the winery by gazebo

This summer, so far, I have been invited to The Winery, a new watering hole in Surry Hills, exactly eight times. Given that it's only been open for about two months, this is pretty staggering. I needed to pinpoint the reason for its popularity. So I went to discover The Winery myself.

Marky, Bec and I head to TW on a warm summer's afternoon. Having heard that TW is the place to be and be seen, I decide to wear something cool and trendy. Of course, when I walk in, I see that my efforts will go unnoticed, anyway - everyone here is wearing their Sunday best. Humph.

The Winery is run by the same cool folks who run Elizabeth Bay's Gazebo, famed for ladies' lunches, cool cocktails and a scrummy, on-trend menu. It's located in the recently revamped part of Crown St - approximately the blocks from Foveaux St to Campbell St. There's a new swish grocery store (Thomas Dux), an amazing-looking library (I'm so sad it wasn't there when I lived in Surry Hills) and a whole new host of cafes and restaurants. The Winery, tucked behind the sandstone gates next to Thomas Dux, is just another part of the ongoing gentrification of Surry.

I arrive early, order a glass of Riparian Pinot Gris (at $8, it's the cheapest on the menu) and start reading at an outside table. I quickly discover that this is one of my favourite pastimes - drinking wine in a bar, reading my book. I consider the discovery as consequential to my world as that of, say, penicillin, to the rest of the world.

When the ladies arrive, we order a jug of Pimm's & Sangria - at $15, we decide it's the cheapest way to drink here. It's also delicious, a bonus. We're all hungry, so we order from the option-heavy menu. There's a selection of share plates (I love sharing food, but we decide that we're all so starved that, as much as we like each other, we need our own meals right now), mains, cheeses, sides and desserts. I've heard that the veal and chorizo sausage roll with pear chutney is actually better than a Bourke St Bakery snag roll (and, I suppose, at $18, it should be), so I order it. Bec goes for the crispy squid, mint, coriander and chilled cucumber salad, which is heavy on the squid and utterly more-ish. Marky acts the ploughman and orders the ciabatta and dip board, which comes with olives, parma ham and a generous chunk of cheddar.

My sausage roll is: a) huge (probably about 25cm long); b) delicious; and c) fairly high on the artery-hardening scale, I'd say. I admit I was reticent to indulge in a sausage roll without the requisite tomato sauce to accompany, but I'm happy to say that TW's pear chutney did the job nicely. If only there was more of it. Bec and Marky report happily that their meals are going down a treat, and to celebrate, we order another jug of Pimms & Sangria.

Bec has spied a dessert that takes her fancy (marscapone and golden peach trifle with flaked almonds), and, ever a sucker for chocolate, I'm keen to try the chocolate brownie with icecream, fairy floss and hot fudge sauce. Sadly for our gluttinous appetites, neither is available. Sure, it's busy at TW, but at 5pm on a Sunday arvo, should you really be telling customers you're out of food? Especially when you're right next door to a grocery store, no?

Anyway, I had fun at TW. It's full of beautiful people, but if you can stomach that, you'll have a good time there. I can't wait to go back to try the Girls' Picnic (only on Saturdays).

The Winery by Gazebo
285A Crown St
www.thegazebos.com.au/winery/
+61 2 9331 0833

tapas at the arthouse hotel

I love tapas. This is probably because: I love sharing food, I love Spanish food, and I love sharing food. Oh, and I love Spanish food.

My friend Chenea* and I have been dying to try the tapas at The Arthouse Hotel for some time now. We used to have a standing date at tourist trap Jets in the QVB, but when we realised what a rip-off it was, we decided to change our location to Arthouse. We usually have pizzas and wine downstairs, but we loved the idea of tapas in The Dome restaurant (upstairs) on Wednesday and Thursday nights.

So, on a Wednesday night not too long ago, we met for little plates of delicious Spanish food. And wine. Armed with sav blanc, we ordered from the very comprehensive tapas menu. There are three price points: $12, $14 and $16. From the $12 menu, we ordered Turkish bread and dips (baba ghanoush, taramasalata and hommus), spinach and ricotta empadillas, and grilled chorizo and haloumi. From the $14 menu, we ordered the chilli, salt and pepper squid. On the waiters' advice, we only ordered four dishes, which turned out to be plenty.

The trio of dips was good. The bread was brushed with oil and panfried (a nice, if unhealthy, touch) and the dips themselves were yummy. The empadillas weren't quite what I was expecting. I assumed we'd be eating small parcels of shortcrust pastry filled with spinach and ricotta, but we were served large square pillows of puff pastry (filled with spinach and ricotta). Their size (about as big as my palm) made them quite unwiedly, but they were good nonetheless. I'll never turn down salt and pepper squid, especially with chilli. Arthouse's version lived up to my expectations, and I ate way more than my fair share. The standout dish was the grilled chorizo and haloumi. The sausage was spicy, a little fatty (in a good way) and grilled perfectly, and the cheese was milky, unctuous and appropriately squeaky. Yum, yum, yum.

The verdict? We liked. Go there with a girlfriend and don't be afraid to order a $12 cocktail or two.

The Arthouse Hotel
www.thearthousehotel.com.au
275 Pitt St, Sydney
(02) 9284 1200

* Name has been changed...

haberfield post/il goloso

A week ago, my friend Ed sent me an email inviting Caliban and I, and some friends from high school, to dinner to celebrate her return to Australia. She's been to Africa, Europe and America. I'm - how do you say? - incredibly jealous.

But as well as being really, really, insanely jealous of her travels, I was also really, really, insanely impressed with her choice of restaurant. We met last night at Haberfield Post (which also, confusingly, goes by its former name of Il Goloso) and I swear to blog, I ate more food in that one sitting than I did in this entire last week.

We live very close to Haberfield, so Haberfield Post is our regular pizza place now. It's very old-school Italian in a sophisticated setting. The food is affordable and um, delicious. Very, verrrrry delicious. It's also BYO. Bonus.

So last night, the eight of us settled in with a couple of bottles of white and a bottle of red (for dessert). It wasn't nearly enough wine, but that's OK. We made up for the lack of alcohol indulgence with food.

While we waited for the last of the party to arrive, we ordered the bruschetta pizza. As the name suggests, it's a fresh, doughy, thin pizza base topped with diced roma tomatoes, olive oil and basil. It's amazing. Paired with a cold glass of sav blanc, it's a perfect summer dish (too bad it was freezing last night!)

There was a bit of confusion with our mains. Caliban and I ordered the fiori dello zucchini (zucchini flowers) and a Siciliana pizza for our mains, to share. Unfortunately, the zucchini came out as an entree. Not even close to a dealbreaker, to be sure...but it's nice when waiters get these things right.

I love zucchini flowers for the delicate taste of the flower, which is usually paired with something more robust. In this case, the flowers were stuffed with ricotta and anchovies. It sounded promising, but the batter they were deep-fried in was far too thick - you couldn't taste anything but oil. A little disappointing.

Then, the table was filled with pizza. Caliban and I ordered the Siciliana (bocconcini, eggplant and tomato sauce), Nurse Jacquie ordered the Appetitoso (chicken, sundried tomatoes, avocado; she also requested fetta, but it never quite arrived...), Ed and Miss C shared a Super Alex (surprisingly, the restaurant allowed a 'half-half' order...Miss C didn't want proscuitto on her half of the pizza for some reason that defies, well, reason) and Tara (DDS commenter!) had the spinach, ricotta, parmesan and bocconcini calzone. I've ordered it before, and it was easily the best calzone I've ever had. Soft, almost sweet dough filled with three types of creamy, sharp cheese and spinach. Heaven. The Siciliana was standard Italian fare: rich, sweet tomato sauce topped with the mild bocconcini and squares of fried eggplant. Yum. Nurse Jacquie's Appetitoso didn't really whet my appetite: I'm not one for chicken or avocado on pizzas. And, pretentious as it sounds, I think sundried tomatoes have had their day. Enough with the sundried tomatoes. I've also eaten the Super Alex (proscuitto, olives, tomatoes, bocconcini and baby spinach) and I feel for Miss C. The proscuitto really makes it. As for the other boys, I can't remember what they ate...even for the lack of booze.

To finish the night, we ordered three Nutella calzones, a pannacotta for Caliban and tiramisu for Miss C and I. The tiramisu was amazing - super-light sponge soaked in sweet coffee with layers of thick, fluffy cream laced with amaretto. So perfect with a glass of cab sav that I had to have two (glasses, that is). Caliban loves pannacotta, and HP's is no exception. Served in a sundae glass, the pannacotta sat on a bed of strawberry syrup - so when you spooned the creamy pannacotta, you got a good serve of sweet syrup, too. Nice touch. And the Nutella calzones were so, so, so good. Really. Sweet dough blanketed the creamy, nutty chocolate paste...and all mention of boxing classes and Weight Watchers flew out the proverbial window. The four girls (with a little help from Caliban and Chef James) polished off all three of the calzones, with just a few slices left for Nurse Jacquie's lunch today.

And would you believe it? When the bill came, we all owed just $30 each. Great value, amazing food, perfect Saturday night company.

Haberfield Post/Il Goloso
60 Dalhousie St, Haberfield
(02) 9716 9744