a nice protected corner with a wicked view of the stage and the Friend in Hand Christmas Tree. I just realised I'm making this sound like some grandiose performance space - it's more like a crazy bag lady's attic with a 2m squared stage. Ha! Way to talk it up Rowntree...

One thing I TOTALLY DUG about the decor were the amazing DIY wine glass candles they had dotted around the room. Inspired me to make some (will never happen).



We'd already had dinner, but the monstrous (read: 12 minute) walk left us parched as bru. I would have totally felt out of place asking to see a wine list or cocktail menu, so Matt and I ordered two schooners of frothy, delicious Coopers Pale. No sitting at tables, no drinks on the bar, just drinking beer sitting in a chair. Totally casual, totally awesome. We didn't order any food, but we watched as people went running downstairs, buzzers in hand, to return with plates full of amazing looking parmas, nachos, steaks, wedges and generally delicious-looking pub food.

The beers were excellent (as they always are) and the local acts were pretty good value too. The first guy was atrocious, there was a super funny guy who talked about being from Adelaide and he said the word 'rapey' in relation to dating website profiles, a HILARIOUS guy from Canada had Matt and I nearly wetting our pants and one guy based one of his jokes around football players raping girls and having oral sex with dogs. Funny but kind of obvious, yes?

Sam Simmons was obviously the drawcard of the evening, when I ran downstairs to use the facilities there was a big SORRY FULL HOUSE sign across the stairs. Speaking of the bathrooms, hows this for like, totally best idea ever - the friendly staff have printed out hilarious email forwards and stuck them on the door, so you're miffed that you have to wait but then you're loving it cos there's awesome jokes to read! LOL, right?!

But back to Sam, he was incredible.If you're after stand-up comedy that involves Christmas carols sung to the tune of the Star Wars soundtrack or taco shells being smashed into bare skin, he's your man!

And if the hilarious comedy isn't quite enough for you, they have one of those amazing tarot wizards downstairs (OMG, TAKES ME BACK TO BEING 15 AGAIN!!!).

So next time you're wandering around in Glebe (or Gleb-ee as the weird french stand-up punter kept saying...) look for the clown, grab a schooie, race a crab and make friends with the Friend in Hand.

Friend in Hand
58 Cowper St
Glebe 2037
(02) 9660 2326