Metropolitan Hotel1 Bridge St
Sydney CBD
The Metropolitan Hotel has been around for a long long time - in fact since 1834. It was extended in 1910 to give it its present form.
It's probably best described as a country pub in the city. It certainly has the warmth of a country pub and people here say hello and seem relaxed.
The Metropolitan has obviously changed hands a few times over that many years and it was taken over not that long ago by Grant Fairweather and Peter Phillips who then spent 12 months renovating it - painting, carpeting, changing furniture - the lot.
The Metropolitan is spread over several levels from the rooftop to the second floor entry, with bars and food available on them all.
It had great flavours and the nam jim mayonnaise that came with it was a nice touch - you can never go wrong with nam jim!
The calamari was extremely tender as well - as it should be.
Sliders are a wonderful snack. They are also a great entree.The pulled lamb sliders with green tomato jam were wonderful.
The buns were nice and soft and it all came together with great flavours.
The pulled lamb was very tender, juicy and tasty.
We then moved on to the spicy buffalo wings with citrus aioli.They came bathed in a thick rich and spicy sauce that tasted absolutely lovely and had they had a decent bite to them as well.
The whole dish was also nicely presented with a generous garnish of super thin and crispy sweet potato chips on top.
We then tried the dukkah crusted lamb rump salad. Apart from some very tender lamb, it had chickpeas, roast peppers, olives, heirloom tomatoes, leaves and a delicious preserved lemon dressing. A delicious dish!
The next dish to try was the lamb riblets and they also sounded great.Anything that's described as slow cooked for 8 hours then slathered in tangy bbq sauce grabs my attention immediately.
These were seriously tender riblets - the meat literally fell off the bones and the meat and sauce tasted so good.
One of the main courses that is extremely popular at the Metropolitan Hotel is the pie of the day.Todays pie was lamb. It was a raised ceramic bowl filled with very tender pieces of lamb in a rich and tasty gravy and covered in a beautifully crisp flaky pastry.
It was easy to see why the pies are so well liked here!
We then tried the Cumberland sausages which came with creamy mash, garden peas and sweet onion jus. Cumberland sausages are those long coiled pork sausages you may have seen in butchers or supermarkets. They usually have chunkier meat bits in them too. We had a sample this time and it was great. Mlady loved the mash too!
We also tried a sample of the fillet mignon. This was an extremely tender piece of King Island eye fillet wrapped in bacon. It came with mash, roast truffle mushrooms, asparagus and bearnaise sauce. Again - great!
Next a sample size of spaghetti arrived. We were so full already as we worked our way through most of the menu but just couldn't stop as each dish that arrived tasted so good. The spaghetti came with prawns, blue swimmer crab, chilli, preserved lemon and parsley.
It was a colourful dish that again had a great combination of flavours that worked so well together.
We were completely full by now but we had spied the chocolate brownie with vanilla bean ice cream on the dessert menu and just had to have some!It turned out to be a brilliant decision even though we had to waddle out. The brownie came smothered in a rich chocolate sauce which was so good that we finished every drop of it.
The Metropolitan Hotel is quite a surprise. It's certainly a bit hard to find as it's upstairs. The service is fast and friendly. It's also a great place for groups as there are so many different areas. The menu that Executive Chef James Shaw has put together is more than your average pub grub. There is something for everyone at this country pub in the city!
Its a great place to meet friends and start your night - and you'll possibly end up deciding to stay!
Sir and Mlady dined as guests of the Metropolitan Hotel. Special thanks to Grant Fairweather and Peter Phillips - two people with obvious passion for their hotel - and to James Shaw for explaining his menu to us. Thanks also to Hamish for providing great service. Special thanks to Angela of Featherstone Public Relations for arranging our visit.
