Hartsyard - Newtown

Hartsyard is a place I've wanted to visit for AGES but for fear of long lines and waits, I had held off. I had seen lots of yummy photos from this place so anticipation was high. Their menu consists of "seed" (entree sized) and "feed" (main sized) all meant for sharing. For the four of us, the waitress recommended 2 seeds and 3 feeds.

The Oyster Po' Boy was recommended to us by our waitress. Crunchy deep fried oysters with mayo and coleslaw enveloped between two English muffin buns. Sliders in size, it was tasty but definitely not worth it's price tag ($24 for two). For $12 a pop, I can think of many many tasty burgers from elsewheres.

We also got their smoked trout from their 'seed' (entree size) menu. The trout was perfectly cooked with a subtle hint of smokiness. Loved the mix of cauliflower, carrot, pickled mix. Also really enjoyed the crispy fish skin. The 'everything bagel' was my favourite type of bagel in NYC and these everything bagel crisps were likewise quite tasty. I thought that the dish worked and was pretty awesome.

Hubby and I like the 'smokiness' of food. One of our friends did not and so I think his enjoyment of the meal went downhill from here. The sweet potato came as pretty as a picture. Really soft and sweetly glazed with smoked honey, and topped with hazelnuts, goats curd and bbq mushrooms, it was a delight to see. I'm not a huge fan of sweet potato, but hubby and our other friend seemed to approve.

The smokiness continued on into our pulled pork. I quite liked it. It was soft and tender. Some people would say mush? The really thick slice of maple bacon was also pretty good. And who can say no to crackling? It was served with some fresh green apple and yoghurt.

Hartsyard is also famous for their fried chicken - so we knew we had to order it. It was a good 4 pieces of chicken. Crunchy outside and juicy meat. Served with a buttermilk biscuit (damper like thing) that none of us really appreciated, and gravy. What can I say? It was good but not $33 worth of good? We can get pretty damn amazing Korean fried chicken for that price!

Last but not least - dessert. We knew that we had to get their famous soft serve however reluctant we were to pay $12 for a soft serve. It better be bloody amazing! As I don't actually even remember the flavour of the soft serve... cinnamon? with a choc doughnut on the side? ... I don't know... you can probably ascertain how much we enjoyed and savoured it....

All up, the food was OK but I was quite disappointed with the experience. This is American bar food cooked reasonably but with a close to fine dining type price tag. Not cool.

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 6.5/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 5/10
Overall - 25.5/40

Hartsyard 
33 Enmore Road
Newtown, NSW 2042
Tel: (02) 8068 1473

Vic's Meats - Pyrmont

I've been meaning to check out Vic's meats at the Sydney Fish Markets for a while, but it's been a bit of a struggle trying to convince hubby to go to the fish market and not focus on prawns and sashimi and seafood platters.

Vic's meats is located kind of at the carpark of the Fish Markets. It's got a small ish but good-quality butcher attached to a smokery where you can grab a quick bite - pulled pork sandwich, brisket, cheeseburger, wings, lamb cutlets, pork ribs or beef short ribs. So in short, just a meat fest. There's also a section here where you can get super premium cuts of wagyu cooked teppanyaki style - a tad pricey though...

With our memories of how awesome smokey meats were in America, we were a bit dubious as to whether this could be replicated in Sydney. All the meats were smoked on site in this industrial, mean-looking smoker on the back side of the store. I ordered the pulled pork "sandwich" and hubby got an open beef brisket sandwich (which really just means that you get the meat and slaw separate from the bread. It was all put together really quite sloppily, but thankfully, it was quite tasty.

Hubby's beef brisket wasn't quite as tender or as smokey as the ones in America, but it was quite enjoyable nonetheless. The bbq sauce was really tasty, as was his slaw. I believe my pulled pork sandwich was tastier. The pulled pork was super juicy and succulent and packed full of flavour (with help of the smokey, slightly sweet sauce). The whole thing fell apart easily and the mustard pickle slaw went a bit everywhere but I enjoyed it thoroughly. Quite a tasty little bite :) If only I had some hot chips to go with it all, it would be perfect~

I think that Vic's meats is worth a try. Even if you're not super full after the bite, you can just duck next door and fill yourself up with prawns and lobsters and what not. Win win situation really.

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 6.5/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 29/40

Vic's Meats
Sydney Fish Markets
50-60 Bank Street
Pyrmont, NSW 2009
Tel: (02) 8570 8570