My birthday meal this year take place at the unassuming Town Hall Hotel which is situated a mere 3 minute walk away from home. We've lived here for almost a year now but had never ventured in.

First impressions was that it was a welcoming, elegant bistro and our waitress was a warm and friendly lady from Leeds which is 45 minutes away from our UK home town. Always pleasant to be reminded of home. 

As well as a lots of a la carte menu choices, there were also many dishes scribbled on a mirror which constituted the specials board.

Between the three of us; Steve, Daddy Chan and I, we ordered:

• Smoked duck breast, onion tart, duck liver parfait 
  
• Risotto of asparagus, truffled butter, waygu bresaola
  
• House made cottechino sausage with lentil salad and salsa verde (on the specials menu)
  

The smoked duck breast was probably the winner. Sweet onions, gamey duck and buttery, flaky pastry. Very decadent, very rich and very French. The risotto was also rich and decadent. Cheesy and oozy the Wagyu gave it a salty spike and the asparagus was a welcome contrast to the buttery depth of the rice. Too cheesy for Daddy Chan though.

The house made cottechino sausage (likened to white pudding) was probably the weakest dish. It was described to us as punchy and flavoursome but we found it bland and disappointing.

Main course wise Dad went with a special which was effectively steak and chips. Steve also went with a special which was a milk fed lamb dish with crumbed olive and carrots. And my choice was the rotolo of white rabbit, croccante of leg, garlic crème, peas, jus gras.


The steak and chips went down well. A classic executed well. Not rock my world well but well enough. The milk fed lamb split us. Too rich for me, too gamey for Dad but Steve liked it enough. The rabbit was the winner. Well done me for making good menu choices! The croccante was kind of like a scroll made with an eggy pancake and filled with rabbit meat. The garlic creme and jus added depth of flavour and the peas kept it light and fresh.


It was my birthday so dessert was called for so what better than birthday bombolini? Described on the menu as; Bomboloni – hot doughnuts, lemon custard, blueberry and ice-cream. Again the overall feeling was good enough. The doughnuts could probably have done with being a little softer and less cakey but the ice cream added some moisture.


Overall the Town Hall Hotel provided us with a pleasant experience. It's a good neighbourhood restaurant. Solid and I'd like to think dependable with friendly service. Unfortunately in a neighbourhood such as Fitzroy, sometimes solid is not quite enough to win repeat business. However, Town Hall Hotel offers a menu type that isn't that common in the area. Mario's also does pasta but it's a lot more cafe like. The Commoner offers a similar feel in terms of service and that sort of not quite fine dining experience but the food offered is different so there is a little slice of the market for this place that I hope it can leverage and retain.

When reuniting with dear friends John and Craig (JCray to me), it's always about good food, good drink and good cheer so when we were in Sydney after New Year, they decided to take us to Mr Wong having heard good reports and learning that is one of Sydney's places to be!

We were greeted and advised that whilst they could seat us, they would need the table back within 2 hours which we were happy to comply with provided they could feed us in that time.

Not wanting to delay the chit chat with decision making coupled with the fact that the menu is huge with far too many choices we opted for one of the banquets which was the $108 per head option. I've forgotten the exact dishes we had but the current version of the menu posted online is as per below and much of it seems familiar so if anything there will have only been minor differences. Although now I look back we had two sashimi style dishes, one tuna and one kingfish and the kingfish isn't on the menu any more and I'm not convinced the tuna was with kohlrabi. Unfortunately I've had to forgo accuracy at the expense of time delay.

Wine decision making was equally hard so it was Tsing Tao beers all round!

Mixed dim sum selection
Yellowfin tuna, kohlrabi, sweet wasabi, soy and ginger dressing
Salad of poached chicken and jellyfish
Steamed fish with XO, ginger and shallots
Sweet and sour pork hock
Mr. Wong’s crispy Shandong chicken
Live mudcrab cooked in your choice of style and we chose the housemade XO sauce as per our waitress' recommendation
Four types of braised mushrooms with sautéed baby spinach and lettuce
Salt and pepper lamb cutlets
Fried rice and steamed rice

Choice of 2 desserts to share which for us were the below except my memory is a little hazy! I do recall something mangoey and fruity and light and a heavier chocolate and ice cream affair so having looked at the menu online I think it's these one...

Mango pudding, passionfruit granita, pomelo and pearls
Mr. Wong’s deep fried vanilla ice cream served with butter scotch sauce

Now Craig isn't a sashimi fan but he loved the two dishes and they were tasty, Different and unusual but really good flavour hits.

The mud crab was also super delicious and messy. We were given comedy bibs for this one; comedy but necessary! 

There was a lot of food and we thought we were done having not kept track of the dishes and courses but oh no. The sweet and sour pork hock was the last to arrive and it was a real shame it was a late entrant to the game because we were just too full to do it justice no matter how hard we tried and we tried hard. It wasn't the usual hot pink, gloopy, battered sweet and sour but almost like a braised and roasted version. Cubes of pork in a caramelised sweet and sour glaze - delicious.

This set menu took longer than 2 hours and we overstayed our welcome. We did flag to our waitress when we were chowing down the main courses to make her aware but she told us she would have been told and hadn't been so we were welcome to stay and not rush and at $108 per head we should enjoy! So we took that as issue resolved.

Unfortunately not and the front of house hostess came over and told us sharply that she had forewarned us we needed to give up the table and that we were not in her good books! We pleaded innocence and said we'd asked and spoken to the waitress so she flounced off and I suspect words were had. Anyway our waitress came back and told us not to worry and it had been sorted and the miscommunication that happened between them was not our concern or responsibility. I guess a little bit of front of house attitude is what make a place hip!

Anyway said front of house hostess did come by our table to apologise which I think takes courage and she was gracious and genuine so we were happy to forget and continue. By this time we were enjoying dessert. Two different desserts; one fruity and light and the other chocolatey and wicked. Great to have the contrast.

We enjoyed our Mr Wong experience. The table was a bit small for all our dishes if I'm to be super fussy. And shame the sweet and sour pork hock was held back so we couldn't enjoy fully. And it's pricey so is a special occasion place. But we didn't feel it wasn't worth it. And overall we had a great night.

I wanted to arrange a special lunch for my family and I during a reunion in Sydney just after New Year. There were 9 of us and my 2 year old niece. My family were visiting from UK so I really wanted something special. Some Sydney friends had talked about Cafe Sydney so much and a few of my Melbourne friends had also been.

I had concerns it would be more style over substance as everyone would talk about the view and the setting over the food. Food comments were always positive but were often an after thought following extremely positive opinions about the setting. Whilst my family like a good setting, it's always more about the food for them so yes, I did feel a little nervous.

When researching, I realised that the minimum charge for the private room was not far off what we would likely spend so it made sense to book it to guarantee a good table. The reservation process was pretty simple and I was contacted by phone and email to confirm. When discussing requirements I was asked several times if I wanted to pre order drinks and whilst I initially thought about it, I decided ultimately that for a group of 9 it probably wasn't necessary and we could choose on the day. Not knowing what our guests' food choices would be meant that wine decisions could also wait. As we were a table size of less than 12 we didn't have to pre order food and could choose from the a la carte rather than go with a set meal.

What I did find interesting is that whilst I was asked repeatedly and advised to pre order drinks; the function administrators I spoke to and had email contact with were not that interested in any other requirements. I wanted to order a few seafood platters to share as a pre appetizer so raised the request in an email which was acknowledged. When discussing the reservation on the phone, I mentioned I would be in touch closer to the time to finalise details. At the time I was still pondering over the pre ordering of drinks so thought that once I had decided I would contact them. I was advised not to call and they would call me because they had such a tight timetable of functions and were so busy that it would be better to wait for them to call when they were ready! I was reassured that they work through the rota of bookings efficiently and have processes in place that effectively I should leave it to the professionals! So much for personal service and I definitely felt like a number rather than an individual. I fully understood though that my booking was small fry compared to what they can organise so just let it lie. I couldn't help feel though that all the pressure relating to pre ordering drinks was really about lining their pockets and guaranteeing revenue rather than what I wanted for my small event.

In summary I guess what I am trying to say in the longwinded paragraph is that Cafe Sydney is a slick operation and when doing business with them, as a customer I was definitely made to feel that it's a money making commercial operation and that they held the power. Anyway as long as the experience was good I was prepared to forgo that valued customer feeling. 

My family loved the environment and the private dining room made us feel special and that they were truly on their epic Australian holiday of a lifetime. We were assigned our own waiter who was efficient throughout, if not the most personal or friendly. His impact on our experience can be summed up by the fact that I cannot remember his name or face whereas we have had some meals in places and I still remember the names and faces of the people who served us as they really contributed positively to our experience.

The irony was that in spite of claiming that the events management function at Cafe Sydney is slick and under exemplary control, as per my conversation when organising this reservation, they held no record of my request for seafood platters! So I re ordered and they came. It all worked out but wasn't quite the seamless service I was expecting.

The seafood platters looked very grand; two tiers of oysters, crab, Moreton Bay bugs, scampi, prawns, marron and a duo of sauces, mayonnaise and Marie Rose. The seafood was fresh and this a delicious pre cursor of our meal to come.

Drinks wise we enjoyed an array of cocktails, mocktails, beers, iced teas and wine. My mum and sister are not big alcohol drinkers and my cousin Carine is completely teetotal so it was great that there was such a wide choice of mocktails and iced teas for them to work through. One or two of their choices weren't quite well balanced in flavour being either overly sharp or too bland and our waiter was happy enough to take them back to the bar for readjusting such as adding more coconut water.

Foodwise people tried different things. Popular entrees were Wagy beef carpaccio, seared scallops, peach and prosciutto salad. Everything looked so pretty and were enjoyed.

Main courses included choices of roast chicken, crispy pork belly and beef tenderloin all accompanied by an array of french fries, mashed potato, asparagus and salad. We also had some fries arrive early so that Amelia could start eating.

Desserts were described beautifully in the menu and amongst us we had the chocolate and peanut buter slice and a berry. peach and meringue mix. Again each dish looked appetisingly attractive and there were appreciative comments from everyone.

We enjoyed the long leisurely lunch and the chance to be together in such beautiful surroundings and delicious food. My concerns about whether the food would deliver were unnecessary an exceeded expectations.

At the end of my family's trip, when discussing highlights, it pleased me that this was one of them and we had many good meals both in Sydney and Melbourne. I would say that a meal at Cafe Sydney is definitely one of the key necessary experiences of a successful Sydney trip much like having a drink at the Opera Bar. It's not going to be a personal experience and yes, I still stand that improvements could be made to make that better but the way it stands at the moment it doesn't diminish a positive overall experience. I guess that aspect is just not as necessary when the view, the company, the food make up for it and create a wonderful memory.