Recently Vikki had a Saturday night off work so we decided
to have a night in the city. After checking in to our room at the Hilton, we
wandered around town looking at some stores we haven’t been in to together for
a while.
Soon enough it was time for lunch and as we were in Martin
Place, Intermezzo caught our eye. I have been several times for business
lunches but this was Vikki’s first time.
After perusing the menu and wine list we ordered 2 glasses
of Prosecco and shared beef carpaccio for entrée.
We both had pasta for our mains, I chose linguine with
Western Australian Scampi, fresh vine ripened cherry tomatoes and chilli.
Vikki
opted for an entree sized pasta of house made pappardelle with trio of mushrooms,
fresh ricotta and black truffle. Vikki said it was truly delicious, she likes a
bit of truffle (ok, I admit she likes more than a bit of truffle). The
fresh ricotta was amazing ( I snuck a bit when she wasn’t looking).
We then decided that as it was a special day that we would
have some cannoli filled with sweet ricotta.
After lunch it was off to the shops again and then a quick
rest at the hotel. After easing our feet a little, we headed down to the
executive lounge for a pre dinner cocktail and nibbles. Lovely fresh prawns and
a few hot snacks got us fired back up again and ready to go out again.
Surprisingly the temperature had cooled a little so we
headed for a whisky at The Baxter Inn. Located in a dark seedy laneway off
Clarence Street and down a set of stairs, the Baxter Inn is like stepping back
in time to the 1920’s. The Baxter Inn features a list of around 360 whiskies
from all around the world. We decided on Bowmore Legend, as I had tried it on
previous visit and enjoyed it. Armed with a bowl of pretzels we sat down to
enjoy our whisky and people watch.
After our drink we headed out in to the night again and with
no destination in mind we ambled down George Street and found ourselves in the
Rocks. Walking past the former premises of Rockpool, I lamented the fact that
we never went there while it was open. Imagine my surprise when Vikki told me
they were open but had moved to the Burns Philp Building in Bridge Street. That
made us head back south for a walk past.
After looking at the menu and noticing they had a bar menu
we headed in.
After
sitting down and perusing the wine list we ordered two glasses of champagne. We
only felt like a little bite to eat so decided on some caviar and blinis. After
a bit of upselling from the very helpful waiter, we decided to try the Yasa
caviar. Vikki is not really in to caviar normally, but she found this was
sensational.
Our waiter had given us the story of the brand and then told us
how the brand representative showed them how to eat the caviar by placing a
little on your hand to warm it up and then straight in to your mouth. We tried
it and were pleasantly surprised at the difference in flavour as compared to
having it cold.
Yasa caviar is farmed in specially built aquaculture tanks and produced from Siberian sturgeon in the UAE,
Yasa has the worlds largest and most technologically advanced aquaculture farms.
Not only do they process the roe for caviar but the fish is also processed for
the culinary market.
After our caviar and champagne it was time to head back to
the Hilton and end our day with a night cap of a nice Bourdeaux from Cahteau Cantemerle.
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