Platform 818
(Inside Mercure Sydney)
818 George St
Chippendale/Sydney CBD
Seriously- ‘Do yourself a favour’! The food at Platform 818 is delicious, fresh and innovative. The menu is well balanced and diverse and it certainly has something for everyone. The beautifully presented dishes excite your senses. They are so visually appetising. Platform 818 is also comfy and spacious with plenty of room in between tables.
Make sure you read the back of the menu as it showcases an interesting historical account about Platform 818. Clearly the décor resonates from the past, in a tasteful way. It’s such a nice place to sit back and enjoy a good meal.
We started with some tasty warm bread and yummy mixed olives. It was so nice to nibble on these while we awaited to treats that lay ahead.
The cocktail menu is train station related and the cocktails are served in high ball glasses. Their craft ice-cubes are made in-house. Mlady loves Scotch so she had the Tokyo to Osaka cocktail. This was made from Nikka Whiskey, Ps40 wattle cola, orange and cinnamon. She really enjoyed this. Sir, a big fan of rum, had the Havana Central. This was Sailor Jerry spiced rum, Sydney Brewery ginger agave cider and habanero lime. The drink disappeared quickly!
The Honey Haloumi was served in a cute pan and was one of the best we have had. This was Aphrodite Haloumi with Iron Bark honey. Cut the Haloumi and soak up that amazingly tasty Iron Bark honey - lovely!
Our first entree was Sticky BBQ pressed Riverina brisket, remoulade and lattice crisp. This was Delicious, with a capital ‘D’! The meat just fell apart and literally melted in your mouth. The accompanying slaw was also incredibly good and the lattice crisps were lovely and crisp.
The cured salmon was a vibrant, pretty dish. It came with beets, red cos, beetroot gel and eshallot. Smear the beetroot gel on the yummy salmon - nice! This dish ticked all the boxes.
Our last entree were the elegant scallops in half shells. These were drizzled in chilli lime butter and served baby herbs. The plump tasty scallops were cooked perfectly.
We also had yet another impressive cocktail called Vivid. How good does this look. The ice cubes actually glowed in the highball glass! It looked wonderful and tasted just as good.
Another eye-catching cocktail was the 1804 - Hendricks’, St Germaine, rose, lychee, tonic and fairy floss. The fairy floss had an incredibly subtle flavour, reminiscent of rose flavoured Turkish delight - yum! We of course ate a fair bit of the fairy floss straight away. Who wouldn’t!
How good was the Rotollo! This was spinach, sage beurre noisette, Persian feta and baby pea tendril. There was so much going on with this amazing dish that all worked so well. It all had such great flavours and textures and we loved the lightly crisped Rotollo.
For a main, as Sir loves lamb we went with the Break Out River Lamb rump. This was served with Dijon mustard, baby vegetables, pea oil and edible flowers. It had such vibrant, fresh greens! The lamb was simply beautiful. It was pink, tender and juicy.
A lovely red wine we both enjoyed was a Cabernet Sauvignon from Margaret River. The wines here at Platform 818 are all Australian. It’s there small way of supporting the domestic industry.
The Snapper came with quinoa, pomegranate and preserved lemon. We love our fish - especially Mlady. This tasted so good and was so tender. It combined well with the quinoa and the versatile pomegranate which is wonderfully iridescent.
The baked old fashioned cheesecake with caramel and chocolate sauce and vanilla mascarpone was a fave of Mlady’s. It was such an “oh so yummy” cheesecake with an incredible caramel sauce that was one of the best she has had.
Next was the Tonga bean panacotta with popcorn crumble and vanilla mascarpone. It had a lovely subtle flavour. There was a good mix of textures too with the popcorn crumble and the soft panacotta contrasting nicely.
Finally we had the Key Lime pie brûlée with biscuit crumb and candied lime zest. This was a great variation on the traditional brûlée. The biscuit crumb made it like a brûlée cheesecake. You basically get two desserts in one here - brûlée and cheesecake.
Sir and Mlady dined as guests of Platform 818. Thanks to Akshay, Food and Beverage Manager there, for taking time from his busy schedule to take care of us and to chat with us. Big thanks also to our old friend Gaurang, their Operations Manager, for chatting with us and sharing his vision. Thank you also to Andrew and Dominic for looking after us on the night. Special thanks to Accor for arranging this visit.