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