Been Art & About?

As soon as the weather warms up, festivals in Sydney get cranking up - it's a great time of year and I love it. Art & About is one of the smaller events - with my favourite Sydney Life photos in Hyde Park - but with sights like the below, it's hard to ignore.

Queen Victoria statue, Queen Victoria Building, Sydney CBD

So everyone's getting a makeover as the warmer weather comes in. I suppose Queen Victoria wants to look good for festival season too. I noticed her and her striking outfit one evening on the way to the George Street cinemas to see Tomorrow When The War Began, a movie adapted from a book I'd read about 13 years ago. Time seriously flies.

Pork katsudon from Ton Ton, Regent Place, George Street, Sydney

Speaking of time, a 7pm movie after work doesn't give you all that much time to dither over menus and delicately chew food. A fall-back option that's not American chain fast food is Ton Ton, a few doors up from the cinema in Regent Place.

Choosing from the menu, paying, taking my number and a seat, and then having food and cutlery delivered to me probably took less than 10 minutes. Veering away from ramen soup this particular warm night, I opted for pork katsudon featuring a crumbed and fried pork cutlet on a bowl of rice with onions and egg.

The pork was pleasantly lean with only the tiniest bit of fat on the edges; although it wasn't straight-out-of-the-oil crunchy. The accompanying soy based sauce flavoured the rice nicely while the pickled ginger and daikon garnishes were greatly appreciated for flavour contrasts.

Mabo ramen

But others stick to the favourites - the mabo tofu mixture consisting of silky tofu cubes in a spicy pork mine sauce; however, on this occasion the flavours were somewhat watered down compared to previous occasions. Still, the al dente ramen noodles were contentedly slurped up, as was every last drop of soup.

As for the movie, probably more of a teen flick, especially for those studying the book. I don't like movies that blatantly leave ends open for sequels, and for this reason, and others, probably won't be queueing up for the inevitable next film. Kudos to all the young Australian actors and Aussie music in the film though - all of a sudden I feel like getting out and about, road tripping and camping.

And by the way, Crave Sydney International Food Festival officially starts today - with the festival highlight of Rene Redzepi from S.Pellegrino's World's Best Restaurant, Noma, speaking at the Opera House tonight. Get those lunches and brunches, Sugar Hits, cocktails, talks and more into your diary - plan your month (and month's budget) here.