Marys- Bar- Newtown

in Cool Bars | Leave a comment

Mary’s is a cool Sydney bar - you enter through a small dimly lit hall from the street and you are in Mary’s in very cool Newtown. This bar comes with expertise to boot from Gardels and Bodega. Mary’s can deliver sermons to other bars on how to get that mix right, just add :

+ 1 part great location

+ 1 part the coolest staff this side Brooklyn, NY

+ 1 part good mix of beers, wine & cocktails and food by ex Tetsuya’s head chef Luke Powell

+ 1 part of worshippers that look as if they come from a Fleet Foxes concert or a Rick Owens Paris runway show.

and then turn it all up loud with the best music sliding between folk and hard rock- ‘Andrew Bird’ for reference.

The above recipe is easy as- try it sometime!

View from street - Marys - cool sydney bars - newtown

Looking straight at Marys

Mary Street in Newtown was as boring as a church mouse, but now it’s got good stuff going on with Mary’s, and a following of worshippers that like the fact that this is not for boys in pink polo shirts and girls who listen to Mr J Bieber, and the favourite word is “AWESOME”.

Luschia Porter mural

The four walls looks like it started life as a Greek church or Mosanic Hall, but there’s not much left of the Masons here, apart from the wooden floors and soaring ceiling. Hallelujah for scale in “Houses of Worship”.

Marys Bar - cool sydney bars - newtown - sydneycool

Downstairs – Marys Bar

Downstairs is a long bar with some stools, standing room and a kitchen beyond that. The middle area has a couple of low tables and space for standing and chatting when it fills up later in the night and this place does – there are more high stools and small tables along the wall. At the end of the room, there are stairs that take you up to the mezzanine floor which is more geared for some nice food, sexy cocktails and telling the one you love what you got planned for later! or just a good old gossip session with friends. The murals on the walls by Luschia Porter – including a slayer logo.

Mezzanine floor at Marys

There’s a whole range of beers, on tap and bottled. On tap there’s Young Henry’s Newtowner from the local Newtown micro brewery, Resch’s and Carlton red and black. We went for the Young Henry’s – a bitter style draught that went down well with the help of a whisky chaser of Laphroaig. In the bottled beers, the picks are Peroni Red and Budweiser.

Young Henrys - Marys Bar - cool sydney bars - Mary St newtown - sydneycool

Young Henrys on tap – Marys Bar

The wines – more like you’d see in a modern Sydney restaurant – white and reds from US, France, Italy and Argentina and sparklings – blanc de blancs and cremant including a Clotilde cremant and Perriier Jouet. And then there are exciting cocktails to temp you to sip and sway to some folk rock.

Ex Tetsuya‘s head chef Luke Powell is the chef behind the food, the offerings on the menu are small and tight but this is easy bar food – and very good. We tried the ‘Mary burger’ – perfect and comes with great fries and chilli sauce if you want to turn up the heat. We didn’t but try the Southern inspired deep fried chicken but be assured with Luke at the helm you are in to win.

Luschia Porter Slayer mural

This bar is so cool – in a great space, best music, drinks and food that work together, the right staff that make it all look easy. Love Mary’s bar Newtown Sydney !

Mary’s

6 Mary St, Newtown, Sydney 2042

Judy Millar Artist Auckland Berlin

in Global Art | Leave a comment

Judy Millar`s second solo Australian exhibition I Give You The End of A Golden Thread opens at Sullivan and Strumpf in Alexandria on 7 May 2013. This exhibition reinforces the significant place that Judy Miller holds in global contemporary art.

Judy Millar - I Give You the end of a Golden Thread exhibition- sydney contemporary art

Snake Gate I – Judy Millar current exhibition

A hallmark in Millar’s work is the contemporary way she erases, wipes off and scrapes the paint off the surface of the work. The results are often very large sweeping lines, shapes with transparent yet intensities in one or two colours – different tools, like squeegees, create rapid and wirling movements on the canvas.

Snake Gate IV (right) from current exhibition – Judy Millar

In her I Give You The End of A Golden Thread exhibition, she has moved away from the academic and conceptual to create a highly personal exhibition. Judy says that she seems to have been surrounded by death and wanted something life affirming, death denying and splendid.

Judy Millar lives in Berlin and also the dramatic west coast of New Zealand, outside of Auckland city. Her work is very evocative of the landscape of New Zealand’s west coast – rugged howling beaches, flaxes and black sands. She represented New Zealand at the Venice Biennale in 2009 with a significant work - Giraffe-Bottle-Gun at Santa Maria Maddalena.

Judy Millar is represented by Hamish Morrison Gallerie in Berlin, Gow Langsford Gallery in Auckland, Sullivan and Strumpf in Sydney and Galerie Mark Muller, Zurich. Her work is found in the collections of global art galleries including Auckland Art Gallery, Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen and CAP Art, Dublin.

Judy Millar - Split Ferryman - Sullivan and Strumpf - sydney contemporary art

Split Ferryman from Judy Millar 2012 exhibition

Judy Millar’s exhibition I Give You The End of A Golden Thread is showing at Sullivan and Strumpf at 799 Elizabeth St Zetland, Sydney from 7 May until 8 June 2013. Exhibition at IMA in Brisbane to follow.

Birds with Skymirrors- Carriageworks

in Global Art | Leave a comment

The Australian premiere of Birds with Skymirrors is on at Carriageworks from 1 to 4 May – this contemporary dance work from internationally renowned New Zealand group MAU incorporates dance, ceremony, poetry and chant. For us at Sydneycool this is a signifcant large scale work of art that happens to be in the form of movement, sometimes abstract but with strong cultural tones as you would expect from MAU!

Birds with Skymirrors comes from distinguished Samoan choreographer Lemi Ponifasio, a Samoan High Chief, and his company Mau. Ponifasio and MAU have received global acclaim and he’s now regarded as one of the most innovative and controversial theatre artists today.

Birds with Skymirrors reflects in dance our relationship with the earth and the impact of climate change, particularly on the low lying islands of the Pacific. The title comes from Ponifasio’s time on the Pacific island of Tarawa, where he saw migrating birds carrying strips of deadly black magnetic tape in their mouths. This inspired the vision in the work of liquid mirrors reflecting the sky. The bird motif is integral to this work – the dancers move fluidly across and around the stage to represent the flight and movement of birds – the video images and sound projected on the back screen emphasise the illustration of the impact on man’s presence on earth.

Ponifasio says that Birds with Skymirrors is ‘not an environmental lecture but as a karanga, a genealogical prayer, a ceremony, a poetic space; a life reflection as a member of the human species sharing Earth’s process with all sentient beings.’

Birds with Skymirrors challenges the traditional ideas of theatre and contemporary dance and themes of nature and the destructive power of the human race, without resorting to Western aesthetics or South Pacific clichés and stereotypes. A simple, strong stage set with evocative lighting and video projections create an austere and mystical world, as the performers convey an the message that radical climate change is not an apocalypse about to happen; it is already here.

MAU has performed Birds with Skymirrors in major global arts festivals and venues since 2010 including the Theater der Welt 2010 Ruhr, Germany, Theatre de la Ville, Paris and the Edinburgh Festival.

Be inspired and astonded – this is not predictable contemporary dance. See the brillance of Lemi Ponifasio and Mau in Birds with Skymirrors at Carriageworks from 1 to 4 May 2013.

Chef Alessandro Pavoni-Ormeggio Sydney

in Cool Restaurants | Leave a comment

Ormeggio at the Spit is in one of those Sydney locations where a restaurant in the wrong hands could easily have ended up ordinary, overpriced and trading on its perfect location. Ormeggio restaurant is neither – it’s a cool Sydney restaurant with contemporary Northern Italian food in an iconic location. Ormeggio reaffirms why we’re lucky to have top chefs with vision and who have brought their expertise to make Sydney one of the worlds top food destination.

Alessandro Pavoni

Alessandro Pavoni was born and trained in Brescia in Lombardy in northern Italy. He moved to Sydney in 2003 and became Executive Chef at the famous Park Hyatt Hotel in the heritage area of the Rocks in Sydney CBD in 2005, and later went on to open Ormeggio at the Spit in 2009 (Ormeggio in Italian is mooring). Before that, Alessandro worked at La Rotonde in France and two Michelin-starred Villa Fiordaliso on Lake Garda, Italy and as well as Restaurant Lido in Bermuda.

Wallaby battuta - Ormeggio restaurant - cool sydney restaurants - spit bridge

Wallaby battuta – watermelon rind amaranth chorizo powder fennel pollen

Omeggio restaurant has received Two Hats in SMH Good Food Guide, Two Glasses from Gourmet Traveller for the wine list, and is listed in the Top 100 Australian restaurants from Gourmet Traveller. Alessandro recently opened his second restaurant Spiedo – a Westfield Sydney restaurant.

Interior – Ormeggio restaurant

Ormeggio takes advantage of the location on Middle Harbour – it wraps its big arms around you with natural beauty, the space dappled in summer light – we sat by the edge of the water watching the yachts coming through Spit Bridge. The inside space is nothing interesting (quite boring really) but with such a beautiful position you need nothing else, You just let the blue, diamond studded waters – and your food (that’s if it’s good enough ?) do the work.

We indulged in the Ormeggio Sapori experience and went for the five course menu at lunch ($69). We ate a journey through Australian influenced contemporary North Italian food, starting with Flinders Island wallaby battuta – watermelon rind – amaranth – chorizo powder. Finely chopped carpaccio of wallaby tender and just a slightly sweet minerally taste of blood, with the watery crunch from the cubes of watermelon rind, eschallots and spice of chorizo powder all combining to deliver a satisfying warm meatiness on the palate.

Risotto buffalo mozzarella

Carnaroli risotto, buffalo mozzarella, tomato, capers, olives, basil. The Italian waiter talked to us about the firm bite of the carnaroli, and being cooked in tomato water. This was a simple tasting risotto with a few classic flavours. But the sunny smell of summer tomatos lingering in our thoughts from the tomato cooking water, our tongues covered in creamy sexy saltiness, from the mozzarella and olives – firmness of the grains between our teeth and the smooth lasting finish of the butter and olive oil. This was one of those risottos that shut us up on the first mouthfull and that takes some doing, now the main objective was to simply succumb to this risotto – and we were not even in Milan!

Wagyu beef flank - Ormeggio restaurant - cool sydney restaurants - spit bridge

Charcoal wagyu beef flank – watercress – baby beetroot – sesame seeds

Charcoal wagyu beef flank – watercress – baby beetroot -sesame seeds. Tender, encrusted wagyu long cooked at 55 degrees – the wagyu surrendered in our mouths with a soft texture full of big meat and some smoky flavours. The fresh green taste of the watercress puree was like a hot first date and the Moorish ground sesame seeds with the crunch of the dark ruby baby beets – an exciting climax of flavours that left you needing more.

Ormeggio restaurant - cool sydney restaurants - spit bridge

View from Ormeggio

Pomegranate - Ormeggio restaurant - cool sydney restaurants - spit bridge

Pomegranate yoghurt rye biscuits

Next the first of two dolci or more like a palate cleanser. Pomegranate, yoghurt, rye biscuit – a pomegranate jelly and then pomegranate jelly with cream – alongside a natural yoghurt and crisp rye biscuits crumbs. This delivered a sudden lift from the sharp pomegranate jelly and then all collapsing with the smooth cream and yogurt in the end. More balance and lightness than your usual sugar packed desserts with the natural taste/texture from the biscuit crumbs. Serious sugar lovers might be temped to say this is more like what your first meal of the day should be.

Amedei black chocolate - Ormeggio restaurant - cool sydney restaurants - spit bridge

Amedei black chocolate olive oil sourdough raspberry

Amedei tuscan black chocolate – olive oil -sourdough – raspberry. We loved this dessert – few chocolate makers can deliver what is necessary to make the chocolate in this type of dessert – where the flavour has to be pure and to the point. The French chocolate maker Valhrona is one of our favourites – the other is Amedei from Tuscany, which is what Ormeggio used here. Fresh tangy raspberry – the lustful dark forbidden, almost bitter flavour from this chocolate – the soothing but hidden herbaceousness of olive oil, natural balance of the dried sourdough crumbs – this tasted so much better than it looked.

Ormeggio restaurant at the Spit is very sexy and it doesn’t try to be, it just is, and the food of chef Alessandro Pavoni is very good!

The wine list is naturally Italian influenced – but also includes a strong regional Australian contingent which is why Ormeggio’s wine list was awarded two Glasses by Gourmet Traveller Wine Awards of 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Beauty Point - ormeggio restaurant - cool sydney restaurants - spit bridge

View from Ormeggio – Beauty Point

Ormeggio is open for lunch - Friday to Sunday 12pm-3pm and dinner – Wed to Sat 6pm-11pm, Sun 6pm-10pm. There’s an a la carte menu for dinner or you can choose degustation options – 2 course ($49), 3 courses ($59) – inc. a glass of wine – or 5 course degustation ($69). With the combination of very good food, informative service and the best location Ormeggio delivers a cool Sydney restaurant.

Food: 8/10

Presentation: 8/10

Service: 8/10

Wine list: 8/10

Ormeggio at the Spit

D’Albora Marinas, The Spit, Mosman, Sydney 2088

Ormeggio Website

La Biennale di Venezia 2013- artist Simryn Gill

in Global Art | Leave a comment

The 55th Venice Biennale opens on 1 June 2013 – and this year, 88 countries are taking part. The Venice Biennale is the oldest and most important global contemporary arts event with Australia being consistently represented for more than three decades. Each Biennale, a contemporary artist is selected to represent Australia – it’s exciting to have Simryn Gill, the Sydney-based artist, who works across multiple media, exhibit at the Australian Pavilion.

Simryn Gill

Simryn Gill was born in Singapore and now lives and works in Sydney and Malaysia. Her work has been exhibited in some of the top global contemporary art galleries , including MCA Australia in Sydney; Tate Modern in London and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington DC. Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions and at the Sharjah and Istanbul Biennials and most recently for Documenta 13 in Kassel, Germany. You can find her work in the collections of some of the most prestigious global galleries like, MOMA and Guggenheim in New York, Getty Museum in LA and the Art Gallery of NSW and the Queensland Art Gallery.

Half Moon Shine 2012 – Simryn Gill

The two venues for the Venice Biennale are the Giardini (the gardens where most national pavilions are located) and the Arsenale (the old shipyards and armories) where the individual artists tend to be presented. The Australian Pavilion in the Giardini, is the perfect location to host Simryn’s site-specific work, a few months before the existing pavilion is to be replaced by a new pavilion.

Simryn Gill - Venice Biennale 2013 - sydney contemporary arts

Untitled 2004 – Still from Super 8mm film – Simryn Gill

The existing Australian pavilion, which is amongst the trees at the Giardini gardens, reminds you of a modular Aussie beach house – also like the tree-lined, beach-front house from Gill’s youth in Port Dickson, Malaysia.

Simryn Gill - Naught - Venice Biennale 2013 - sydney contemporary arts

Naught 2012 – Simryn Gill

Simryn’s multi-media work, Here art grows on trees is a broad representation of her work – there’s a series of large collaged drawings, a series of photographs. There’s everyday objects – like the collection of books from which Gill has drawn her paperwork. Also a work made from organic and synthetic materials, plastic created from petrochemicals and metal from iron ore. Then, amidst the trees, Here art grows on trees, presents paper works as being of vegetation.

Simryn Gills joins some of Australian most significant contemporary artists to exhibit at the Biennale like Rosalie Gascoigne, Imants Tiller, Shaun Gladwell, Hany Armanious and Emily Kane Kngwarreye.

Sydneycool will be in Venice for the Biennale and will keep you posted during that time, The Venice Biennale runs from 1 June until 24 November – it’s closed Mondays. Check in again with sydneycool when we review the 55th Venice Biennale and tell you all about Simryn Gill and the Australian Pavilion.

Sixpenny modern fine dining- in Stanmore

in Cool Restaurants | 2 Comments

Sixpenny Fine Dining in inner western suburb of Stanmore has been open for over a year and is one of a new breed of cool Sydney restaurants that creates dishes with a natural food approach – fresh homegrown produce, much of it from ‘the patch’ in the Southern Highlands. At Sixpenny, there is no jaw-dropping view, no metres of white marble and brushed steel or lighting that might be works of art. Instead you are aware that this is all about the food, service and your dining pleasure.

James Parry (right) and Daniel Puskas - the Sixpenny Patch

James Parry (right) and Daniel Puskas at the Sixpenny Patch

James Parry and Daniel Puskas from Sixpenny might have taken some influences from modern Euro food that you see at Noma in Copenhagen where James worked. Daniel Puskas and James Parry both have solid food heritage – Daniel having worked at Tetsuyas in Sydney, then in the USA before returning to becoming Head Chef at Oscillate Wildly and earning his first hat. He then moved on to Sepia before opening Sixpenny. James who worked at Billy Kwong, Bird Cow Fish then joining Daniel at Oscillate Wildly before leaving and working at Blue Hill at Stone Barns (Pocantico Hills, New York) and Noma restaurant in Copenhagen also Mugraitz in Spain. He returned to Sydney and work at Manly Pavilion and Rockpool before starting Sixpenny with Daniel.

phew, guys!

Interior – Sixpenny

Sixpenny is not a large restaurant – only 50 seats and a small private room – a modern simple comfortable space, with touches of Scandinavia. The centre of the restaurant is a free standing service bar which breaks up the square dining area. At the back of the restaurant, there’s a small kitchen garden where they grow the more delicate herbs. Take a walk around as a part of your dining experience.

Interior – Sixpenny Restaurant Stanmore

We went for the eight course tasting menu ($135) – a selection of small dishes featuring fresh produce skillfully cooked and presented. Each course is brought to the table and introduced by one of the chefs – we like this connection between the chefs and the guests – similar in spirit to that of David Chang’s Momofuku Sydney city.

Salt and vinegar crisps and herbed yoghurt

Starting the eight plus courses, homemade salt and vinegar potato crisps and herbed yoghurt. Salt is here as the hero with coolness of the herbed yoghurt – it sharpens your palate for all that is to follow.

Chilled carrot soup

Chilled carrot soup, new olive oil – finest carrot essence, just chilled with herbaceous puddles of new season olive oil – important here as the carrot.

Cucumbers, Tomato and Buttermilk Whey- sixpenny restaurant -stanmore

Cucumbers, tomato, edible flowers

Cucumbers, tomato, edible flowers. This course demonstrates the essence of Sixpenny – fresh, crunch, sharp tastes where the produce speaks for itself with little interference.

Crab macadamia camomille

Crab, Silky Macadamia and Camomile. This dish is not only visually spectacular – it demonstrates the skill and foresight of the chefs. A sumptuous macadamia milk coating the shreads of crab and macadamias – a dream to eat.

heirloom-carrots - Sixpenny Restaurant Stanmore - Daniel Puskas - cool Sydney restaurants

Heirloom carrots hazelnuts mascarpone

Carrot, Marscarpone, Toasted Cheese Curds and Bitter Leaves. James Parry introduced this course – garden grown, heirloom carrots with hazelnuts and toasted mascarpone, contrasted with the bitter leaves – bitter and sweet some traces of nutty smoke.

Pastrami - Sixpenny Restaurant Stanmore - Daniel Puskas - cool Sydney restaurants

Pastrami macadamias

Succulent pork with the finest crust against macadamias and baby leaves. The snap of the skin and dissolving sweet pork flesh counterbalanced with green freshness.

Coorong mullet, lardons

Coorong Mullet and Native Ginger Leaf – a rectangle of mullet wrapped in the finest lardon. This silky estaurine fish encased with the richness of the lardons, green earthiness, dreamy fishy creaminess in our mouth.

Roast mutton spinach leaves

Leg of Mutton, Sweet Onion, Sprouts and Wild Spinach. The mutton was gentle in its flavour - the fibrous, crunchy earthiness of the sprouts – all carried along nicely with the sweet onion.

Poached mandarins

Mandarins poached in mandarin juice with a wafer of frozen cream -everything that’s sumptuous about tangy mandarins and sweet cream!

Strawberries and cream

Sour Cream, Strawberries and Fennel Seed – classic reworked. Granules of frozen strawberry juice hiding soft cream and a blink of fennel – perfect – left you wanting to lick the plate. And so with a random thought like that, we should leave and say – Vi ses! But no – there were still one or two more pleasures left.

rhubarb-and-potato-scallops-Sixpenny Restaurant Stanmore - Daniel Puskas - cool Sydney restaurants

Rhubarb and potato scallops – a surreal end

Rhubarb and potato scallops. A surreal end – the licorice-like texture of the twigs of rhubarb pushing violently against the savoury of the potato scallops, atlas in the end all succumbing to the dusting of sweetness, Heaven.

Herb garden-Sixpenny Restaurant Stanmore - Daniel Puskas - cool Sydney restaurants

Herb garden at Sixpenny

We asked the sommelier, Sebastian Crowther for a sample of the Sixpenny wine list to match our food. He chose to start a Diebolt Vallois ‘Blanc de Blanc’ Brut Cramant from Champagne - perfectly crisp and a clean introduction. Next up the Muller Catoir ‘Gutswein’ Riesling Blend Pfalz, Germany – light and little sweeteness. A glass of 2011 L’imposteur blanc- a Grenache Gris, Rousanne and Rolle (aka Vermentino) blend – refreshing acidity and a favourite in Vermentino. Then a taste of 2011 Dom. la Grange Tiphaine ‘Clef de Sol’ Cab Franc finishing with a sparkling 2011 Philippe Balivet Gamay Bugey Cerdon, Savoie in France. We like the wine list here – old world wines with a balance of Antipodean wines.

Sixpenny is open for lunch – Saturday and Sunday from 12pm and dinner – Wednesday to Saturday from 6pm. Sixpenny is flawless and friendly, we love the chefs bringing each dish to the table and explaining them.

We sat in quiet contemplation on the train back to the city and thinking of what a perfect meal we had at Sixpenny fine dining restaurant in Stanmore – knowing there was nothing left to be said about Sixpenny!

Food: 9/10

Presentation: 9/10

Service: 9/10

Wine list: 8/10

Sixpenny

83 Percival Rd Stanmore

Sixpenny Website

13 Rooms on for 11 days only

in Global Art | 1 Comment

13 Rooms, the latest Kaldor Public Art Project, starts tomorrow at Pier 2/3 and John Kaldor and the team have given Sydney another seismic global contemporary arts event.

13 Rooms

Speaking at today’s media launch, John Kaldor talked about 13 Rooms being their ‘most ambitious project since the very first when Christo wrapped the coast’ at Little Bay in 1969. And when you’ve seen this exhibition, you’ll agree with John – this is one of the most important exhibitions to come to Australia. But it’s also a mistake to think of it as the usual exhibition. Hans Ulrich Obrist, co-curator with Klaus Biesenbach says 13 Rooms is ‘a city within a city. The space at Pier 2/3 is not like the traditional gallery – this one has doors on each room.

Artist – Damien Hirst

You will be inspired, amazed, surprised, challenged by some of the ‘living sculptures’ – some will talk with you, ask you questions or not communicate. This is a lineup of works by some of the most important artists of today – Damien Hirst’s identical twins, John Baldessari’s Six Colourful Inside Jobs, Marina Abramovic’s Luminosity and Allora and Calzadilla’s Revolving Door, brilliantly choreographed by Rafael Bonachela from Sydney Dance Company.

Allora-&-calzadilla -13-rooms-contemporary sydney art--kaldor-art-project

Artists – Allora and Calzadilla

See them all – also watch out for Xavier Le Roy’s Untitled, Roman Ondak’s Swap, Australian work Coexisting by Clark Beaumont and Laura Lima’s Man=flesh/Woman=flesh.

John Baldessari

You only have 11 days to see 13 Rooms, from 11th to 21st April – 11.00 am to 7.00 pm daily at Pier 2/3 Walsh Bay.

marina-abramovic-luminosity -13-rooms---kaldor-art---contemporary-sydney-art

Artist – Marina Abramovic

There’s also a holiday program for kids, parlour nights, after work ‘sundowners’ and panel discussions. Check out more about 13 Rooms and the full program – there’s free entry.

Colin Fassnidge- 4 Fourteen Restaurant- 414

in Cool Restaurants | Leave a comment

Colin Fassnidge – chef, family man, motorbike rider and tweeter extraordinaire! – although of late, his tweets have somewhat turned towards the niceties of daily things in life and less of the hot Irish blood that runs through his veins.

Colin Fassnidge – Dublin born Irish chef arrived in this fair land in 1999, with stints at that very cool fine dining Est restaurant in Sydney CBD and at Banc. In 2004/5 he started at Four in Hand pub restaurant in Paddington and in a short time it became the very good ‘Four in Hand Restaurant’ with a very nice local pub next door. His philosophy on food being that classic ‘nose to tail’ thinking, which is that of many a great chef around the world – Colin Fassnidge has gone on to be embraced as one of Sydney’s, if not Australia’s, chefs to watch!

Colin Fassnidge - 4 Fourteen Restaurant - Four in Hand - Surry Hills - cool Sydney restaurant

Chef Colin Fassnidge

Colin Fassnidge and business partner Joe Saleh now have Four in Hand, Paddington Arms and the latest 4 Fourteen Restaurant in Surry Hills sydney, which in 18 months has become one of Sydney’s “IT” restaurants to be seen in!

Menu at 4Fourteen Restaurant - Colin Fassnidge - cool Surry Hills Sydney restaurant

The menu cover at 4Fourteen

But on a serious note the “IT” restaurant thing is a lot of bull shit! It’s because he’s a great chef with a dedicated and talented team around him, like Head Chef and business partner Carla Jones. But the key has to be great cooking in a well run kitchen in a well run restaurant and to date a well run business and all this has to be led by a chef that has what it takes and Colin Fassnidge has got that. Someone once said that Fassnidge was not media savvy – that really made me laugh out loud, as great chefs know just how to work the media and when. Anyway that has changed somewhat in recent times – with his prominence on ‘My Kitchen Rules’ on Channel 7 which airs 7 March – to name one in a handful of media appearances.

The Food at 414 Restaurant:

Ham hock croquettes - 4Fourteen - Colin Fassnidge - cool Sydney restaurant

Ham hock and cheese croquettes, mustard creme fraiche

Ham Hock and Cheese Croquette, Mustard Crème Fraîche – small bits of ham encassed with cheese in croquettes alongside a tear drop scoop of mustard creme fraiche.

Black pudding - 4Fourteen - Colin Fassnidge - cool Sydney restaurant

Black pudding, proscuitto, apple sauce

Black Pudding, Prosciutto, Apple Sauce – soft luscious black pudding – with hints of dark chocolate and chorizo coming through to balance the minerality of the black pudding – layered on the proscuitto and fine batons of apple.

Citrus cured cobia - 4Fourteen - Colin Fassnidge - cool Sydney restaurant

Citrus cured cobia, frozen fennel

Citrus Cured Cobia, Frozen Fennel and Celery – pieces of sashimi cobia ( known as well as black kingfish) with celery leaves, braised celery sticks and topped with shaved frozen fennel juice. This was such a delightful dish to look at and even better to taste. It showed a lighter more modern take on Fassnidge’s repetoire.

Ocean trout - 4Fourteen - Colin Fassnidge - cool Sydney restaurant

Ocean trout, white beans, fennel

Ocean Trout, Citrus Stock, White Beans, Fennel and kale. We chose the celeriac as accompaniment – cooked 3 Ways – the smoothest of puree, pure smokiness of the baked celeriac with a fluffy white inside and paper thin strips of fried celeriac.

Celeriac 3 ways

Interior 4Fourteen - Colin Fassnidge - cool Surry Hills Sydney restaurant

Interior at 4Fourteen

For dessert – Pain d’epices with fresh figs and ginger beer sorbet

Fresh figs and ginger beer sorbet

4Fourteen Restaurant delivers a warm welcome, sharp attentive service from knowledgeable staff, well cooked food and an interesting wine list – and they can really make a mean Bloody Mary.

Food: 7/10

Presentation: 7/10

Service: 9/10

Wine list: 8/10

4Fourteen Restaurant

414 Bourke St, Surry Hills 2010

4Fourteen Website

The Wild Rover bar- Sydney

in Cool Bars | 1 Comment

‘The Wild Rover’ – well, this was one hell of a long wait for one of Grandmas’ kids. It felt like a year in the making but The Wild Rover bar is most definitely open and it really is a cool Sydney bar. Grandmas Bar gave the cool Sydney bar scene a kick on how to harness what it takes to create not just a formula bar but to give it that cool factor. The team behind Grandmas is looking for The Wild Rover to do the same, and we will put some money on that!

The Wild Rover - Surry Hills - cool Sydney bars - Sydney cool

The infamous green door entrance

Day 1 and sydneycool went along to give this new Irish offshoot a test run. The Wild Rover is located in the part of old industrial Sydney where wholesale businesses did their trade. The front of the building has been left as is – out front there’s the sign that reflects its past – Gestetner’s Surry Hills Shirt Warehouse. And you never know what lies behind this very ordinary shop front until you open the heavy wooden door.

Wild Rover - Surry Hills - cool Sydney bars - sydneycool - son of Grandmas Bar

Wild Rover bar

But once inside the warm feel of a local Irish pub with its comfy chairs, tables and large banquettes beckon you to sit back and relax. Or be one of the lads or gals and sit at the bar and discuss the day’s woes. And upstairs has a lighter and brighter look with large windows letting natural light flood – making this a perfect spot to spend a Sunday afternoon on a rainy winters day.

The Wild Rover - cool Sydney bars - Surry Hills - sydneycool

Rail indicator boards give you the rundown on beers and whiskies

With a nod to heritage Sydney – the old State Rail train indicator boards displaying the list of beers and whiskies, nice!

Wild Rover - cool Sydney bars - Surry Hills - sydneycool - son of Grandmas Bar

The ground floor bar and entrance

We like the way the guys at The Wild Rover have set out what they believe when it comes to drinks. They tell us their credo is “focussing on the flavour of what your’e enjoying, not simply the ingredients” There’s a whole variety of draught and bottled beers – great to see some NSW brewed beers. We tried the 4 Pines Stout, brewed locally in Manly, a dry Irish style stout – or like a Guinness “light” – OUCH! that will hurt if you are Irish.

The Wild Rover Surry Hills - cool Sydney bars - sydneycool bars

Draught beers on tap

The Wild Rover re-discovers some long lost classic cocktails as well as introducing some of their own. A list of cellar reserve wines including French and local champagnes (sic). And of course, there’s whisky – some rare and hard to source whiskies and Irish whiskies like Connemara from the west coast of Ireland.

The Wild Rover | cool Sydney bars Surry Hills - sydneycool bars

The cocktail list

The bar food keeps the wolf from the door – like spicy lamb sausage rolls and freshly shucked oysters from Coffin Bay, and the word on the ground is in the near future “live music on Sundays” – here’s hoping.

Wild Rover Surry Hills Sydney - cool Sydney bars - sydneycool bars

Upstairs banquette seating

The Wild Rover is the newest cool Sydney bar and we really like the place, the service and the drinks. But above all it feels real and not like all the glossy theme park bars that have been popping up all over this fair land.

The Wild Rover

75 Campbell St Surry Hills Sydney

Latest contemporary art-Sydney

in Global Art | 1 Comment

Sydney’s contemporary art scene keeps on evolving – with a new contemporary photographic gallery, Black Eye opening in Darlinghurst and the Sydney exhibition and street work of the global contemporary artist Vhils.

Black Eye – contemporary photography gallery – Darlinghurst

Black Eye, a contemporary photography gallery has just opened at 138 Darlinghurst Rd, Darlinghurst (between the Film Club and Jewish Museum). Black Eye’s first exhibition is Facade by photographer Tom Evangelidis whose gallery this is. Evangelidis looks at the details that give our modern urban landscape its character and richness. Facade delivers an eclectic mix of different architectural eras – gothic churches from the 13 th century to the unique austeriry of the communism of the 20th century. Evangelidis takes us from Prague to Bucharest – to Hanoi, Sofia, Istanbul and on to St Petersburg. His images are large (12o cm x 150 cm) and shot using traditional methods and only one sheet of film per location.

jack-mundey---vhils---skalitzers---berlin---sydneycool

Jack Mundey – portrait

Down at the Rocks is the Sydney popup exhibition – Dissolve by Portguese born artist Alexandre Farto aka Vhils. Vhils has been in Sydney creating the works in this exhibition – as well as crafting one of his works in a Sydney public space. Vhils’ practice is based in street art and he takes materials from the urban landscape to create often large scale works on buildings. He’s created a work on the steps that lead up from the foot of Globe St to Harrington St in The Rocks. It’s a huge portrait of Sydney environmental activist, Jack Mundey whose leadership led to the preservation of Victoria St, Potts Point and other inner city areas.

vhils---globe-st---sydney---skalitzers-contemporary-art-sydney

Jack Mundey – Vhils

It’s exciting to see the continued evolution of Sydney contemporary art and how it’s becoming more global. Vhils’ visit and exhibition should encourage more contemporary European artists to exhibit here. The Vhils exhibition through Skalizters Gallery in Berlin is on in the space of the old Gucci store at 140 George St until 6 April. Sydneycool was excited to see Skalizters Gallery here in Sydney – we’re on our way to see their gallery in Berlin in a few weeks so the connection was a good surprise for us.