Trip Summary: Sydney, Australia

Wanted to get these up sooner, rather than later, before I forget half of it. Will post pics later.

Hotels:
Sydney Westin - great, central location. Hotel itself was more expensive than the Four Seasons, but I sold my soul for the Starwood Points, as they’re on an accelerator to gold right now. Downtown views (i.e. look out and see walls), everything else was o.k. Discounted rate was $420 UAD.

Four Seasons - a little more difficult to reach, given current road construction on George. Views from colleagues’ rooms were nothing short of epic, with one of them in a junior suite with views of the Opera House, harbor and bridge. Discounted rate was $340 UAD, iirc, for entry level room. One colleague bumped it up to the junior suite for $100.

Bars:
Baxter Inn - http://thebaxterinn.com/ - Classic speak-easy feel. Enter the main courtyard down a dark alley, look right to a velvet rope and a set of stairs going down to somewhere you’d generally only go if you were about to throw up outside of a club. Amazing whiskey selection (scotch + bourbon) and they use a custom vermouth mix of Carpano Antica Formula with Punt e Mes. I had four Manhattans there…

The Barber Shop - http://thisisthebarbershop.com/ - Same courtyard as above, but to the left this time. Gin shop, with hipsteresque bartenders (curly mustache, manly-man beard). Again, drank quite a bit here. They started buying us shots at the end Was able to try the Monkey 47 Distiller’s Cut here, which is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. $28 UAD. Also had the Sazerac 18 at $28 UAD, but I was too busy destroying their gin collection.

The Morrison - http://themorrison.com.au/ - More froo-froo cocktails (sweeter, template to pour colored sugar in the shape of an “M” on top of the drink), but still good. Oysters there were insanely good, but $4 UAD a piece. Oyster happy hour Wednesdays from 6-7, when they dropped them to $1 each. I would have gone back if we didn’t already have dinner resos.

Black by Ezard -http://www.blackbyezard.com.au/ - Cocktails and apps good (Asian Fusion), but not stellar. That said, you go here for the view of Sydney Harbor and the Opera House.

Long list of pubs we hit up, none of them really worth mentioning. Will get to the restaurants, post pics when I can.

Will be in Sydney for 1 night in early January and interested if you found any good places to dine?
Lunch as well. Going to do the bridge climb, beach walk and possibly sail in an Americas cup boat around harbor - anything else stand out?

TIA

Tom
Just hopping on the public ferries was always a pleasure, and the breeze means that you can stay cool-ish even if it’s quite hot - depending on the spot you found on the boat. I always preferred Manly beach to Bondi - a bit less touristy, plus you could get the ferry out there.

Another nearby ferry destination was Milsom’s Point for Doyles. Now the locals always swore there was better fish & chips elsewhere, but the setting is good and I particularly liked the ability to have the fish as goujons, making it ideal ‘take-away’ food to eat whilst taking in the scenery. Simple pleasure.

The walk from circular quay past the opera house to the botanical gardens is another easy option, though I never thought much of Sydney’s botanical gardens (Melbourne’s however is a favourite spot).

That said, you’ve got a pretty full schedule already for just a single night’s stay

This is great. I headed to SYD tomorrow! Restaurant recs would be appreciated…

A few to recommend, 10 William, Automata, Acme, Mr Wong, Sepia, Yellow.

Having just signposted a thread on the Auswine forum over here, I’ll do the reverse - have a browse of their forum for wine friendly restaurants with good food. Plenty of events written up.

[/quote]A few to recommend, 10 William, Automata, Acme, Mr Wong, Sepia, Yellow.[/quote]

These look great Benjamin, thanks!