The Auswine Forum

Definitely in for the April spicy casual offline!! Let's get it underway?

I had opened two bottles yesterday to take to Bar Reggio for dinner only to find it was full. I tried Verde which is only Stanley Street but it is only BYO Mon - Wed. Eventually settles on Maclay Street Bistro that still accepts BYO. Thou half empty for a table of three of three the food was ok French bistro for people looking for a Thursday night BYO in the East.

Just some local BYO places that I frequent fairly regularly:

Le Village, Hunters Hill - nice French bistro
Bar Pizza, Gladesville
Bistro Meme, Gladesville
Il Bolognese, Boronia Park (full on retro 70's/89's Italian, complete with tiny wine glasses)
Mamak, Chatswood
New Shangai, Chatswood
Sale Pepe, Brookvale - great pizza & pasta, but hard to find in an industrial estate! Spotted Giovanni Pilu picking up takeaway pizza last time we were there...

I see Gastro Park is closing on 20 May if we want to slip a one off offline before it closes.

Some new places in the East. Hacker we should try Regatta, down in Rose Bay.

http://www.goodfood.com.au/drinks/wine/ ... 413-gvkhyy

rooman wrote:Some new places in the East. Hacker we should try Regatta, down in Rose Bay.

http://www.goodfood.com.au/drinks/wine/ ... 413-gvkhyy

From the article;

Otto has a three-course shared menu with BYO for $89, but only for groups over the magic and slightly unusual number of 13 people.

Almost makes you wonder if they know our default max number to an offline!

Bobthebuilder wrote:

rooman wrote:Some new places in the East. Hacker we should try Regatta, down in Rose Bay.

http://www.goodfood.com.au/drinks/wine/ ... 413-gvkhyy

From the article;

Otto has a three-course shared menu with BYO for $89, but only for groups over the magic and slightly unusual number of 13 people.

Almost makes you wonder if they know our default max number to an offline!

Yeah I looked at the Otto menu but frankly it was disappointing especially after the excellent Larder.

Personally I'm keen to try Regatta. It's the old Pier restaurant out over the water in Rose Bay. Damien Pignolet is the executive chef.

Seven Lanterns in Sylvania.
Modern Korean/Japanese with Mediterranean twist.

A bit of a trek for me. Portions were on the smaller side, but flavours were pretty good.
8 course dego.
BYO I think was $4 per person. The head chef came out and had a chat and shared a glass with us. Didn't end up paying corkage.

Overall not bad, but too far to go on a regular basis. Anyone south of the border should check it out at least once though.

Ate at the very good BYO Verde in East Sydney last week. Sadly it is only BYO until Wednesday each week but worth a try.

I've got an anniversary dinner this sat - Italian degustation, good wine list but has agreed on a BYO bottle with steep corkage- just need to decide what to take.

Here's my shortlist - any tips on these:
2009 RWT
2002 Elderton Command
2004 Podere La Vigna Brunello Riserva

shauno wrote:I've got an anniversary dinner this sat - Italian degustation, good wine list but has agreed on a BYO bottle with steep corkage- just need to decide what to take.

Here's my shortlist - any tips on these:
2009 RWT
2002 Elderton Command
2004 Podere La Vigna Brunello Riserva

Too young, too big and ripe, goldilocks.

In that order. And why would you not bring an Italian wine to a higher end Italian place! (what one if I may ask?)

I agree with Poohs mate, TiggerK.

Gotta be the eye-talian one.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=659399

This one actually - https://www.cellartracker.com/m/wines/783783

But yes, was thinking of the Italian but I've not tried this one before - both the others have been great

shauno wrote:This one actually - https://www.cellartracker.com/m/wines/783783

But yes, was thinking of the Italian but I've not tried this one before - both the others have been great

Out of interest given the name of this thread, which restaurant have you managed to convince to allow you to go BYO in Sydney?

dave vino wrote:I agree with Poohs mate, TiggerK.

Gotta be the eye-talian one.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=659399

Gawd, I really shouldn't post things after finishing most of a bottle of Noon Reserve Shiraz while watching the soccer.

It's at Freshwater, which makes it a very short list of 1...

I've found a lot of places will do BYO if you ask nicely, and they'll charge $$$ corkage too...

dave vino wrote:Gawd, I really shouldn't post things after finishing most of a bottle of Noon Reserve Shiraz while watching the soccer.

I assume it didn't make the performance seem any better......

Cheers

Michael

shauno wrote:It's at Freshwater, which makes it a very short list of 1...

I've found a lot of places will do BYO if you ask nicely, and they'll charge $$$ corkage too...

Its' sister restaurant at Akuna Bay consistently refuses to allow byo, even when I've offered $50 per bottle...

I can’t see why a restaurant would just set a high corkage charge (30-50) for BYO - they still make a decent profit without the storage costs.

Adding Miss K here as a reminder. Excellent dumplings and other Asian fusion dishes. 160 Flinders St, Paddington

Mark,

How authentic would you say the flavors are? I have a funny hangup about Asian places where they serve Asian food from multiple countries....it would be like a place having Mexican, Italian and Scottish food all in one place...

The pictures do look pretty good though from what I've seen..I think Bobthebuilder goes there quite often as well...

Polymer wrote:Mark,

How authentic would you say the flavors are? I have a funny hangup about Asian places where they serve Asian food from multiple countries....it would be like a place having Mexican, Italian and Scottish food all in one place...

The pictures do look pretty good though from what I've seen..I think Bobthebuilder goes there quite often as well...

Kev

That’s one of those questions my son says you shouldn’t touch with a 10ft barge pole and I will admit although I never actually saw the menu, Nic was kind enough to do the ordering, I was confused when we jumped from dumplings to pad thai and sort of back to yummy crispy skin chicken.

Having said that the dumplings were some of the best I’ve had in Sydney or rather the ones I’ve enjoyed the most. And I will definitely take my kids and Lisette there soon to have more of an experiment with the menu. I’d also go with local Sydney friends.

But I wouldn’t take the friends we stay with Thailand. I’ve heard them rip apart restaurants in Thailand that have strayed outside how things should he done. I also doubt I’d take local Chinese friends there as they too have firm ideas on what is correct and not correct.

I do believe one of the great things about eating and living in Sydney is for many of us, we get used to the melting pot approach to food. But those who hail from a heritage with a strong food tradition often don’t really approve of the whole fusion thing. I therefore understand why the bit of everything approach might not appeal.

I don't actually mind the bit of everything....I just find that when it is like that, it generally isn't very good...but this place (from what I can tell) looks pretty good...

So I guess what I'm saying is...I don't mind having a Chinese Dish, then a Thai dish then a Japanese Dish...but I don't really want the Chinese and Japanese dish to both taste like they're from Thailand...

But like I said...at least in the pictures, it looks pretty good...I'm looking forward to trying this place next time I'm in Sydney...

Quick update: the meal was excellent, but the Brunello was amazing!

Double decanted late afternoon, had half a glass after an hour and it was still pretty tight, then back in the bottle for the trip to dinner & decanted again. Opened up nicely, maybe some alcohol evap helped too

Had lunch yesterday at Bar Reggio in East Sydney. It has to be one of the most popular and cheapest BYOs in town on Friday with excellent food. Its an Old School Sydney venue with great pizzas and a blackboard full of superb food. My lunch companion pointed out we weren't the only people with decent bottles of wine taking advantage of the venue. The next table had a string of high profile billionaires and millionaires including Kerry Stokes and a few other guys enjoying a solid range of well cellared wine. One bottle was probably worth the same as the total food bill..

Too lazy to go through the post again to see if someone has mentioned it, BUT,
The Devonshire in Surry Hills is closing at the end of the year (23rd I think).
[url]http://www.thedevonshire.com.au/[/url]

One of my fave places for a great dego + BYO wine ($10 pb)
8 course Dego $95

I'm having dinner there tonight after hearing of the pending closure...

rooman wrote:Had lunch yesterday at Bar Reggio in East Sydney. It has to be one of the most popular and cheapest BYOs in town on Friday with excellent food. Its an Old School Sydney venue with great pizzas and a blackboard full of superb food. My lunch companion pointed out we weren't the only people with decent bottles of wine taking advantage of the venue. The next table had a string of high profile billionaires and millionaires including Kerry Stokes and a few other guys enjoying a solid range of well cellared wine. One bottle was probably worth the same as the total food bill..

Any wines look interesting?

Chaco Bar in Darlinghurst.
$15 corkage.
Glassware = not great, I bring my own.
Food = Japanese.
Quality = very good.

Wouldn't suit big groups/offlines.

michel wrote:

rooman wrote:Had lunch yesterday at Bar Reggio in East Sydney. It has to be one of the most popular and cheapest BYOs in town on Friday with excellent food. Its an Old School Sydney venue with great pizzas and a blackboard full of superb food. My lunch companion pointed out we weren't the only people with decent bottles of wine taking advantage of the venue. The next table had a string of high profile billionaires and millionaires including Kerry Stokes and a few other guys enjoying a solid range of well cellared wine. One bottle was probably worth the same as the total food bill..

Any wines look interesting?

Funny enough I was back here again today. I seem to be eating here at least once a month at present. In terms of what Kerry and his mates were drinking, there was some old St Henri which judging by the label was from the 90s or earlier. The rest I can't recall,

deejay81 wrote:Too lazy to go through the post again to see if someone has mentioned it, BUT,
The Devonshire in Surry Hills is closing at the end of the year (23rd I think).
[url]http://www.thedevonshire.com.au/[/url]

One of my fave places for a great dego + BYO wine ($10 pb)
8 course Dego $95

I'm having dinner there tonight after hearing of the pending closure...

That's a pity, been there4 a number of times, although (and perhaps tellingly) not recently. Please let us know how the food and service are?? Might try and squeeze in a dinner there before they go if there's any availability.....