A new personal record at La Plage Casadelmar

On holiday in Corsica I broke a new personal record, possibly even a world record, for:

a) Most money spent on a single bowl of pasta

b) Most stupid tourist ever

It all happened quite by accident.

The M&2V is a great holiday companion – he’s easy breezy, good at directions, up for pretty much any activity, likes a drink and, most importantly, knows that food is my thing and let’s me eat “wherever you want, honeybun”.

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Short & Sweet: Darjeerling Express

Style: Indian (Bengali)

Budget: Mid-range 

Venue and atmosphere: Just looking around you can tell that this is going to be a different kind of Indian restaurant. Garish colours, white tablecloths and religious iconography are replaced with modest tones, wooden furniture and tasteful black and white photographs. The dining room, which opens onto the top balcony of Kingly Court, is light and airy, the summery feeling amplified by splashes of colour from the blue tiled sections of the floor and pot plants, which are dotted around at different levels.

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Short & Sweet: Saint Peter, Sydney

Style: ‘Nose-to-tail’ fish restaurant

Budget: Mid-range to expensive, depending how much you order.

Venue and atmosphere: Casual and relaxed. A minimal and understated terrace shop front on Paddington’s pinch of Oxford St.

Service: Also casual, but still extremely knowledgeable. We got some good, honest advice re. menu choices (“that’s plenty”) and wines (perfect choice).

Food:

This was the most interesting meal I had on this visit to Sydney, which if you follow my Instagram feed, you will recognise as very high praise indeed. Chef, Joshua Niland, takes the ‘nose-to-tail’ concept, usually focussed on land, and applies it to the oceans.

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Short & Sweet: CHISWICK restaurant, Woollahra, Sydney

Style: Modern Australian

Budget: Mid-range – expensive (depends what you order). 

Venue and atmosphere: Set in an old Victorian house with thatched windows all the way around, this tasteful, elegant dining room is filled with natural light. Walking through the dappled sunlight and calm of Chiswick Gardens, set back from busy Ocean St, one expects an oasis of calm, but the food is far too good for that. It is is very busy and full of chatter. If you prefer a quieter experience, sit in the few tables in the shady courtyard, which were inexplicably empty when I dined there.

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Short & Sweet: Frenchie

Style: Modern French with a focus on seasonal produce.

Budget: Expensive, though the lunch menu is quite reasonable (£26 for 2 courses, £29 for 3 courses) and taken straight from the a la carte menu.

Venue and atmosphere: Classy and elegant like the food. Ask for a seat at the back of the restaurant near the windows.

Service: A bit too eager and then not eager enough; trying to hurry us at the beginning, but then nowhere to be found when we actually wanted something and not disguising the fact that they found us a pain. Admittedly, we were being quite demanding, but we also ordered everything on the menu (really) so… be nice to us. 

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