12 December 2011

York Lane: Tapas & Wine Bar, CBD Sydney (8 Dec 2011)

York Lane, Wynyard, Sydney NSW 2000


Laneway tapas and bar

Thanks to Richard Elliot for organising a casual lunch catchup at this laneway café he spotted serving a tapas style menu. It’s quite a cosy place with repurposed items like airline trolleys as shelving, railway sleepers as flooring and furniture offcuts becoming stools. The laneway location, creativity and intimacy oozes a Melbourne vibe to me but the service cheekily says ‘this is what Melbourne would want to be like’, and perhaps he’s right, but I'm thinking we're still catching up. It’s smaller than Grasshopper Bar and around the same size as Grandma’s Bar and joins the growing number of small bars around Sydney.

The hand-written menu seemed quite well-priced at first but you’ll need to order a few things to fill up so I think it’s more suited to side snacking with your wine or beer rather than a reasonably priced lunch spot for one. The Haloumi & Pea Fritters with Tzatziki ($9) was pretty tasty and I wondered if slices of grilled haloumi could be another dish worth having on the menu. Four pieces are served with the Duck Pancakes with Hoisin Sauce ($12) filled with fresh salad. I quite liked the Chorizo Hot Pot with cannellini beans, fresh tomato & basil ($12) although wished it came in a sauce of some description to soak up with the crusty bread included. We’re prewarned the Buffalo Wings with Blue Cheese Sauce ($10) takes 15 minutes to prepare which are quite flavoursome and the chilli deceptively increases over time on your palate. There were a few stray little feathers on my wing which could have perhaps been better cleaned off though. I’d recommend the Pork Belly with Chilli Jam ($12) if you’re after some decent crackling and nicely flavoured meat. Bite-sized pieces of joy for the pork lovers. My Mocha ($3.50) thankfully had a good balance which helped finish off the meal with a sugar note.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:
PROS: Friendly and accommodating service, Repurposed decor and furniture is done well and good for the environment
CONS: Seating can get a little uncomfortable for extended period of time, The smell of a laneway is sometimes not the cleanest
WORTH TRYING: Pork Belly with Chilli Jam, Buffalo Wings, Mocha
DAMAGE: $73.40 for three

Handwritten menus — now that's dedication to doing it on the cheap

Drinks on offer including beers, wine and spirits

Haloumi & Pea Fritters with Tzatziki ($9)

Duck Pancakes with Hoisin Sauce ($12)

Chorizo Hot Pot with cannellini beans, fresh tomato & basil ($12)

A bit of sauce would help to dip the bread in

Buffalo Wings with Blue Cheese Sauce ($10)
WORTH TRYING :-)

Some of the wings had a bit of feather still left on it so hopefully they can be cleaned a bit better next time


Pork Belly with Chilli Jam ($12)
WORTH TRYING :-)

Flat White ($3.50), Mocha ($3.50)

Little plates for a little table makes it feel like a tea party


Seating and repurposed decor

Bar

Furniture offcuts, airline trolleys and railway sleepers repurposed

Crates for shelving


Wooden fruit bowls for lamp shades

Tapas style menu from 12 noon, Monday – Friday

Tips lady

A sign of understanding for the ladies in the unisex toilet

Bill $73.40 for three. Records albums ready to play


End of laneway advertising — although I think it's probably overlooked quite easily




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York Lane on Urbanspoon

10 comments:

Richard Elliot said...

Great review Simon, I think you've really captured the essence of the place.

joey@forkingaroundsydney said...

Ooo, nice find Simon (and Richard), looks good. I wouldn't mind having the buffalo wings and pork belly for lunch one day.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting the prices, I read Richard's post and was concerned about the serving sizes. With the prices they make more sense :)

Ashley said...

Wow, the place looks adorable! Although I can imagine the stools wouldn't be great after a while, it's like that at Josie Bones too in Melbourne unfortunately. The pork belly looks lovely, and in such a manageable size! :)

Simon Leong said...

hi richard, thanks for suggesting to check the place out. a good find.

hi joey, they'd go well with a cold beer too

hi lateraleating, i always try and add the prices of dishes so readers can decide if it's worth it or not.

hi ashley, i could have happily ate all the pork belly by myself :-)

Chanel said...

I walk through York Lane every day as I work just around the corner but I only just noticed this place this morning! Looks great, especially the pork belly.

Simon Leong said...

hi chanel, i've actually never walk down the lane way until Richard mentioned it. hope you get to try it soon :-)

Chanel said...

I ended up getting lunch from there about 10 minutes after I read and commented on this post! We had takeaway - pork belly and duck pancakes. Fantastic!

Simon Leong said...

hi chanel, so glad you enjoyed the pork belly. spread the word :-)

Vishnu B said...

The Place is amazing and the pork belly looks fantastic.

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