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

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