Simon Food Favourites: 6/1/12

30 June 2012

South Dowling Sandwiches: Sandwiches & Salads, Darlinghurst (30 June 2012)

377 South Dowling Street, Darlinghurst NSW 2021

Man-sized salads & sandwiches

I've heard about the popular South Dowling Sandwiches for ages and wished it was closer to the city for a weekday lunch. Being open on a saturday allowed me a chance to pop by and try a takeaway Chilli Chicken Salad Box ($11.50 takeaway). All salads come with a feast of lettuce, rocket, roma tomato, green beans, cucumber, red cabbage, potato salad, grilled eggplant, grilled zucchini, mushroom, caramelised carrot, lentils, capsicum, beetroot, balsamic vinegar and olive oil — holy moly that's a lot of ingredients! The chicken was very tasty and quite moist. The salad itself was a decent portion and the balsamic and olive oil dressing worked nicely with the lettuce. I particularly liked the potato salad in the mix. I believe the sandwiches are quite large with thick slices of bread like they do at Big Bite on Pitt so I'll have to return to check out the Chicken Schnitzel.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Generous serving, Reasonably priced menu, Service was efficient and seemed friendly

CONS: Very limited seating and can get a bit crowded inside

MUST TRY: Returning to try other menu items

VERDICT: I can see why they are popular and if they were located closer to my work I'd probably visit them more often myself

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Chilli Chicken Salad Box ($11.50 takeaway)

Menu board — add $1 extra for eat in

Revisted 3 July 2012

Leg Ham Sandwich with honey mustard, herb mayo, cocconcini, romat tomato, lettuce and rocket ($7.50) — nice flavours, fresh ingredients
WORTH TRYING :-)

Leg Ham Sandwich — pretty decent size

Chicken Schnitzel Sandwich with herb Mayo, lettuce and rocket ($7.50) — well flavoured chicken crumbing, crunchy coating and tender chicken meat
WORTH TRYING :-)

Chicken Schnitzel Sandwich — pretty decent size

Spot the caramelised carrot that made it in the sandwich

Would be nice with a bit more mayo perhaps

Service counter

Very limited seating inside — shared by the bags of carrots

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29 June 2012

Naked Wines Australia Media Launch at The Village, Potts Point (28 June 2012)

1 Kellett Way, Potts Point NSW 2011

http://the-village.com.au

Get naked with the little guys

“They called themselves ‘Naked’ because customers get exactly what they see. They strip out the pretentiousness and wine-speak often associated within the wine industry and commit all resources to helping winemakers make great wines.”

Thanks to Daniela Penno from Polkadot PR for inviting me to get 'naked' with a few quaffable wines at the Naked Wines Australia media launch held at The Village. Guests were treated to a small selection of wines from three Australian winemakers which you wouldn't find at your big name liquor stores. Sam Plunkett with The Butterfly Effect label had one of my favourite shiraz's of the night. Very different to what I'd expect from a shiraz in a good way. Not as peppery, a bit lighter on the palate with some interesting flavours. Rebecca and Adrian Santolin had their cute label 'Boy Meets Girl' and Brian Fletcher was the winemaker of Fletcher Wines. After some in depth speeches explaining what the Naked Wines Angels were all about it was back to more wine tastings. Canapes were served and the Prawn with Spiced Gazpacho was very good. Lots of flavour with a decent sized grilled prawn although you needed to use both hands to eat it which meant putting down your glass of wine, but it was worth it. I thought it would work as an oyster shot was well. The meatballs were moist and full of flavour including a noticeable kick of garlic. The Steak Frites canape was interesting with nice flavour although a bit awkward to eat all in one go. The fries had a tendency to get a bit stuck in the eating process. Apparently already hugely popular in the UK Naked Wines will be officially launching in Australia on 1 July to help showcase 20 independent winemakers looking for a break in Australia.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Nice quaffable wines with a couple of standouts for me, Interesting and tasty event canapes, Helping smaller winemakers find a market to showcase their wines

CONS: Hopefully the pricing will be attractive against the big supermarket liquor chains

MUST TRY: Using my $50 voucher to order a case of wines

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