Sean's Panorama: an elegant and cosy restaurant that's one of Bondi's best

Nestled into a small space between Aqua Bar and a red brick apartment block is Sean's Panorama. It's a restaurant best saved for special occasions: significant birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and other celebrations.  Or you could - like us - just go because you feel like treating yourself.

The idea was to go for Easter Sunday as a reward for staying in town rather than succumbing to the temptation of a long weekend away, but it was closed so we took the next available booking, which was the following Sunday.

A long lunch on a Sunday is one of the joys of life so we made it for 1pm. The restaurant is small'ish, but every seat gets an ocean view thanks to a mirror reflecting Bondi Beach for those tables facing the wall. There are sea-themed paintings on the walls, making it feel like a beach cottage, white tablecloths and vases filled with rather old-fashioned red, yellow and pink roses like my mother used to grow. There's a mix of families, couples and a small group of friends celebrating a birthday party complete with their own balloons.

Sean's Panorama has been a Bondi stalwart for years, serving consistently good food and staying true to its offering as restaurant fads come and go and restaurants change owners and cuisines. I first went about ten years ago and the meal was as memorable then as it was this time around.

The chef is Sean Moran, who has a farm in the Blue Mountains where he grows a lot of the ingredients that end up on our plates. He's Australia's answer to Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in San Francisco with his belief in the paddock-to-the-plate philosophy.

I've always thought that he's got a pretty good set up, a country estate in the mountains and a place by the sea in the city. And the Blue Mountains happens to be Bondi Curmudgeon's favourite place (maybe because it is so far from Bondi).

We order of bottle of Arneis, most of the wine list is Australian or you can bring your own bottle for a $20 corkage fee. The menu is written on a blackboard daily. I was going to have a main and a dessert but choke on my decision and order the squid ink calamari as an entree instead. It's the most tender calamari I've ever had but it's very rich in flavour so I'd recommend choosing two entrees and sharing it. I would have shared with Curmudgeon but his prawn chowder is gone before I can say, 'do you want to share?'

For the main I have roast chicken, and if I could make roast chicken like this at home I would bring back Sunday roasts.  Cooked in sage and butter to a golden brown, the skin is fried to a heavenly crispiness while the chicken inside remains moist and tender. Curmudgeon had roast beef and Borlotti beans and proclaimed it delicious.

 Unlike many restaurants where you have to order the sides and vegetables separately our meals come with a big bowl of roast potatoes and autumn vegetables: beans, turnips and squash. I would have loved to try the dessert menu, but I was too stuffed to fit in a single morsel of the famous noughart so we called it an afternoon and walked back to Rose Bay.

Three Blue Ducks in Bronte: a foodies' paradise

OK, it is in Bronte, but that’s only a couple of suburbs over from Bondi, so after reading this review in the Sydney Morning Herald of Three Blue Ducks by Terry Durack I jumped online to book. 

Three Blue Ducks first gained a reputation for its breakfast menu and was awarded the Best Breakfast in Sydney in the Good Café Guide. Late last year is started opening for dinner Thursday-Saturday and this is where it gets tricky to get a look-in. The first available booking was three weeks out and we had to be there at kiddies’ hour of 6:15, and out by the time the adults arrived at 8.30pm to take their seats at the big table.

I took it. Lucky I did, as it was the only table available for another month. 

Now, in case you think I’m a slavish follower of restaurant reviews, the clincher in Durack’s review was thus: “I might as well say it up front: for three nights a week, you can eat as well in this cool little cafe as anywhere in Sydney. For $17 a course, for food cooked by former chefs from Tetsuya's. I think I now have your attention.”

He certainly had my attention. The café is on the main drag on Macpherson Street, a short stroll to the beach so no views (except of the main road and the bus stop sign). It looks like a rather funky café rather than a bastion of fine dining and this is part of the appeal:  murals line the walls, the tables are wooden, the waiters are dressed in shorts and t’shirts. 

This could be because the founders are local surfers, Sam and Chris. It was while he was running a hostel for surfers in Morocco that Chris met Mark, who had trained at Tetsuya’s and they decided to come home and start a business together.

The produce is sourced from local suppliers from in and around Sydney where possible, to help reduce the impact of transport. And organic produce is preferred: the bread comes from Iggy’s, which is four doors down the street. 

There are 15 dishes to choose from, each dish costing $17. The menu starts with oysters and ends with cheese and crackers.

oysters

kingfish ceviche

calamari and smoked corn

pot of pork and pickled veg

lobster and soft polenta

mushrooms and grains

mussels, clams and beach spinach

egg, blood cake, apples and beets

mackeral, tomato and eggplant

carrots, pumpkin and nettles

pressed pork shoulder

beef, burnt onion and mustard seeds

strawberries, sea salt meringue and passionfruit

chocolate and fennel

cheese and crackers

We chose seven dishes, which came out two at a time, with the exception of the egg, blood cake, apples and beets, which Bondi Curmudgeon had for his dessert. We started with the calamari and the pot of pork with pickled vegetables, which came out as a terrine on soft, crusty bread.

The mussels, clams and beach spinach make no mention of the amazing coconut sprinkled on top and the coconut sauce – this was the standout dish for me. Apparently it is a family recipe handed down and adapted. The mushrooms and grains and the mackerel, tomato and eggplant rounded out the meal. This with a bottle of wine, a glass of dessert wine (and maybe a couple more glasses of wine) took the bill to $200.

Quite a lot for a café, but reasonable for what we had and we left raving about the flavours, the freshness of the food and the subtle experimentation.

It’s definitely worth getting in line but and waiting your turn. 

Bondi Curmudgeon's review of the Rum Diaries

I was really excited about going to the Rum Diaries on Bondi Road tonight and I was even going to write a review.

However, Bondi Curmudgeon changed our plans at the last minute and said since we've been there hundreds of times, he would write the review.

And here it is: 

Rum Diaries Review

The Rum Diaries is a great place to drink many different types of rum, have a hearty stew and generally pretend you’re a pirate.

The Rum Diaries is not a great place if you need to answer your phone because you’ve locked your husband out of the house and he can’t find you.

.
The End.

From Bondi to Broadbeach with a side trip to Bazaar at QT in Surfers

A few hours after seeing in the bonny New Year, we flew to the Gold Coast for a four day mini-break at Broadbeach (978 km from Bondi Pavilion). “Why aren’t you going to Byron Bay?” asked a friend from the UK. “Schoolies Week is over,” quipped another friend.

Don’t they know the Gold Coast is the hot new destination? Besides, there were a group of us going, and they have kids, which provided a good excuse to go to Wet ‘n’ Wild. And thanks to our trusty Accor card, we got a free night at the Sofitel Broadbeach with an upgrade and 50% off our meals! What’s not to like about that?

The Sofitel was in walking distance to the beach, surf clubs, restaurants and bars of Broadbeach and the beds were so comfortable it was like sleeping on clouds, making it the perfect place to wind down after the hectic lead up to Christmas. On our first afternoon we headed to the very chilled-out Kurrawa Surf Club, which has beautiful views overlooking the beach and were entertained by a local singer who played four of my favourite songs in the first set. The biggest surprise was that Curmudgeon got into the spirit of the place so much that he even changed out of his summer uniform of jeans and long shirt for shorts and t’shirt and agreed to walk on the beach.

News that the restaurant, Bazaar, at the revamped Gold Coast QT in Surfers, had upped the ante on the local dining scene had travelled from Broadbeach to Bondi and I was keen to try it out. So, on Tuesday, while I was busy testing my boundaries at Wet n’ Wild, taking guidance from a 12-year-old on what rides were too scary (the Black Hole is awesome!!) and dodging the kids in the wave pool, Bondi Curmudgeon managed to get us the very last booking they were taking. It was our fifth wedding anniversary so we needed a special destination for ourselves and two friends.

Curmudgeon made us get there half an hour early (at 6pm) to show them we were serious and this is when we met Sam the bartender, who looked after us all night, first at the bar and then at our table. Our cocktails were made to order depending on the flavours we prefer: throughout the night I had a mango Bellini with sorbet, a Cosmopolitan with a twist, and passionate Mojitos. At one stage I noticed Bondi Curmudgeon drinking a glass of ginger flavoured rum with a chaser of Absinthe. When I warned Sam that it would send him crazy, I was assured the evil green stuff was well-diluted.

Although Bazaar is strictly speaking a hotel buffet, it’s not exactly your standard buffet offering, but more like a gourmet extravaganza. Apparently they were going to offer a la carte as well, but the buffet proved such a hit they kept it. At $65 per person (or $21 for kids under 12), it was great value and easy to see why the place was buzzing with every seat taken. Modeled on the traditional marketplaces of Asia, the cooking action is all out in the open and the food is part of the décor with a mix of ready-made meals interspersed with cooking stations where chefs cooks to order. There’s a cool room with hams, salamis, garlic and sun dried tomatoes dangling from the ceiling, glass doored refrigerators, bowls of pumpkins and an Asian wok station dishing up fresh stir frys. Click here for a gallery of images.

Executive chef is American George Francisco, who headed to Australia after marrying an Australian girl. He started out in Sydney, opening Wildfire at Circular Quay, Dish on the Northern Beaches, The Chelsea Tea House before becoming head chef at Jonah’s at Whale Beach. (His favourite Sydney cheap eats is Pompeii’s pizza in Bondi, so he’s clearly got good taste.)

He believes in fresh seasonal ingredients sourced locally and creates the menu each day around the available produce. Some of the things I ate included fresh seafood – crab, mussels, scallops, prawns – a mix of stir frys, figs with Persian feta, lamb ribs on creamy mashed potato, pieces of prosciutto and cheese, a mix of salads. Other dishes that made their way to our table: oysters, pork belly, rabbit, osso bucco and soft shell crab.

Luckily, most of the desserts are bite-sized, from white chocolate and cranberry macaroons to Francisco’s signature Vanilla Panna Cotta of fresh pomegranate and lavender honey and chocolate covered strawberries.

We left after four hours full and happy. From the design of the hotel, to the quality of the food and the exceptional service, it’s worth flying to the Gold Coast just to eat here again.

Bondi is sejuiced by The Bucket List

The weather was so crap during most of December I barely made it to Bondi all month. So, when the sun finally came out on December 30, I convinced Bondi Curmudgeon to go to the Trat for lunch before the sky swallowed the sun again.

We were working our way through tapas – chorizo, meatballs, and a salad of figs, prosciutto and Buffalo milk mozzarella  – when we got the call for an impromptu afternoon drink with a group of Bondi’ites (half of whom now live in Rose Bay) to celebrate pre-New Year’s Eve before Snoop Dogg took over the beach. 

We were to meet at 4pm a pop-up bar called The Bucket List, which had replaced Nick’s Seafood. With a few hours to kill, I headed to the Icebergs to do laps and Bondi Curmudgeon headed home to drop off the car and sit in a dark room for a while.

Last time I was at Nick’s they’d mentioned it had been quiet, but I didn’t realise it had been so quiet they were on the verge of packing it in after what must have been a ten year run.  (I googled Nick’s Bondi for an explanation, but as far as the Internet is concerned it still exists and is a good place for a wedding.)

The Bucket List opened just before Christmas after well-known local, Andy Ruwald, founder of the neighbouring juice bar, Sejuiced, took over the lease. Advertised as a ‘pop-up bar’, Andy originally wanted to call it ‘The Pavilion’ but thinks he’ll keep ‘The Bucket List’. It makes sense considering the bar looks like it has become an instant hit. Dressed in a pink striped shirt and oversized sunnies, he was manning the floor, greeting half the people who came in the door by name, and trying to keep everyone happy. 

We managed to get a prime position outside and asked him a few questions. The first was why we had to stay seated, despite the risk of splinters from the wooden crates that doubled as seats. Licensing laws, apparently. Why The Bucket List? Well, most of the food including the prawns and oysters, and some of the drinks are served in cute yellow buckets. 

The drinks err on the expensive ($120 for a bottle of the cheapest champagne at a time when French champagne is selling like hotcakes for $50 in most bottle shops), which could explain the popularity of the bucket of four Asian beers selling for $20. They were served in ice to make them cold as the demand was so high it almost went from a pop-up bar to the pub with no beer.

If the décor looks temporary that's because it is. Wooden crates, ink drawings on walls, buckets hanging from the ceiling, and French-style deck chairs, will be replaced with the furniture that has been made to order but wasn't ready in time for the holiday rush. They’ll even be palm trees. 

While Nick’s often drew the tourist crowd, the Bucket List has been well and truly embraced by the locals. On the night we were there Bondi royalty included Sneaky Sound System’s Angus McDonald and Channel Nine’s David Gyngell. 

There’s something about The Bucket List that makes it seem like it has always been there. Or maybe it was a case of Bondi had been desperately waiting for someone like Andy to take over the space, and turn it into a funky bar with summer tunes. It reminds me of Potato Head in Bali (without the pool) but don’t ask me to explain why.

It’s in a prime position smack bang in the middle of the beach, which means it can get both the die-hard South Bondi and North Bondi crowds without all the usual posturing that ‘my end of Bondi is better/bigger/more glamorous than your end’. 

Now we can meet in the middle and all have a good time for the rest of summer. Or at least until the furniture and the 'attitude' arrives.


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Sculpture by the Sea 2011

Sculpture by the Sea is on again, that time of year when about 500,000 people descend on the cliff walk between Bondi and Bronte to view the artworks. It's one of the biggest outdoor art exhibitions in the world and I love seeing how the sculptures transform the environment. Some of the artworks blend in so well that you have to do a double-take as it feels like they have always been there. Highlights of this year's event include sea slugs, a gigantic set of taps, a smiling skeleton perching on a ladder and when you need a break halfway through there's even a set of lounge chairs made out of hessian sandbags.

If you get a chance, go check them out - even better if you can go through the week or at sunset or sunrise. They are on from November 3-20 and the endless weekend crowds can test even the most dedicated Bondiphiles, but it's nothing that can't be soothed by the glimpse of the ocean through the artworks. When you're done, you can always drop into the Bondi Icebergs Dining Room and Bar and down a soothing champagne bellini while you feel smug about how cultured you are.

Off The Beaten Track: Chasing the Waves in Portugal’s Tipi Valley

OK, Portugal is a long way from Bondi Beach, but this week's post comes courtesy of a guest post I wrote for the delightful travel blog, Novel Adventures, which is all about travel, food, and books, which are of course, some of my favourite things. Yes, that is me, and as you can see from the look on my face and my elegant form, I'm clearly only a few weeks away from becoming a professional surfer!

“Look upstairs and paddle,” instructs one of the ridiculously good-looking Portuguese surf instructors, both of whom are named Ricardo. I paddle furiously, and I’m up on my bright blue foam board, arms stretched out in the warrior pose before falling headfirst into the whitewash.

I lived across the road from Bondi Beach for over a decade but it took a trip to Portugal to get me on a surfboard for the first time. When I first booked into the Algarve Surf & Yoga Retreat – better known as Tipi Valley – in the Western Algarve, the southern most region of Portugal, at the bequest of my friend Selina, a keen surfer from the UK, I was more interested in the yoga. I agreed to give surfing a go, since it was part of the package, and had so much fun that I wish I’d tried it years earlier.

The ecologically sustainable company was started by Australian surfer/sailing instructor, Laurie Quirk and built with the help of WWOOFers (Willing Workers on Organic Farms). It’s in a stunning valley on the Costa Vicentina Natural Park, the largest protected natural park in Europe, which has 74,000 hectares of rolling hills, cliffs, rocky coves and beaches.

While the Algarve has a reputation for being overrun by tourists, the fact that we are a one-hour drive from the nearest international airport, Faro, and the lack of five-star resorts means the area retains its charm. We share the beach, which is framed by volcanic cliffs, with a handful of Portuguese and Spanish families.

There is a Tipi onsite. Built from 12-foot eucalyptus poles cut from the property, it sleeps six, has a floating wooden floor and is furnished with single beds, rugs, a lounge, and Moroccan lamps. Selina and I are in the breakaway tent, which has twin beds with pink chenille bedspreads, and mosquito nets. The camp sleeps a maximum of 10 with a smaller Tipi and two canvass tents.

There are seven other guests who have come from Ireland, the UK, Portugal, and the United States. We do an hour and a half of yoga each morning before breakfast and then head to the beach for the surf lessons. Our yoga teacher is Cherie, who teaches aKundalini-based Hatha yoga.

The surfing lessons are outsourced to the Odeceixe Surf School (pronounced O-de-shaish), which is run by David who has lived in the area all of his life. Since both our instructors are called Ricardo, David tells us we can call one Ricardo uno (one) and the other Ricardo dos (two). The first is a former body-boarding champion for Portugal and the second is a lifeguard and volunteer fireman.

A couple of hours in the surf has us feeling ravenous. Lunch is at a café overlooking the beach where we have fresh seafood, Portuguese custard tarts (pastel de natas) and glasses of Vinho Verde, a sparkling green wine native to Portugal.

Dinner is delicious meals prepared from organic vegetables grown on the property but after a few nights in, we organise a group outing in nearby Aljezur with Laurie, David, and Ricardo uno. Pont’A Pe is a charming restaurant by the river with blue-chequered tablecloths.

We tell Milton, the restaurant manager and our waiter for the night, that we want a typical Portuguese meal and he serves up a feast: clams steamed in garlic, fresh sardines, barnacles, roasted chicken in piri-piri sauce, sweet potato, sea bass I was asked to pick from the restaurant’s aquarium. Mussels in garlic and white wine sauce, and carne de porco à alentejana, a Portuguese twist on surf and turf – fried pork, potatoes and clams. For dessert Milton brings out a tray of pastries and crème caramel and shots of Medronho, which is also known as Portuguese firewater.

After dinner we visit a 10^th century Moorish castle, now in ruins, climbing the steep cobblestone path by the light of the full moon to admire the sleeping village of Aljezur with its whitewashed houses and red tiled roofs.

Another memorable meal is our farewell dinner. In Australia, BYO – or bring your own – usually refers to a bottle of wine, but David brings his own barnacles to the Taberna do Gabio in Odeceixe. We have creamy sheep’s cheese, anchovy paste, olives, fresh bread, and carne de porco à alentejana. Barnacles are not my favourite Portuguese delicacy – they kind of taste like a chewy squid – but considering David got up at dawn to scrape them from rocky cliffs washed by treacherous waves, I eat as many as I can.

At the end of the meal, Selina and I have a final glass of Portuguese firewater, and promise to return to this beautiful part of Portugal with its delicious food, gorgeous beaches, and warm and hospitable people, as soon as we can.

Photos courtesy of by Cherie Bousfield