As compensation for being off at work all of tomorrow (I carry on like a pork chop about these shifts but they aren’t actually that bad) – Mr SSG and I decided to have an on location date night. As opposed to the usual location (the sofa, the flat screen and the dining room table at SSG Manor). At a location of my choice – The Rocks. It’s a place close to my heart because Mr SSG lived in Walsh Bay when we first moved over here. It was the perfect location for him – 5 minutes walk from his office.
I loved the apartment. You’d get the most interesting view out the back window. Then there was the pool – at the end of a lap, you’d be able to see people doing the Bridge climb. It was a unique introduction to Sydney life but not a long term living arrangement for younger people I don’t think. It got a bit isolating at times and isn’t really close to supermarkets or other signs of normal daily life. Which is attractive to some people but not really to me.
But I digress. Date night. We started off with oysters and a glass of champagne at the Four Seasons. It’s an old world hotel in an early 90s kind of way but I like it. The lounges are comfortable, the tables are solid and it’s not too loud. On a technical side, I am in raptures over this lens. It goes to an f stop of 1.8 and works so well in darker environments. I just point and shoot and it looks incredibally arty and captures the mood of an evening out.
We had an early booking for dinner, so it was a short walk down the road to Sailor’s Thai. An insitution in Thai food in Sydney. The restuarant proper is below Sailor’s Thai Canteen, a more casual, communal interpretation of David Thompson’s food. For non locals, Thompson is a legend in Sydney food culture and he has great respect in Thailand as well, I think he is to open a restaurant there or somewhere in the South East shortly. All my Good Living reading coming to the fore here. Thompson is known for his exploration of flavours and pushing palates beyond the Thai many of us have come to know and love. I didn’t really appreciate this until dinner tonight.
So we walked down the cobbled stairs to the restaurant to the bright red door.
I just loved the interior. By a stroke of luck, we were the first diners of the evening, so I could click away with abandon. It’s such a peaceful yet comfortable eating space. We were seated at the lounge wall. Very plump cushions, in case you were interested.
Mr SSG did the ordering as he’s been here a few times for work. At first I thought 4 dishes for 2 would be excessive (from my experience at our local Thai restaurants), but it was just right.
Our entree was the prawns and betel leaves. The betel leaves had a kind of lemony taste and really complemented the prawns.
Duck lychee salad – probably the freshest and leanest duck I have ever eaten in my life. A generous amount of duck and also the fresh lychees. There was celery taste to the greens which added an extra diamension to the duck and lychee.
Deep fried tofu. chicken crab – my choice. If you’ve had a milk chocolate mocha, 2 glasses of champagne and oysters already before dinner then go the whole hog and order a fried dish for mains. Again the flavours were fresh. The tofu was lightly fried and didn’t feel heavy at all. Generous amounts of fresh crab and chicken were to be found under the crunch of the tofu.
Mullaway curry – one of Mr SSG’s lunch favourites. How does he manage to have these lunches and still be awake to return back to the office I will never know. The curry contained flavours I’d never had before in a Thai curry – less sweetness. The fish was perfectly cooked.
Dessert. Yes, we had dessert. Probably the first time in months that I’ve gone a whole 3 course meal. We shared the coconut cake. The whole dessert list featured all of my favourite flavours – coconut and pineapple mainly. The cake was dense and the sauce just sweet enough.
All to soon, it was time to get home and prepare for an early start the next day. It was a delicious meal made more special that we were there on our own for the first hour or so.
Happily, we walked down to the ferries and made our way home, bypassing the traffic.
