SYDNEY DAY 2
Grabbing a morning coffee fix from UNSW's coffee shop. Their coffees are cheap and surprisingly aromatic! Definitely a great perk-me-up in the morning. Day 2 was mostly sight-seeing and eating. We were going Whale Watching! Oh how exciting :D
Generally, to get from one of Sydney's suburb areas to the City, you would have to take a bus. In order to do that, you need a bus card which looks like that:
I'm not entirely sure about the way they mark out their zones. They basically mark out their zones in sections and to get from one place to another, you have to check if you'll be crossing a zone or not because that would incur a slight increase of fee and you need another bus card for that. You can check this in some of the bus stops around the city area.
Public transportation does not come cheap in Sydney, especially for tourists. I think I had to pay about Aud $32 for this bus card that is valid for 10 rides. That means, it's about Sgd $41.60 and therefore, about $4.20 per ride? That's pretty ridiculous considering that some of the distances are pretty short.
(*You could get a concession pass that is probably like 3 times cheaper. However, sometimes the bus conductor may check tickets and if you get caught, it's a Aud $500 fine. Generally, concessions are meant for students.)
They have a pretty cute system of punching their bus cards. It's similar to Singapore's old system whereby you slot the card in. It punches the date and time that you have boarded the transport and the card is yours to keep. Sort of like a clock-in clock-out system. Their buses are pretty much the same as ours but they have seats from the front to the back of the bus, which meant that, when I lugged my luggages onto the bus to go the airport, it was a nightmare as there aren't space on the buses for that :/
We were the second to get to 107 Pitt Street. Guess where were we at?
Dying to try this out because, when else would you get to eat at a Jamie Oliver Restaurant?
His shelves in the restaurant are donned with most of his books, aprons, mugs and all that jazz
I really like the interior of his restaurant. (Ivan thinks it's a bit tacky with having cheap furniture) The pink seats make it a plus plus lol (: I like that he used a blend of warm colors and complementary colors in his restaurant color scheme, making it a very warm and hearty place for a gathering. It gives you sort of a homely feel but a classy vibe as well.
They have a second level to the restaurant as well and the kitchen's located right at the back on the first floor. Just the right amount of space for a restaurant I would say.
They have a variation of starters and mains but after the first day of over-ordering, I decided to cut down on my portions. Also because we were about to go out to sea and I didn't wanna get sea-sick and regurgitate all my food (not that I have ever experienced sea-sickness)
Buffalo Ricotta Ravioli $14 / $21
Delicate parcels stuffed with Creamed Ricotta, Lemon, Mint and Parmesan.
Ivan got the Ravioli and if you're wondering why the portions are so tiny, it's because we got the mini version so that we could have room for starters and desserts as well. It's basically stuffed with cheese and I really liked the sauce that went with it. It's creamy with a hint of lemon in it. When you bite into the ravioli, you get a spurt of parmesan cheese in your mouth. It's pretty delightful. Not great for people who aren't accustomed to cheese though, since it's pretty cheesy.
[ Antipasti ]
Mushroom Fritti $9
Own-grown crispy fried mushrooms with garlicky mayo
These mushroom fritters are AMAZING! Seriously one of the best mushroom fritters I've ever tried. It's crispy on the outside and extremely juicy on the inside. They are even better when you dip them into the garlic mayo, which in my opinion, is one of the BEST sauces around to have for fries or in this case, mushroom fritters!! Combine them with the shaved cheese atop the fritter and you get a gastronomic explosion in your mouth. Definitely a must-try.
Bucatini Carbonara $12 / $19
Tubular Spaghetti with Fried Smoked Pancetta and Leek tossed with Free-range eggs and Parmesan
I ordered the carbonara because I guess it's one of Jamie Oliver's signature dishes. It may have been because of the type of spaghetti used but this wasn't what I would have expected it to taste like. The sauce was a little light and the tubular spaghetti was slightly on the hard side. The saving grace was the smoked pancetta! It really gave a boost in terms of the flavor to this dish.
I'm going to be bold and say, skip this and try something else.
Italian Bakewell Tart $9
Delicious Almond Tart baked with lovely Fresh Fruits
We ordered this tart as well because the description of it is pretty tempting. Slightly disappointed to see the tart in its presentation appearance. Even more disappointed to taste it. I've not figured out what it is, but it tastes EXACTLY like a kind of fruit cake we have in Singapore. Those really old-school kind where you buy it as a whole. I'm guessing to Australians or Italians that maybe this would seem interesting and unique to them, but it's something that we have all the time here. Felt slightly cheated ):
Overall, I would say it's been quite an experience despite some of the let downs. Go for his mushroom and cheese dishes!
JAMIE'S ITALIAN
107 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
Tel: 02 8240 9000
Website: www.jamieoliver.com/au/italian/sydney
People across the street at QVB.
QVB stocks a good variation of local boutiques in which you may find unique pieces
#OOTD
Hello, Darling Harbour
We sat around waiting for the boat for Whale Watching to take off. Took quite a great deal of photos of the scenery as you can tell.
On my wrist that day. Hello Thumper!
We found the Whale Watching website online. It has a 100% guarantee that we would see whales if not it's a full refund. For 2 hours via speedboat, I had to pay about Aud $60. Ivan had a concession price so it was slightly cheaper.
Extremely excited to go out to sea!
That's the Maritime Museum
The Sydney Harbour Bridge
It was quite a journey out into sea. The speedboat was pretty bumpy due to the waves. Soon, we reached far out into sea where you can see literally NOTHING but water. Everyone was searching intently for spurts of water on the water surface since that indicates that a whale is probably coming up to surface to breathe.
First sighting of a whale! They are humpback whales.
Look at the spurt of water!
Oooh, more whales!
It was quite an amazing experience! I've never done anything quite like it before. Pretty happy to see the whales although I was willing them with all my heart to make a leap above water surface but they didn't ): Everyone should definitely see whales once in their lifetime since it is almost impossible to contain them in Aquariums or Zoos.
Sydney Opera House at Dusk
We were on our way back to the pier and it was almost dusk already so the sun was starting to set. That was about 4pm?? Why does the sun set so quickly in Australia!? I really have no idea.
At the dock. Someone lost her wallet on the boat, how weird is that?
Next post: Sydney Aquarium and Food Society.
Decided to split Day 2 up into 2 posts since it's really an overkill with the scenery photos. But they're too pretty not to share.
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