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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Lunch at Teras Bali

Every lunch time at work we have the same tough decision to make. Where to have lunch. We've been to the Sydney Dance Cafe a zillion times, along with Simmer on the Bay, that great Thai restaurant on Hickson Road that's now closed down and all the other pubs and cafes around the area. For some reason though we've only been to Tera Bali once before. This is because it's normally quiet empty, rather than a reflection on the food or value for money. We ordered from the $15.50 meals, which given the Walsh Bay area, is not too pricey at all (although it's more than you want to spend every day on lunch).

We ordered x2 servings of the Mie Goreng - fried eggs noodle with satays, fried chicken, eggs, prawn crackers and cucumber pickles and one serving of the Nasi Goreng - fried rice served with satays, fried chicken, eggs, prawn crackers and cucumber pickles. I was told that the Nasi Goreng was delicious, with flavoursome chicken off the bone, which contrasted nicely to the crunch of the prawn crackers and the vinegar of the picked carrot and cucumber. Our Mie Goreng also came with one giant prawn cracker and a side of pickled cucumber and carrot.

Nasi Goreng - fried rice served with satays, fried chicken, eggs, prawn crackers and cucumber pickles

Mie Goreng - fried eggs noodle with satays, fried chicken, eggs, prawn crackers and cucumber pickles

Mie Goreng - fried eggs noodle with satays, fried chicken, eggs, prawn crackers and cucumber pickles

 Both meals were a good serving size, and has interesting textures and flavours that contrasted nicely. Balinese is not a style that I eat very often, despite really liking it. The views from Teras Bali are also fantastic, you can see the Harbour and the rich people's apartments and yachts parked in front of them. This would be a great restaurant to go to before heading to see a show at one of the the theatre or dance companies in Walsh Bay.

Strangers Project 2. Who the hell are you?

Strangers Project 2. Who the hell are you? @ atyp last night and tonight at 7pm

Idea: go check out an experimental piece of theatre, creative development, warehouse production or work in progress. If my experience last night was anything to go by, you'll be pleasantly surprised. 

Wednesday night, a theatre company's launch party for 2011, last night Miss Feathers was off to see a play. It's been a busy week! The Strangers Project 2. Who the hell are you? is a creative development piece performed by teenagers at atyp. This is an international script writing and performance project, which is a taste of what will come in 2011 when they have finalised their piece.

You could tell that these teenagers had devised this piece themselves, with collaboration with other teenagers in other countries. There were many mentions of facebook, as it was one if the main tools, alongside skype, that they used to communicate with the other theatre companies and to devise their work. Lots of mentions of relationship status updates of "it's complicated," the process of accepting and ignoring friend requests and relationship breakdowns all online. CCTV was one of the themes that kept coming up from the theatre group in Wales, so the Sydney group decided to include a piece about that and the idea of Big Brother. There was a poem/ song about McDonalds and there were a few songs that they sung about the notion of strangers, connecting with one another and communication.

If they manage to get funding this will turn into a full scale production in 2011. Here's hoping to that! The impromptu Q & A last night was great, as we got to hear all about the creative processes behind it. We found out that some pieces of dialogue were straight from the strangers2 facebook page that they've all been chatting on. Such an interesting and relevant piece of theatre. If you get the chance, check it out tonight!