Continental Deli Bar and Bistro, CBD Sydney (31 Oct 2018)

167 Phillip St, Sydney NSW 2000
https://www.continentaldelicatessen.com.au/
https://www.instagram.com/continentaldeli/

Deli eats in the CBD

Three years ago to the date the NSW Leagues’ Club closed its doors in this location where I used to visit the simple bistro. Now stands a great looking bar and restaurant fit out by the popular Continental Deli team from Newtown. The Mar-Tinny ($18) doesn't take much bartender skills to serve this martini out of a can but those big juicy olives are so good and I hope they start to sell them off the shelf like they do in Newtown. Gilda - anchovy, olive & guindilla ($3.50 each) is a tasty bite sized appetiser done right. I go with the bartender's recommendation of the 'Mortdella' sandwich ($16). The addition of the tasty green chilli paste works well — a bit more please. A good side of crisp gaufrette potatoes is welcomed which you'll also find in their steak tartare. At first sight I was thinking this sandwich would slant too heavy on the bread but thankfully it was very soft and matched well with the generous amount of mortadella. It's a simple eat but a good one and quite filling so you could potentially cut in half and share along with another dish. Would I have again, maybe, but I'm now curious about the Salami & Cheese sandwich. A large tasty pickle on the side wouldn't go astray as well or sliced up inside. For those who love their International wines there seems to be plenty of choice on the menu.

Everything Malaysia, Darlinghurst (6 Nov 2018)

129 Oxford St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010

A bit of everything buffet

When I read 'Everything Malaysia' I immediately think of all the classics like satay, char kway teow, laksa, chicken rice, har mee, assam laksa, ayam goreng, hor fun and beef rendang which I love to order. But upon arrival to this simple eatery there's a selection of 12 bain-marie options, 6 of which are vegetarian/vegan. They do have a beef rendang although with bones and I didn't try. The tempura crab uses the fake crab sticks. I also didn't try the sweet chilli fish. The lamb curry had nice flavour although was mostly bone and rubbery cartilage which unfortunately made it pretty inedible. Chicken curry at least had some meat but very boney as well. In the end I actually preferred the vegetarian options with the flavoursome spicy eggplant being my favourite along with the vegetarian curry to enjoy with the rice. $8.80 will get you a one plate with the lot, and $10.80 for an all you can eat option which is pretty reasonable for a feed although keep in mind the choices are limited and they seem to be using the cheaper cuts for the meat so expect lots of bones to contend with. It's early days and there's some bain-marie spots which aren't being used so I'm hoping they'll extend the daily menu to some fried chicken ayam goreng and a noodle dish like char kway teow. On the self serve table of sauces there was some fresh sambal belacan for those who want to give their dish some extra authentic flavour. Service was friendly although with only one person serving at the time did make the process a little slow.