Falling in love with Sydney – again!
I’ve been in love with Sydney since I was 14, but lately my eye’s been wandering.
I’ve been thinking of places like London and Berlin, and even exploring the far-off lands of the Northern and Eastern Suburbs. Is it time to split?
Maybe all we need is some quality time together. And with the way to our hearts most definitely being through our stomachs, Mr LML and I decide to do that by nomming our way through some of our favourite suburbs.
Redfern in the morning…
Redfern is undergoing rapid gentrification, and you can almost watch the suburb change before your eyes. If you haven’t visited for a few years you might not recognise it today! We start at Eveleigh Farmers’ Markets, which are held every Saturday in the heritage-listed Blacksmith’s Workshop at Carriageworks. The grungy, industrial setting is a neat contrast against the fresh, gourmet produce, making Eveleigh Markets a seriously cool spot for brekkie or picking up groceries.
Eveleigh Farmers’ Market, Redfern
Mr LML and I browse and take advantage of the free samples (including alpaca sausages and rissoles, which are both tasty and almost fat-free). We know we’ll be out all day, so we don’t buy much; however, I can’t resist a bag of SWEET Mixed Mini Mallows from SWEETNESS the Patisserie. The fruit flavours are so distinct and scrumptious, especially the passionfruit!
SWEET Mallows from SWEETNESS the Patisserie
Newtown at midday…
Our regular stomping grounds, Newtown is home to current (and reformed – heh!) hippies, hipsters, artists, students, and dreamers. It too is rapidly changing, but its most iconic sights remain.
King Street’s most famous mural, and a Disco Infono
Today we abandon our usual haunts and try something different: a “cupping” coffee-tasting session at Campos Coffee. As someone who doesn’t like coffee, I’m… apprehensive. In front of me are FIVE glasses with grounds from FIVE DIFFERENT coffees. How am I going to get through all this?
Cupping at Campos Coffee. Would Mr LML’s dream be my nightmare?
Luckily we only sip a spoonful at a time, so I’m not bouncing off the walls – at least not immediately. The cupping process – which involves taking big slurps, then concentrating on a single attribute, such as acidity, sweetness or body – is really interesting, and I’m convinced that not being a coffee addict should make me a more objective (and, thus, superior) judge. But by the end of the session I’m happily twitching and drinking straight from the cups, so it looks like I won’t be staying objective for long…
Campos’ cupping sessions cost $30 pp, which includes a take-home pack of your favourite brew (beans or grounds). It’s brilliant fun even for non-coffee people, so make sure it’s on your to-do list.
Full of (coffee) beans and with time to kill before lunch, Mr LML and I stroll to one of my favourite Sydney spots, Camperdown Cemetery. Founded in 1848 and originally covering over 12 acres, it accepted almost 18,000 burials in 19 years. By the 1940s it had fallen into serious disrepair, so the monuments were moved to a reduced cemetery within the grounds of St Stephen’s Anglican Church. Today it’s a peaceful, slightly melancholy hideaway from the buzz and bustle of King St that’s often visited by dog-walkers and picnic-makers.
Mr LML and a dog that refused to be our friend – Camperdown Cemetery
Mr LML and I take some pictures and try to make friends with a dog, who cruelly rejects us. Crushed, we decide to eat our feels at Brewtown Newtown.
Gourmet cronuts will ease the pain…
I’ve heard good (read: delicious) things about Brewtown, so I’m not surprised to find it packed when we arrive. However, it’s just a short wait before we’re seated at a shared table right in front of the Brewnut case. This is heartbreaking – I need lunch, but I desperately, painfully want one of those incredible pastries.
The answer? The Elvis burger. Ground beef, Canadian bacon, gruyere and mayo served in a savoury Brewnut with chips and relish on the side. It is AMAZING, and I don’t care what I’m doing to my arteries. Mr LML has the veggie burger with Swiss cheese, beetroot relish and crunchy salad, which is also delicious, although my burger is obviously The King…
Brewtown Newtown Elvis burger and veggie burger.
For drinks I have the homemade lemonade, while Mr LML grabs an iced coffee. We also try the cold brew coffee, which is made on site by steeping grounds in cold water for 12 hours. Maybe Campos prepared me, but I find the cold brew refreshing and tasty. Buzzing, we grab a cold-brew-glazed Brewnut to go (because I *may* have an addictive personality), then head outside to meet Richard Graham for an afternoon with My Sydney Detour.
Redfern (again!) in the afternoon…
I’m not always a fan of tours – sometimes they feel rushed and impersonal. But after reading about Nathan’s day earning Sydney street cred, I can’t wait to start my own Detour. And check out our ride!
My Sydney Detour’s Holden EH Premier. So pretty!
After chatting with Richard, we decide to drive back to Redfern. Our first stop is Seasonal Concepts, which proves to be a perfect example of why you should never judge a book by its cover (or a shop by its exterior). From the outside I expect shabby chic furniture and seashell wind chimes, but inside it’s like a high-end florist set in a natural history museum. Stunning flower arrangements, antiques of every kind, ram skulls and taxidermy – it’s unbelievable!
Full of surprises – Seasonal Concepts
Our next stop is Chee Soon & Fitzgerald, which is a must-visit for lovers of textiles and the decorative arts. Their collection includes small furnishings, homewares and china, but their real specialty is rare and vintage fabric, which you can buy by the metre or have made into lamp shades, cushion covers, curtains, and more. Everything is gorgeous, and I start thinking about home makeovers…
Just some of the unique and beautiful fabric at Chee Soon & Fitzgerald
Our final stop is The Bearded Tit, and its motto of “Free love, not free beer” speaks straight to my heart (‘though I won’t say no to a drink if you’re offering). Not just an awesome watering hole, the Tit is a creative space with a year-round art program. Mr LML and I grab a beer and watch a performance piece on a TV hung behind the bar.
Is that a morgue fridge? Behind the bar at The Bearded Tit
We’re about to leave when Richard recommends checking out the bathroom. “It’s an adventure,” he says, and as a fan of both adventures and urination I obviously can’t resist. He’s right – it’s glorious!
So much to look at you’ll forget to pee – The Bearded Tit
The bathroom tip kind of sums up what I love about My Sydney Detour. Richard is part historian, part The Fonz – he knows Sydney’s history inside-out, but also every cool bar, chic café, up-and-coming restaurant and one-of-a-kind boutique. He gets to know his clients, then adjusts his itinerary to fit in things he knows they’ll love. In my case that happens to include awesome bathrooms 😉
Chippendale in the evening…
We say goodbye to Richard in Chippendale, a small (and often overlooked) suburb between Broadway and Sydney Uni that packs a whole lot of cool into its tiny backstreets. It’s time for dinner at Ester, and we’re excited!
We want to taste as much of the award-winning menu as possible, so we so go for the eight-course banquet. Our feast begins with roasted chickpeas and delicious house-baked bread with butter, followed by roasted oysters (which even Mr LML – a lifelong oyster-phobic – enjoys). Then it’s brussels sprouts with mustard and egg (which cure me of my childhood aversion to sprouts), and raw fish with charcoal and daikon (fresh and delightful!). Next we’re treated to a couple of MASSIVE prawns with brown butter and tamari, then a slightly sweeter dish of corn, rice and dashi.
Corn, rice and dashi, brussels sprouts with mustard and egg, and monster prawns with brown butter and tamari
Everything is phenomenal and our glasses never empty; Ester’s attentive, yet unobtrusive staff are refilling ninjas who slip in and top you up the moment you get a bit low.
Our final – and favourite – savoury courses are roast cauliflower with almond sauce and mint, and chicken with garlic bread sauce. We’re both garlic fiends, so the tender chicken with its creamy, flavoursome sauce was always going to bring us joy, but the cauliflower is a revelation. I refuse to disrespect its deliciousness by trying to describe it: you just need to try it.
Our favourites – chicken with garlic bread sauce, and roast cauliflower with almond and mint
It’s been an intense day for our tastebuds, but all that’s left now is dessert. We share the salted caramel semi-fredo and ‘three milks’ (an unbelievable combo of dolce con leche, ricotta panna cotta and sheep’s milk yoghurt with crunchy biscuit crumbs), and… it destroys me. They’re too perfect – everything is too perfect – and I know that my own boring food will forever pale in comparison.
Emotionally devastated by Ester’s dessert
If after all these years I can still have days like this in Sydney, some magic must still be there. I think I’ll stick with her a bit longer and see what else there is to eat.
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