ZIGI'S ART WINE CHEESE BAR - CHIPPENDALE, SYDNEY

Zigi's Art Wine Cheese Bar
86 Abercrombie St
Chippendale, Sydney

The name says it all. This is a very diverse place! First of all you have Zigi Ozeri, the live wire host and owner. Not surprisingly he matches the place - quirky, lively and fun! Even though it's called an Art Wine Cheese Bar it has great food as well with an Ausraeli theme - but adding "Restaurant" may make the name just to long.


The people at the table next to us were there on on a cheese journey. They were having five different cheeses - each matched with a different wine - and they were loving it. Another group were in the front bar for drinks. Others were there for pre-dinner drinks and nibbles while some were there to dine for the night, like us. Later on even more people arrived for a night cap. Zigi's is diverse.

One of the specialties of the house is the handmade labne cheese sprinkled with za'ater, drizzled with olive oil and served with pita.

This was so smooth and so tasty.

We love labne and this was certainly one of the best we've had. The za'ater and olive oil added even more complexity and a bit of texture. Fortunately there was plenty of it too. Yum.

Next was something seafood - but with a twist.

The falafel prawns were served with an amba relish and a paprika emulsion. The falafel enveloped and went nicely with the prawns. The crisp outer and soft texture inside was a delight.

The amba relish - a mango based sauce that is often served with falafel - that the prawns rested on, was also delicious.

The seared scallops with chorizo soil was another tasty and unique dish.

The white chorizo soil was surprisingly subtle, going very well with the scallops without overpowering their delicate flavour.

The scallops were perfectly cooked too, with a light hand in the kitchen ensuring they were served "just right".

The wow dish of the night in terms of appearance would have undoubtedly been the beetroot mille feuille.

It looked simply spectacular with its splashes of different colours and joyously it all tasted just as good as well.

It came with feta mousse, basil chips and a dotted drizzle of citrus vinaigrette.

It would almost be a sin to visit Zigi's and not have some cheese! We had a selection chosen by the enigmatic Zigi himself and they were all amazing. The cheese list here is impressively long and diverse like the venue! The cheeses come from everywhere and in all textures and flavours. It's a cheese lovers heaven! The giant sheet of hand made lavosh that comes with the cheese looked spectacular and went so well.

The venue is quite large, but separated into many different areas. You enter into the bar area from the side street, but this leads through one way into the dining area while the other way takes you into the massive kitchen that is also used for regular cooking classes. Upstairs is a private dining room and also where the art is displayed. And of course you can't go to Ziggi's without noticing the man himself. He's everywhere and such a character!

Zigi

Zigi's Art Wine Cheese Bar has so much. You can drink there, eat there (they specialise in Ausraeli food), learn to cook, go on a cheese journey, look at local art upstairs (and buy it - Zigi is a strong supporter of the arts community), see films and attend food, wine and music events.

There's always something happening, and always something different to look forward to! The quality of the food and drinks were worth the visit alone!


The cooking school details are here: https://www.facebook.com/ZIGISCookingSchool

Sir and Mlady dined as guests of Ziggi's Art Wine Cheese Bar. Special thanks to Zigi Ozeri for arranging our visit and for being such dynamic host.

SHUK - NORTH BONDI, SYDNEY

Shuk
2 Mitchell St
North Bondi
Sydney

Shuk is a multi-faceted place with a bakery, delicatessen, cafe and restaurant all grouped together. As it starts the day as a cafe for breakfasts and your early morning coffee and goes on into morning tea then lunch and on into the afternoon and evening - it's a place that operates long hours - and even longer on the days it's open for dinner.

Shuk is a light airy place with plenty of indoor seating and even more space outside. On cooler nights they have heaters going to keep you toasty if you still want to dine al fresco.

We were there to try their evening fare and decided to eat indoors. The tables were well spaced and as Shuk isn't in a busy area there's plenty of on street parking.

While we were perusing the menu and struggling with what to choose from the varied options available, a plate of soft and fresh house made bread arrived.

It was great bread but it was even nicer to be able to dip it into a lovely fruity spicy mix of olive oil sprinkled with zaatar. We've both had zaatar quite a few times and love the taste!

So on to the food. Our first choice was the sauteed prawns with borlotti bean salad and avocado. It sounded like a dish with plenty of flavours and colour - and we weren't disappointed. Prawns always go well with avocado but the beans created some added depth. Fortunately, all the ingredients still complemented each other.

They didn't skimp on the prawns either - there were about eight or nine of them.

Soup is not normally my first choice when dining, but the pumpkin soup was recommended so we decided to give it a go.

It came with crisps floating on top and on this was a generous mound of goat cheese mousse. It looked and smelled great.

This was great soup and surprisingly I ate more of it than Mlady did.

We both like ceviche - but probably in truth I like it a bit more than Mlady does, even though she does enjoy it.

The kingfish ceviche was certainly colourful. The citrus juices gave it bite and tang - but of course you expect this from a ceviche.  

As with the other dishes here at Shuk, there was plenty of it!

Mlady does love her salmon - so again no surprises here that she spotted it on the menu and instantly ordered it.

The Atlantic salmon arrived on a bed of potato, zucchini and asparagus and drizzled with lemon emulsion.

Mlady loved it. 

It was a cool evening and the comfort food of the house made gnocchi just sounded so ideal and matched to the climate!

It came with a combination wild mushroom and Parmesan sauce.

The gnocchi was nicely cooked and again so plentiful. The mushrooms added an earthiness that went nicely and it again all came together well.





















We were pretty full by this stage of the evening but the lamb fillet sounded so good that I just had to try it! It was actually the pomegranate molasses that caught my eye - I really wanted to see how this went with the perfectly pink lamb.

Fortunately I wasn't disappointed - it tasted great.

The dish also came with eggplant, tahini and crunchy greens.

We'll rarely miss the opportunity to finish a meal with dessert - as we both have a sweet tooth!

Mlady chose the chocolate mousse cake with Chantilly cream - which isn't unusual as she's a bit of a chocoholic.

It was light and fluffy and Mlady devoured it all - not even giving me a taste (which means it must have been good)!

I went for the panna cotta with dulce de leche, coconut and pistachios.

It came nicely presented in its own jar with a generous topping of coconut and pistachios.

It was smooth and creamy underneath with a lovely crunchy top making a nice contrast.  

Shuk is an interesting restaurant with a very diverse range of tasty food available. It is certainly worth trying.

Sir and Mlady dined as guests of Shuk. Special thanks to Zoja and Miquel for looking after us on our visit. Thanks also to chefs German Sanchez and Jonathan Symonds for their lovely food. Special thanks to Sophie Foster of SBPR for arranging our visit.