Wednesday, June 18, 2003

 
Happy 1st Anniversary to us! ... Yes ... already a year since we got married, so Tuesday we celebrated a bit.

First we took a nice stroll along Darling Harbor to get to the Sydney Fishmarket, where we pigged out on super fresh seafood.





24 Oysters (17.80AU$), half kilo of prawns (shrimp, 10AU$) and a piece of BBQ swordfish ... that went all down well with a nice bottle of Chardonnay. We sat outside, chased away the seagulls and watched the pelicans swimming around. Great place to overdose on sea-based proteins.

We walked all the way back, this time taking the pedestrian bridge that crosses Darling Harbor and ending up right in the heart of the CBD (Central Business District) and of course we had to do some more shopping. I got 2 nice shirts, and Ritsu a great pair of pants. We then walked to the hotel and took a nap.

For dinner I had secretly made reservations at the Forty One Restaurant, which is located on the 41st floor of the Chifly Plaza building and is in general a great dining experience ... It reminded me a lot of windows on the world/wild blue on the 107th floor of the WTC, when it was still around.

We selected the tasting menu which was fantastic ... I think the whole menu is on the website .. so I just highlight some stuff ... besides the items on the menu, we were treated to some extras: amuse bouche was oysters in vietnamese dressing and goat cheese tartlets ... between the 2 main courses we had a small cauliflower soup (in an espresso cup, just like we had at Union Pacific back in NY), which was a bit salty, and before desert we had some extra raspberry sherbet.

The 2 appetizers were nice, the fish entrée was slightly underwhelming, when the lamb arrived we were already pretty full, but the lamb was great. Followed by a trio of cheeses and then desert ... we could have selected each one desert ... or together a whole variety plate of all deserts ... that was just overkill!!! but very nice, imagine a goat cheese cheese cake! It was a bit too lemon-y .. but the distinct, but faint goat flavor made it very interesting.





Did I mention that this place has a great view? Most of it is to the west ... but we were later shown the party rooms, and the best room has also a view to the north and you can see the opera house (looks small from high up) ... but as the waiter confirmed later, the best view of the city is from the restrooms! .. You can watch the city while peeing ... how cool is that?

We walked all the way home and now we are trying to recover from all that food .. (for some weird reason I am craving more chocolate now ... somebody come and pump my stomach out ... )

posted by Peter 8:12 AM