Being out of the country is no reason to give up on date night.
We stepped out into the brisk Australian winter air and pulled our light jackets around us. Heading first to Jamie’s for dinner to start off a romantic night in Sydney.
It didn’t seem that food was really the highlight of any Sydney experience. We didn’t find there to be any specific local cuisine BUT Tim still did his research (as always) and came up with Jamie’s as a highly rated Italian restaurant near our hotel.
Arriving at the Pitt Street restaurant, we walked in the front door to realize the JAMIE in the name stood for Jamie Oliver! We don’t usually go out of our way to seek out celebrity chef restaurants but figured the reviews were super positive and it looked nice so why not give it a shot.
We started with a crunchy classic – Crispy Squid with Chili, Garlic, and Aioli
We split the Prawn Linguine with Garlic Prawns, Fennel, Saffron, Fresh Chilli, and Rocket and the Bucatini Carbonara with salumi, zucchini, parmesan, and pea shoots. Is there anything better than double pasta? I don’t think so…
Slurping up our noodles with the intermittent sip of wine, we had a wonderful dinner at Jamie’s (and came back to SG to find there’s one here too! Can’t wait to try it!)
Not quite ready to call it a night, we meandered around the corner to Palmer & Co., a prohibition cocktail bar behind (and below!) a non-descript door in a back alley.
Head down the staircase into the vaulted brick basement and you’re whisked back in time to an era of flappers and banned booze.
Leather bound menus showcase takes on “lost and forgotten cocktails” followed by an extensive list of champagnes if you prefer something a bit more bubbly.
The lost and forgotten cocktails page deserves another mention. They have basically found mention of cocktails in newspaper clippings, books, or word of mouth and, after collecting as much information about ingredients etc, set about recreating the cocktail to the best of their ability. F-aaaaaaaa-ncy
We sipped our cocktails with pinkies up and made sure to take in every detail of the place before heading to our last and final stop.
O Bar, sitting forty-seven stories above Sydney overlooks all the beautiful city has to offer. On top of all that, the bar ROTATES. Over the course of 80 minutes, the bar rotates a full 360 degrees so patrons can take in every inch of the city below and battle a teensy bit of vertigo all the while.
The movement is almost imperceptible which actually made it a little harder for me to get used to it. I felt like my brain (or my stomach) could tell something was happening, but my eyes couldn’t catch up!
Tim had a dirty martini
and I tried the Wildfire – Organic Vodka O, Ginger & Cucumber Infusion, Passionfruit, Chilli Floss, and Pressed Lemon – spicy just like I like it!
We reclined back in our seats and watched Sydney inch past us, holding hands across our plush arm chairs and falling more in love with Australia with every minute!
What fun! Taking Sydney by storm! I’d love to try that Wildfire, without the merry-go-round.
the movement was kind of dizzying! but the cocktail was YUMMY