RAVESI'S - BONDI BEACH, SYDNEY

Ravesi's
118 Campbell Parade
Bondi Beach, Sydney

What strikes you initially about Ravesi's is the magnificent location.

Situated right in front of popular Bondi beach, it has great views of one end to the other and then looking straight out to sea.

Ravesi's is located upstairs and the atmosphere is casual, relaxed, modern and spacious. The kitchen is open and even the chefs have a wonderful ocean view.

The seating is approximately for 60. There is also accommodation here as well. As well as being a restaurant, it is a wine bar and the pub is downstairs.

The menu has a wide variety, including shared dishes and pizzas.

Mlady started the evening with a Coco Pina Colada - oakheart spiced rum with alize coconut liqueur, a hint of cinnamon syrup and fresh pineapple juice, shaken, strained and topped with coconut flakes. This arrived in a cute glass and resembled a delicious coffee drink. Mlady thoroughly enjoyed this. This was a very tasty slant on the traditional Pina Colada.

Sir chose The Passionfruit Mejito - fresh limes muddled with sugar, mint, passionfruit liqueur and Bacardi carta blanca with soda and served over ice. Sir loves Mejito and the passionfruit certainly made this a nice tropical treat. It tasted good and there was plenty of it.





















The Salmon Sashimi had ginger, wakame, seaweed, quinoa and teriyaki dressing. This was such a great fresh tasting dish. The presentation was a work of art - vibrant with great colours. Everything combined so well. The wonderful dressing enhanced it all. Being fans (especially Mlady) of ginger, this dish was a favourite.

Next we had (no surprises here) the crispy spice duck pancakes which is served with pancakes, rice noodles, shallots, cucumber, coriander and hoisin. Well, this was simply delish! The duck was baked in 5 spice and then wonderfully fried to give it that great crispy skin (yum). The hoisin sauce just topped off this magnificent dish. Sir loves duck and at any given opportunity will order it.

Making the duck pancakes is such a fun way to eat them. You put on the pancakes what you want and then drizzle or pour that wonderful hoisin sauce all over, then wrap up all that wonderful pancake creation and savour every bite!

Then we had the Steamed lime and chicken dumplings - chilli 5 spice glaze and shallots. There are a lot of variations of dumplings and these dumplings - with chicken really were very tasty. They were full of chicken and the dressing certainly complimented them. They arrived in a black bowl that enhanced their colour which made them very appetising.


Mlady had a Merlot - Echo Beach from Margaret River. This was a nice red - not heavy and went well with her meal. Sir ordered a Cabernet Sauvignon from Robert Oatley which he enjoyed.




















Next was the Thai Chicken and mixed greens salad - avocado, summer melon, crispy noodles, coconut curry dressing. Impressive presentation! Such vibrant colours! Another work of art. This dish ticked all the boxes. The flavours and textures were amazing. The combination of everything was delicious. Great use of melon and that coconut curry dressing - WOW!

Our final main was the grilled marinated Tasmanian salmon fillet - red peppers, sugar snaps, nectarine, marinated feta, Israeli cous cous and saffron tzatzkiki. Another absolute work of art! 

Such amazing flavours and textures. Again, making great use of seasonal fruit. Being a huge lover of fruit especially stone fruit (and of course a huge fish lover) this dish was incredibly colourful and the fruit combined extremely well with the Tasmanian Salmon which was so crisp and cooked to just how Mlady likes.

For dessert we had the platter of four desserts. We started with the sticky date pudding with brandy caramel sauce, mascarpone and vanilla bean ice cream.

Then it was coconut/lime panna cotta with poached tropical summer fruits and passion fruit daiquiri sorbet. Peach & raspberry crumble - blueberry grand marnier anglaise ice cream. White chocolate brulee - wild berry compote, dark chocolate ice cream. A truly "jaw dropping" experience. It was hard  to know where to start. The garnish for this spectacular creation was fresh fruit - yum. An absolute amazingly delicious dessert. Yet again - a work of art!

It really was hard to choose a favourite as all were so amazing. We would have to say though that the sticky date was one of our favourites. It was so soft and that sauce - OMG!

The food here is truly amazing. Great flavours, textures and a wonderful combination of seasonal fruits. A really great taste sensation!

Sir and Mlady dined as guests of Ravesi's. Big thanks to Chef Darren Elmes for chatting with us and to Sarah and Katie for looking after us so capably. Thanks also to Bec for arranging our visit.

Chef Darren Elmes (far right) and his team

 

HARRY'S BAR AND DINING - BONDI BEACH, SYDNEY

Harry's Bar and Dining
2/136 Wairoa Ave
Bondi Beach, Sydney

Harry's Bar and Dining opened - or in fact re-opened - its doors not long ago after a complete renovation.

Located on Wairoa avenue very close to Sydney's famous Bondi Beach, the space has been transformed into a very sharp yet relaxed environment.

The bar offers indoor and al fresco dining and has an open kitchen.

This morning we were at a media launch where chef Bryan O'Callaghan was showcasing his new breakfast menu to our group.


As soon as we walked in, our eyes were drawn to the white marble tables, timber seats and polished concrete floors, very sleek indeed.

First up, we were offered a Botanica Cold Pressed juice made with silverbeet, cucumber, kale, celery, green apple and lemon.

A very refreshing juice, not too sweet or overly thick and presented in a very funky jar.













We sat down and found a very impressive 5 dish menu placed in front of us (we instantly felt excited).

While we waited for our first dish to be served, we tried a few Elixir specialty coffee drinks.

It was nothing like we had tasted before. It looked like whiskey, felt like tea but it was made from coffee.

Very unique and definitely worth trying if you like coffee.











First to arrive was a Cider Cured Ocean Trout served with a coddled egg, avocado, shaved fennel, zucchini, ruby grapefruit and dill.

The trout had a very pleasant flavour (it's cured in house using Bilpin apple juice) and the avocado and grapefruit helped bring out the flavours of the dish very well.

This was a very impressive start to our breakfast feast.

We then moved on to our second course of the day.

This was a delicious serving of quinoa and fetta fritters.

They came served with with fattoush, avocado, house labna, hazelnut dukka and lime.

The homemade fattoush was so crispy and fresh, it complemented the dish very well.

Next up, Crispy Boiled Egg with braised black beans, chorizo, avocado, cherry tomato, coriander and lime.

The crispy boiled egg was perfectly cooked and the black beans added a real creaminess to the dish.

It was a real taste sensation.

If you haven't had a crispy boiled egg before, then you'd better get down to Harry's right away!

We generally try to pick a favourite each time but after three dishes, We just couldn't decide so the jury was out and we still had a bit to go. The final two dishes were served. An incredibly delicious coconut chia pudding with house made cranberry granola, stone fruit and toasted coconut (a favourite of the co-owner, Chris Karvelas ) and a blueberry and ricotta hotcake with fresh raspberries, organic maple, lemon balm and double cream. The hotcake was fluffy and moist. The combination of double cream and maple was heavenly.

After all this, five breakfasts in one sitting, you would easily think we couldn't possibly fit anything else in.

However, we really do love coffee so we squeezed in a flat white to complete the experience.

And what an experience it was.

They certainly do have excellent coffee here at Harry's Bar and Dining.

Harry's Bar and Dining is a very impressive place, with a contemporary look, a wholesome menu and great atmosphere. There is even a kiosk with street access if you want to grab a coffee on the run or a bite to eat. Harry's is open 7 days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The Counts, who are now doing reviews for Sir and Mlady Dine Out, dined as guests of Harry's Bar and Dining. Special thanks to Chris Karvelas and Chef Bryan O'Callaghan. Big thanks also to Rachel Cameron of The Society Group for arranging everyone's visit.

FAT RUPERTS - BONDI, SYDNEY

Fat Ruperts
249 Bondi Rd
Bondi, Sydney

Fat Ruperts is a young concern in more ways than one. It hasn't been around a long while and the staff all seem young as well - but they have a passion, energy and enthusiasm that clearly shows through in every aspect of their work.

The place is small, only seating 60 people, and has a nice friendly feel to it. It's a bar and a restaurant all in one - depending on what you want it to be. The name is unique and memorable. Fat Rupert is not a person - its a dog. In fact it's their dog - who is known for his energy and love for life so the name is apt for this fun, lively place.

Sitting on a corner there's a long bar, inside seating and a few tables outside as well - so you can watch the world go by.

So cocktails were a perfect starter and Mlady had a Gardenia Bellini and I had a Bondi Splice. Both were recommended by Sean our barman and were a lovely refreshing  start to our evening.

Choosing your food is hard here as everything sounds good, so we ended up having the Tasting Menu (as a lot of others around us did). We started with freshly house-made sourdough bread that arrived with some lovely Pepe Saya butter.

Our next dish was simply labelled as Cauliflower in the menu.

It was actually char-grilled cauliflower, hummus, cumin seeds, parsley and pecorino.

Cauliflower on its own can be a bit boring but this had tang, great flavour combinations and was simply "yum". The inclusion of hummus went extremely well with this dish and was a great addition.

Being a rum lover, Sean brought me a Bondi Zombie to try.

It was nicely presented in a jar and had a lovely mix of different layers of colours inside.

It had a degree of showmanship with it as well as the passionfruit half floating on top was flambeed.

As it turned out Mlady stole it from me and finished most of it - the hide of her!!!

This brazen theft was probably due to me having a paired glass of 2012 Pinot Gris from Villa Wolf with the dish.

Sean is happy to pair wines or cocktails with your food and we simply sat back and trusted his judgement which turned out to be a great decision.


I'll almost always choose a cured salmon dish but fortunately this was already part of the Tasting Menu - heaven! The beetroot cured King salmon came with watercress, grilled leeks and plenty of dill labneh dolloped on top. It was colourful, vibrant and had great flavours. Again Mlady fought me for this one - and won!

It was paired with a tasty 2012 Margaret River Chardonnay from Roustabout.

If you like comfort food at its best then you'll like the fried chicken at Fat Ruperts. It's one of the most popular dishes - and for good reason. It is described as buttermilk fried chicken, potato puree, coleslaw and honey butter.

You could smell the lovely honey, the slaw was rich and creamy and it was a generous serving. A truly tasty dish that we devoured. Most tables seemed to order this dish!

The Yeezy Burgers are possibly the other equal favourite dish here. Burgers and sliders are so popular these days - being easy to eat and tasty. They were made from house ground beef, house made pickles, Swiss cheese and all on a nice soft brioche.

They were cutely served on a wooden board. They seemed small at first but this was deceptive as they actually turned out to be quite substantial.

We love our desserts and even though the choices here are designed for two to share we grabbed two - enough for four people! The brownie was moist and tasty with a light crust encasing an amazing soft chocolate filling. The vanilla bean ice cream was a great accompaniment. We also had the cheesecake of the day which was a strawberry cheesecake this day. It was soft and creamy and very tasty. We struggled to finish it all though - and a glass of Pedro Ximenez (liquid gold) made it even harder.

Fat Ruperts has a strong kitchen run by Eli Challenger - but we had the food of Iggy Challenger on our visit and it was delicious. The youthful passion of the whole place shines through - everyone works hard to make the customers experience as smooth as possible. Quality, freshness and combinations are real winners here.

Owner Aaron Pearce can be justifiably proud of what he has put together at Fat Ruperts.


Sir and Mlady were guests of Fat Ruperts. Thanks to Aaron Pearce for inviting us. Special thanks to Sean, Iggy for his magical food and Tiffany and Sam for looking after us so well.

BONDI HARDWARE - BONDI, SYDNEY

Bondi Hardware
39 Hall St
Bondi Beach, Bondi

Bondi Hardware hasn't been around for ages - it only opened its doors in late 2011 - but it's fast becoming an institution in Bondi and the crowds they are attracting certainly highlight this fact!

If you like a laid back relaxed place with subdued lighting, delicious food, friendly helpful service and plenty of great drink choices then this is your place.

Bondi Hardware is a long place - long, casual and inviting - with strong natural elements from lots of timber, exposed stone and bricks on the walls and even a very large timber lined skylight in the roof allowing natural light in and a view up to the sky! There's even an exposed chimney in the middle reaching up through the ceiling but also plenty of greenery as well with hanging plants all around.

It's a place to drop in for a drink, a drink and a nibble or you can settle in for the night and have a full meal.

Bondi Hardware is owned by Hamish Watts and Ben Carroll who are also behind the successful ventures over the bridge - The Botanist and SoCal. They have transformed this former hardware store yet retained its vibe and it's backyard garden shed feel in many respects.

You get greeted at the door to be seated and if you've booked - which is certainly advisable - your names are written in chalk on top of your table (and rubbed out when you are seated). It's again a bit more of the hardware theme flowing through!

At a bar the first thing you want is usually a drink. Mlady chose a Ginger Tommy which was a special for the day made from ginger, agave margarita with a salty dog rim on the rocks. Mlady isn't generally a margarita drinker but she does love ginger and she said that it looked and tasted great with good flavours and a nice kick. My choice was called Dark and Pear-y made from Goslings black seal rum with a dash of peach bitters, lime and freshly squeezed pear juice, topped with ginger beer and a skewered pear garnish. I love rum but was worried that the pear may not go perfectly with it. I was wrong - it turned out to be a fantastic drink.

As soon as we saw the pumpkin, chia and kale croquettes with lemon aioli on the menu we both wanted them!

They just sounded so great - and fortunately when we got them and tasted them they lived up to our expectations.

They were delicious with great flavours on their own and were even better when dipped in the tangy lemon aioli.

The baked cauliflower dip sounded unusual and we like unusual.

It was actually still hot when it arrived at the table and it came served with several pieces of lightly charred sourdough.

Wow - what a dish. This was amazing and with a nice kick to it as well.

We'd certainly grab this one next time!

Sliders are popular for a reason. They're easy to eat and leave you with space for either more sliders - which is a frequent option - or other dishes. There are three varieties available at Bondi Hardware and we decided to skip the tasty sounding beef version and try both the duck (mini smoked and pulled duck burgers with slaw and pickles) and prawn (mini prawn burgers with avocado, spring onion, dill mayo and lettuce) versions.

They were both thoroughly delicious.

Next up were the chicken pinchos on sweet and sour eggplant.

They weren't exactly what we expected - because we weren't paying complete attention and somehow were thinking of pintxos - the Spanish snack of slivers of bread topped with treats. This wasn't a problem though as these chicken skewers were so delicious. The chicken was extremely tender and the sweet and sour eggplant was a nice contrast.

We both love haloumi so the pan fried haloumi, faro, cherry tomato and oregano was an easy choice from the varied menu.

At some places you have to hunt for the haloumi in the dish - but not here. There's plenty of lovely haloumi resting on top of the salad and its golden brown on the outside and lovely and soft inside.

This was great - and the salad went nicely with it as well.

A lovely meal needs a sweet finish and even though there's only one option here at Bondi Hardware it's a good one!

The Belgian chocolate brownie comes in a big serving - as its designed to share. It comes with chocolate ice cream, a drizzle of salted caramel sauce and plenty of crushed pistachios.

This is an extremely decadent dessert - and extremely tasty as well!

Bondi Hardware has a great feel to it. There's a great atmosphere combined with lovely food and drinks.

If you drop by for a sip and a snack you'll probably end up staying a lot longer than you had planned.

It's a place you'll revisit!

Sir and Mlady dined as guests of Bondi Hardware. Thanks to owners Hamish Watts and Ben Carroll. Thanks also to Declan and Imogen who looked after us so well on our visit. Special thanks to Joanna Steuart and Olivia Warne of Pendulum Communications for arranging our visit.

PAPER PLANES - BONDI BEACH, SYDNEY

Paper Planes

178 Campbell Parade
Bondi Beach, Sydney

We were out and about in beautiful Bondi Beach for Flickerfest recently and searching for somewhere interesting to dine - without a booking.

Fortunately it was early enough to find space in most restaurants - and even more fortunately we found Paper Planes.

It's Japanese food with a few twists as well - and yes they do have paper planes there too!

We grabbed an "outside" table in the laneway and sat back and enjoyed what turned out to be a lovely meal.

We started with edamame beans with sea salt - although you can have them with chilli salt as well. Aren't these such a great nibble starter for a Japanese meal! These ones were nicely cooked and had plenty of sea salt on top. They disappeared quickly.

We then moved on to a serving of salmon tartare nachos - quite a unique dish that we all loved even though we weren't 100% sure what it was when we ordered it. The inner bowl, that was resting on a bed of ice, had the salmon in it which was mixed with wasabi miso dressing, chives and tobiko.

Surrounding the whole lot were prawn crackers to heap the salmon mixture on to - like you would with nachos. These were so nice - extremely light and fresh and delicately tasty with a slight bite to them.

Quite possibly the dish of the night for us was the chilli salt calamari with yuzu aioli. In fact this was so nice we ordered a second plate after we had finished all our other dishes!

The calamari was so light and tender - and there was certainly plenty of it to for an entree!

We seemed to literally fight over this dish which probably explains the need for a second serving later on in the evening.

We are huge fans of crispy chicken when it has been done well. So with this in mind we eagerly chose the crispy kara age chicken that came with a side bowl of lemon ponzu and was garnished with shallots. The chicken was nice and crisp on the outside and juicy and tender inside. We weren't disappointed.

We then had sashimi in three varieties - tuna, salmon and kingfish. It came beautifully presented on a leaf draped across a bowl of ice. It also had wasabi and pickled ginger with it. We love sashimi and this was delicious.

 

It's hard for us not to get a few crispy things when having Japanese food and tempura is always a must. We tried the seasonal vegetable tempura that came with a light soy and daikon dipping sauce and a sprinkle of seaweed salt. It was light and crisp and so tasty.

The next dish of tempura soft shell crab with chilli salt and coriander served with fresh lemon and wasabi mayonnaise was just as good. The crab was so juicy and tender - again lovely.

Paper Planes was a wonderful discovery for us. We hadn't planned where to go before Flickerfest but we were so glad we found Paper Planes and gave it a go.

The food was light, fresh, very tasty and beautifully presented. Service was friendly and there's a nice relaxed but interesting feel to the place. We'd certainly go back again.

As for Flickerfest - one of Australia's top short film festivals - it was again brilliant. It's a festival that has become very popular and understandably so based on the films we saw. We even heard from some of the film makers about their motivation and inspiration - which was very interesting.

Well done to the organisers!

 

POMPEI'S - BONDI SYDNEY

Pompei's
130 Roscoe St
Bondi

This is the place to go for genuine Italian gelato. However they serve a much wider range of edibles and drinkables (is this a word) than simply gelato.

The gelato can actually be bought from their servery on the corner. If the window is closed don't panic - they'll open it pretty soon once they see you.

After eating a huge meal next door it was only Sir partaking of their delicacies this time. The really good stuff was at the left hand end with the more fruit based items at the right hand end as you face the servery. The choice in the end was caramel and cream and chocolate. Both tasted great. The flavours were intense and there was a real richness to the gelato. At $7.50 for two flavours in a cup it wasn't cheap - but it was excellent gelato!

The service at Pompei's is also excellent. We were allowed to try a few flavours first before choosing. The containers that hold the gelato are also very interesting. The gelato is very deep down and the cavities are covered by lovely chrome tops giving the place a rather futuristic appearance.

Pompei's is a great place for a really high quality gelato. Cant wait to sample their other foods.

HURRICANES GRILL - BONDI SYDNEY

Hurricane's Grill
130 Roscoe St
Bondi

You have to book to get in here. Its busy - but once you eat here and see how much you get and how nicely its prepared you'll understand why.

Parking can be a challenge but there is a parking station right next door - but again its hard to find.Once there we decided to have burgers - and we eneded up being very glad we did.

Mlady had the beef burger. The burger is made with 100% pure beef, prepared fresh daily, packing 300gm of lean beef into every burger, basted and char-grilled; (served with either chips or baked potato with sour cream and chives). One side has the salad and the other has the meat. She also ordered bacon as an extra and it came out perfectly cooked. She also asked for a serving of vinegar for the chips and this came in a jug. At $19.00 its good value.

Sir had the chicken burger - grilled chicken breast, avocado, sprouts and salad. Again, it was ordered with an extra serving of bacon - we were both in a piggy mood. It was a generous serving of burger (and bacon) and it all tasted so good. At $ 22.00 it was again excellent value for the quantity and quality.

Hurricanes is not cheap meat. You pay a bit more but the quality and quantity makes it all great value.