Simmer on the Bay

A work day lunch

Location of today's lunch is at Simmer on the Bay. It's quite tough to find a location to have our work day lunch at that's under $10, not too far away and one that we can all decide on. There's a lot of pricey options or the same old same old. One of our regular haunts is Simmer. It's a special event venue that has a tiny kitchen tacked onto it's side on one of the piers in the arts precinct of Walsh Bay. I can say from first hand experience that the food they cater for their events great quality. (These events is the reason why it's not open for dinner).

The lunch time offerings however, are a little bit more hit and miss. Once when the boy was having lunch with me he ended up unwittingly ordering an extremely pink looking chicken nestled in a sandwich of greens, which had to be sent back to the kitchen. Another time I ordered one of the best green curries with rice I've had in a while for only $10 (from the specials board). It's a great location, right on Sydney Harbour. Sometimes when they don't have the umbrellas out, it's ridiculously hot and when it rains, you'll get wet. One of the disadvantages of it's outside location.

On this occasion, one of my work colleagues ordered the Vegetarian: with olive paste, fetta, semi dried tomato, pumpkin & rocket wrap (can also be a salad) ($10 special). She ordered a size of what appeared to be McDonald's fries with it, which I had to show my disapproval at. Chips should be fat, hand-cut pieces of potato that don't purely taste of oil in my books. Yes, I'm a chip snob and proud of it. Being a lady with a baby on board, she didn't mind her side of "fries with that" and has since ordered them again, so it you like fires, you'll most likely be happy with these. The vegetarian wrap was also oily and dripped all over her hands and plate. I think they should consider draining or paper towling the grilled eggplant and semi dried tomatoes somewhere between taking them from their home in a jar of olive oil and inserting them into a wrap. She said that overall, the meal did the job of satisfying her hunger.

Vegetarian: with olive paste, fetta, semi dried tomato, pumpkin & rocket wrap (can also be a salad) with chips

Colleague number 2 had the Chicken: with pinenuts, currants, lemon mayo & rocket wrap (can also be a salad) (also a $10 special). This is his usual order from Simmer, so I'm assuming it's pretty good. I like that it's on brown bread, which I approve of. I've had this before in a wrap, and I found the lemon mayo to be quite rich. However, this seems to come down to personal taste. Not my cup of tea, but he's mad for it, so there you go.

Chicken: with pinenuts, currants, lemon mayo & rocket wrap (can also be a salad)

I ordered a special of bacon and egg frittata looking thing (had no name) with a side salad ($9). This was a filo pastry creation, almost similar to a lasagne, as it had further sections of filo layers in it. There was a satisfying combination of bacon bits, cheery tomatoes and some kind of unidentifiable cheese. If this wasn't served with it's side salad of crunchy cucumber, cherry tomatoes and lettuce it would be too stodgy to have by itself, but because it was, it was a good $9 lunch. Nothing mind blowing about it, but nothing negative.

Frittata-ish dish

We will definitely be back here again, even if sometimes they have off days and forget about your order until you remind them. Because, let's face it, it's a few minutes away from my work and sometimes the food, views and service all combine to make quite a good work lunch time option.



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