The Winery and Ken & Julia Yonetani's What the Birds Knew

Starting with the food - just cos I always do :)

Tonight, I went to The Winery in Surry for the first time.  We ventured into Surry Hills on a whim - sort of.. well not really. Initially we intended to go to Bamboo Dumpling Bar, but they were fully booked. Then we tried to get a table at The Forresters*, remembering the great post by Chocolatesuze, but had just missed out. But speaking of The Forresters, there's a new restaurant upstairs called Queenie's.  After taking a quick glance at their menu, I can conclude that they serve Jamaican cuisine with a mishmash of foods from other cultures (e.g. Japanese teriyaki and Lebanese tabouli, etc. It sounds interesting... but I'm not that daring yet). 

ANYWAY, in the end, W suggested The Winery.  I have heard so much about the Winery from my foodie friends at work so I was really glad to be reminded of this place. 

If you walk past the place, you definitely WILL NOT miss it. It's very plant-y, and resembles a nursery than a restaurant/bar. It's pretty during the day, and pretty funky/groovy at night.  The atmosphere is buzzing around happy hour and it is a pretty fantastic place to be on a Friday night. 

the entrance

If you swing by at 7 without a reservation on a Friday night, be prepared to wait an hour or so (note to self, make Friday night plans on Thursday night - and book!).  

a grainy photo of the menu

 ALRIGHT - FOOD PICTURES.  I put them through filters - they look even prettier now (will I ever get sick of instagram? Probably not).

Firstly, the roasted mushrooms:

Roasted mushrooms - pounded pesto, pine nuts and ricotta

 I love mushrooms and I love ricotta, so this dish was a clear winner for me. The mushrooms stuffed to perfection, and juicy.  The pesto gave it that extra kick of fresh herby flavour and every mouthful of this was so such a joyful experience. I especially enjoyed the little sprouty leaves sprinkled on the top. I have no idea what herbs they are - but they are yummeh.

Next item - we had to wiki before ordering:

Kingfish carpaccio - edamame, caper salt and pickled veggie aioli

TBH, when I layed eyes on this, I thought it was the ugliest thing ever. However, upon further inspection, I discovered that I loved everything (damn those pickles were yum).  When kingfish is done right, it's my favourite sashimi. I'm not used to eating kingfish that's splayed out this like - but I found it interesting.  The combination of flavours was also very interesting. It was a bit salty in places (from the caper salt I guess), fishy in the tail areas, and aioli-ish in most of the other parts. LOL. I think they did the aioli well. I would happily order this dish again.

Last one:

Chicken, champagne and grape pie with a side of buttered spinach

I thought this was the ultimate comfort dish. It was jampacked full of chicken-y goodness, and you could see the individual grapes inside.  I'm not too sure what I thought about this, except that I had higher expectations because it's such a quirky combination of main ingredients and somehow, I thought it would be super special. But alas, it was just a chicken pie. The sauce at the bottom of the bowl tasted a bit like red wine though - it was pretty nice. Grapey. Would not order again. Should have got the paper bag steamed bara instead.

FOOD BIT IS FINISHED. I just wanted to write about it while it is still very fresh in my memory. So, earlier in the day, while we were at Harry's cafe de wheels, I spied a glowing chandelier in a shop across the road.

I spy with my little eye...

 And after the hotdog...


What the Birds Knew - a collection of pieces by Ken & Julia Yonetani.

so cool

 I was unaware that UV lightbulbs could give me cancer.

But apparently they can.

For the next photo, I think you'll get a better view if you click on it.

GIANT ANT

 EEEEEK! Super creepy, but super cool.

There were other neon/UV signs too (Electric dreams, radioactive and meltdown). Also tres cool. And I read about the artworks online - deep and meaningful.

I'm not very good at interpreting art, but I love it. I love expression!

Name plaques of sponsors

I LIKE RED. SO VIBRANT.

I am so pooped from today's studying/eating/walking around.  Overall, another chill-but-funtastic day. Too bad exams are coming up, I would have enjoyed doing this sort of stuff for so much longer :)

Anyway, I hope I'll get a chance to blog about my visit to Mad Spuds Cafe (unless I already have. LOL. Losing track...).  Hope you all have a loverly weekend and that we all squeeze all the sunshine we can get out of it!!