The overnight flight from SFO is interesting. Because you're flying for 14 hours, it's actually possible to get 8 hours sleep, and still squeeze in a meal and a movie. Admittedly, flying business class probably made this a hell of a lot easier, but I noticed that people in Coach had whole rows to theselves, too.
At any rate, we hit the ground running, since our room at the hotel wasn't quite ready yet. Our path took us down to Circular Quay, and up towards The Rocks, the original settlement when the penal colony was established.
This area is simply stunning, though steeped in a rather dark history. Nurses Walk to Suez Canal, now home to precious cafes and wine bars, were the site of streetfights and much rabble-rousing. The placards on the street corners are illuminating -- did you know that even the nurses in Sydney were convicts?
Amongst these streets, we happened upon the Renaissance Patisserie, where we found the best macarons I've had outside of Europe -- passionfruit & dark chocolate are a marriage made in heaven.
We also found Odyssey Wine Bar, where we vowed to return for dinner the following night for a taste of their food & wine flights.
Just as we thought we might have to break down and eat heavy pub food, when all we really wanted was fresh seafood, we stumbled upon Rockpool. Unbenknownst to us, this is one of the top 10 eateries in Sydney, with good reason.
We started with a dozen oysters (try as I might, I'm not loving the local Sydney oysters. Tasmanian are more to my taste so far), moving on to a stellar korean-inspired tuna tartare, and 'Crispy Leatherjack': beer-battered white fish over rice + an incredible soy-mirin-ponzu vinaigrette.
We shared a bottle of Shaddowfax Pinot Gris, which was, not shockingly, perfectly paired with the local fishes.
Our dinner at Ravenna with Stuart & Robin was equally exceptional, and introduced me to local Kingfish, which is a white tuna-type fish which I've made it my goal to eat as much of as possible.
We're now on board Qantas flight 747 on our way to Adelaide, gateway to the Barossa Valley.
Have a favorite winery, restaurant, or site you think we shouldn't miss? Let me know!
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