Freedom Day is officially upon us in NSW! That means we’ll be sitting at our favourite bars again, eating our favourite food, and celebrating safely with friends – lockdown free. While we’re in the business of bringing you the most current and trendy topics in food from across our great nation, this week we’d thought it only made sense to highlight a number of our ‘Best Restaurant’ listicles that you need to add to your list. We’re also highlighting a few new openings to set your sights on with this edition of Monday Munchies, let’s get it started.
- Our list of the Best Restaurants in Sydney to Explore Postlockdown
- Our list of the Best Bars and Pubs in Sydney to Explore Postlockdown
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Image: Koko Black
Koko Black x Hayden Quinn – Honey Pralines
Need we say much more? Delicious collaborations seem to simply be part of the course when it comes to our favourite Australian chocolate brand Koko Black. This spring, handcrafted artisan chocolatier, Koko Black, is celebrating all-natural, local ingredients from across the country with their new limited edition Australian Honey Praline collection in collaboration with Masterchef Alumni Hayden Quinn.
“Some of the best ingredients in the world come from our own backyard, and the new Koko Black Australian Honey Pralines use honey harvested from local hives. There’s no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives in Koko Black chocolate, so needless to say I’ve been enjoying it quite a bit! said Quinn.
All of Koko Black’s delicious chocolate is 100% natural with no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. Koko Black is celebrating being all-natural with the new Australian Honey Pralines, championing our homegrown honey farmers with ingredients harvested from local hives in Margaret River, WA, the Blue Mountains, NSW, the Sunshine Coast, QLD, and Melbourne, VIC.
Adding to their all-natural credentials, Koko Black is also proud to support 100% sustainably sourced cocoa by partnering with Cocoa Horizons, an impact-driven program that supports cocoa farmer prosperity by helping to build self-sustaining farming communities.
Image: About Time
About Time Pop-Up Bar Opens Doors
Nestled on the corner of Hunter and Bligh streets in one of Sydney’s buzziest dining hubs, About Time, a pop-up bar and restaurant conceived and helmed by a team of decorated Sydney hospitality professionals, is set to open in the CBD this October.
The menu will feature some playful riffs on childhood favourites, including a grown-up, boozy take on the servo slushie, a housemade French onion dip with Jatz, and a reinvention of the roast lamb sandwich.
Behind the bar, the spirit selection is set to follow a classic 90s ethos. Partners Tom Price (General Manager, The Baxter Inn) and Ben Hickey (Owner, The Roosevelt) both have the expertise to oversee a strong back bar range. Expect a rotating list of wines, tap spritzes and alcoholic slushies, ranging from a vegan-friendly frozen Irish coffee to a Frosty Fruit-inspired slushie.
“The venue is driven by quality rather than any specific regionality. Expect to see cracking examples of Australian wine alongside delicious European drops on a rotating list. If we can only get a few cases when it’s gone – it’s gone,” said Partner Shannon Ponsford.
The team are also hoping to take advantage of a recent push by the City of Sydney to move some trade outdoors, by applying for newly-released dining permits, with potential for a sprawling alfresco area on the street. More details to come.
Address: 37 Bligh Street, Sydney, 2000 (corner of Bligh and Hunter)
Hours: Mon-Sun 12pm – 2am
Image: Trent van der Jagt/ Buffet-Digital
La Salut Is the New Catalan-Inspired Wine Bar We Needed
Since opening one of Sydney’s original wine bars back in 2010, the Love Tilly Group has launched Potts Point darling Dear Sainte Éloise, pasta restaurant Ragazzi, and sister shop Fabbrica – all of which have sat towards the top of our ‘best of Sydney’ lists. Now, Matt Swieboda and Nate Hatwell, together with Executive Chef and co-owner Scott McComas-Williams, are opening La Salut: a high-octane venue inspired by the bars and restaurants of Catalonia.
“La Salut is an opportunity for us to step back to our wine bar roots. It’s a fun, energetic venue that’s wine-focused, but not wine-serious,” said Nate Hatwell.
The food offering is overseen by McComas-Williams, an alumnus of Els Tres Porquets and the Michelin-starred Els Casals in Catalonia, as well as MoVida in Melbourne and Sydney. Snacks will include a lovely dish of mussels, hot sauce and chips that’s a homage to Morro Fi—a Barcelona vermouth bar McComas-Williams calls “the best place in the world.” Guests will also enjoy manchego and anchovies, fried quail with morcilla spice and three types of Jamon.
Larger dishes, all tailored to sharing, will feature the likes of octopus and sobrassada, grilled and lightly pickled mackerel and house-made Catalan-style sausage with clams and beans.
If the food wasn’t enough to get the mouth-watering, there’s a solid lineup of natural wines that highlight the Spanish varietals. Pétillant-naturel from Nuria Renom in Alt Penedès, wines aged in Mnajas (old underground amphoras), Ramiro Ibáñez’s oxidative Palomino-based whites (which share a striking semblance to sous voile wines of the Jura), and bottles from the Canary Islands, a region not dissimilar to the famous mountains of Sicily’s Mount Etna.
Opening: Spring 2021
Address: 305 Cleveland St, Redfern NSW 2016
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Monday Munchies: September 20 – Sydney’s Best Cheeseburger is Back
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Monday Munchies: August 16 – Feasts for Four and More
