sydney part 6: eating-neko
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
one of the small surprises in sydney for us was actually the food. it wasn't that great and it was quite pricey. granted that we did stay in a very touristy area, but the value for taste ratio was definitely not there. one bright spot for the dining was the famous doyles seafood restuarant located in the quay area overlooking the harbor bridge and the opera house. i unfortuntately enjoyed it so much that my personal bill came out to US$110! this included a AUS $60 3-lb lobster, a half-dozen oysters, and two AUS $15 martinis. the lobster was just heaven and the views were so romantic. i love the harbor bridge at night.
other good treats included an italian eatery: amo roma in the rocks. i had the linguine vongole there with some excellent james boags beer. we also found a great little gellato ice cream place in the quays. a big disappointment was: wolfies steakhouse (which was recommended by the concierge). the peppercorn sauce was to spicy on 3 steaks, and my prime rib was over-cooked and too leathery, though that victoria bitter beer was great. i still spent a good US $50 there, sadly. for breakfast we went to city extra on the quay for a regular breakfast where my friend got his credit card stolen. for lunch at paddy's market, i ate at a malaysian/singaporean food place, but the dish was pretty average. the fish and chips were good at jackson's with a light hahn beer, but i had some gamey lamb at a greek eatery in darling harbor. even my starbucks coffee had grinds in it! sigh~
sadly, the only thing worst than the average tasting, over-priced food was the poor customer service that we received in sydney. a common occurence at the different shops, attractions and restuarants. i heard that there is a bias against asians here as australia is currently loosening up it's immigration policies, but i did not expect it to be so rampant. the average food and poor service kinda put a kink in the total experience, but sydney is still a very beautiful city that deserves another chance... we just need to find some better eateries! sorry, this is the complaint section here...
