Good times collective #7

I like autumn in Sydney but it's a reminder that winter is coming and that more than one-third of the year has gone already - where to, I'm not sure. Bars and ice cream parlours, it seems.

A la Mode cocktail at Felix Bar, Ash Street, Sydney
(Disclosure: Food, booze and shoes is acquainted with staff at Felix)

There's always time for a well-made cocktail, even if I'm not quite sure what's in it - because when it comes to drinking, it's all about broadening experiences and learning.

Felix is one of my favourite bar perches in the CBD; pre or post dinner or just for an after-work de-stressing beverage. This over-the-top dessert cocktail at Felix may well have been a special with its sweet, creamy foam and a hint of blowtorched caramelisation.

Sweet potato chips at The White Hart, Grosvenor Street, Neutral Bay

I have much love for sweet potato chips, and the ones at The White Hart in Neutral Bay are pretty special; each with lots of rough, crunchy bits but incredibly soft and fluffy on the inside.

I love how they're served, piled high in a wooden vessel alongside aioli which was barely necessary as the chips were such tasty texture sensation.

Black pudding and caramelised apple at The White Hart

Sadly, I'm not one for black pudding - even if it was fancily plated with roasted apples and bacon flags on black slate.

"The White Hart" wagyu burger, British cut bacon roasted tomato, crispy onion ring,
beetroot relish, cheese and lettuce, chips at The White Hart

The White Hart's burger is more my thing, served with thick cut chips on a board. The juicy wagyu beef pattie and melted cheese were the highlights while the pretty standard white burger bun was possibly holding it back from greatness.

Gowings Bar, Market Street, Sydney

The new, boutique QT Hotel made quite the splash when it opened in the historic Gowings Building last year. While I'll probably never be staying in the creative, designer rooms, the lobby and restaurant fitouts alone have me impressed.

There's an interesting dynamic at Gowings Bar, being a hotel bar of course, but also catering to the large restaurant in the same space.

Bringing back the Vol-Au-Vent: filled with gravlax of house made ocean trout tartare,
Sterling caviar, quail eggs from Gowings Bar

While I'm familiar with vol-au-vents - the iconic1970s hors d'oeuvres - I don't think I'd ever had one prior to the ones at Gowings Bar.

But I can see their party and finger food appeal: exceptionally flaky puff pastry cases filled with delicately cured ocean trout, boiled quail egg halves and caviar - I don't know why they ever went out of fashion.

Butter milk fried free range chicken wing tulips from Gowings Bar

I find fried chicken wings an absolutely irresistible bar snack and the basket of butter milk fried wings were spot-hitting.

While slightly lacking in seasoning and crunch, it's pretty hard to go wrong when you deep fry my favourite cut of chicken.

Ice cream sundae at Window's Coffee, Bankstown

While it is getting noticeably cooler, there's space in most stomachs and hearts for a bit of ice cream any time. A new discovery on a Bankstown corner was Window's Coffee - a Vietnamese café with tacky decorations, loud pop music on screen and an extensive ice cream selection.

Large, multi-scoop options are served in tall oversized cocktail glasses with red syrup and paper umbrellas that verged on tackiness overload - but which also seemed to work for the venue overall.

So, back to it - more bars and ice cream this autumn and winter.

The White Hart High Tea: Cocktails with a twist

Traditional English high tea isn't quite my cup of tea - I mostly blame my prior experiences with stodgy scones. But when The White Hart in Neutral Bay - renowned for fun, novelty cocktails - invited me to their weekends-only "Smokin Speakeasy Iced Tea", hinting that it was high tea but not as I knew it, I was intrigued and arrived thirsty.

Twisted High Tea at The White Hart, Grosvenor Street, Neutral Bay

The alluring offering sat pretty on three tiers and looked the part of high tea. But the fact that every morsel and drink required a detailed explanation proved that it was certainly high tea with a twist.

Every component on the three tiers, some very unusual and innovative, was alcoholic; most a classic cocktail or drink in a new, deconstructed and edible form. It was recommended that we start from the top tier and work our way down to the sweeter cocktail treats.

Long Island Iced Tea - served with dry ice

We started first with a cup of tea: Long Island Iced Tea chilled with smoking dry ice, that is. Served separately in a dated, non-matching tea set, the sweet cocktail was more ladylike than lethal.

Martini jelly

To the top tier I couldn't resist the classic martini, made as a clear jelly with a green olive submerged within. Getting through the foam, there was a noticeable kick to the jelly with the martini definitely on the dirty side.

Vodka and tonic jelly (left) and white peach bellini

Prettily pink, the other slender shot glass held a white peach bellini topped with sparkling wine and "peach air" that was impressively true to taste.

The top tier also featured two clear jelly squares: a gin and tonic jelly (with the British flag) and a vodka and tonic jelly (with the US flag) - both of a delightfully wobbly texture and true flavours.

Deconstructed Mojito

Things ramped up on the second tier with a syringe appearing as part of a deconstructed mojito. Filled with white rum and sparkling water, the idea is to squirt liquid onto the spoon with the teal green mint jelly and taste as one mouthful.

The only trouble was that the mint jelly tasted more like toothpaste mintiness and I then inhaled a spoonful of what tasted like straight rum. Hello!

Shandy (back, left) and deconstructed Bloody Mary (front)

I've always liked shandy - that slightly daggy but refreshing mixed drink of beer and lemonade. This version of beer with a lemonade foam was probably more suitable as a drink on the top tier rather than second given the bitterness of the beer.

We were most impressed with the deconstructed Bloody Mary, comprising a piece of cucumber; a vodka jelly with tomato and Bloody Mary spicing; and wasabi foam. Consumed as a savoury mouthful, it was an ingenious eye-opener and the closest it got to the real thing.

Long Island Iced Tea marshmallows

We ended with the sweeter stuff: dreamy Long Island Iced Tea marshmallows, melting Clover Club and Piña Colada sorbets, an espresso foam (presumably of the martini variety) and The White Hart's signature pot of edible chocolate soil with absinthe jelly snakes.

Apart from the resultant sugar high, I'm not too sure of the total alcoholic content of the high tea, especially with the Long Island Iced Tea - so do check with The White Hart if you're driving and definitely come with your sense of novelty and adventure on hand.

The White Hart is serving its "Smokin Speakeasy Iced Tea" for $55 every Saturday and Sunday from 2-6pm. Bookings essential.

Food, booze and shoes sampled the "Smokin Speakeasy Iced Tea" as a guest of The White Hart.

The White Hart: Drinks with a side of novelty

While I've been kind of oblivious living life south of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, parts of the north (that is, anything over the Bridge) have been blossoming with restaurants and bars that are actually worth the road toll over.

Neutral Bay is definitely a suburb on the rise, which is where I found myself one early evening at The White Hart; a British styled drinking house which was surprisingly busy for an early-in-the-week weeknight.

Summer Garden Martini at The White Hart, Grosvenor Street, Neutral Bay

I really just wanted a drink but I was convinced to have one of the more experiential cocktails that had just launched on the menu. The Summer Garden Martini incorporated a cocktail, both olfactory and auditory aspects, and a bit of hands-on gardening.

The props were admittedly adorable: the tiny shovel, rake, pot plant and dry ice filled watering can. I was to distribute the dry ice around my astroturf grass while regularly spritzing with a grass-scented spray as I drank. Post drink, there was an iPod tune to listen to, to really get into the whole summer garden scene.

Martini from the summer garden

There were still a few refinements to be made to the cocktail setup, including that of making sure the coupe-glassed cocktail could remain steadily upright on the astroturfed serving board.

The featured martini was essentially the UK Martini on the normal menu: Plymouth gin, fresh cucumber, elderflower cordial and apple juice - far from classic but very easy to drink. While spritzing grass frangrance, of course.

Absinthe snakes in edible soil

During or after the martini, there was also the matter of gardening to attend to with my miniature equipment. Amid the completely edible soil (of chocolate and several other elements) were "snakes" of sweet absinthe jellies which would be cut up for consumption with the shovel.

The rake came in very handy for afterwards, cleaning out the "soil" from the strands of grass. There was something a little zen garden about it all, as well as childhood playtime and ridiculous novelty, recommended only for those that have a good relationship with the playful child within.

Popcorn with parmesan salt

The White Hart is also on the free popcorn bandwagon with tiny bowls of pre-popped stuff served with a paremsan cheese salt. With a popcorn fiend like me around, the small bowls really don't cut it and we ended up with several refills.

Peppered smoked daiquiri

A little closer to mixologist Grant Collins' work at Zeta Bar was the 'Smoked, Washed & Baked' section of the menu. The Peppered Smoked Daiquiri was a picture of elegance with the grilled, caramelised lime wedge adding some character.

House cedar-smoked rum was the featured booze, shaken with peppercorn syrup and citrus for a very innovative take on the classic daiquiri. The spicy overtones of pepper might be a bit much for some, but I found this cocktail delighful.

Flagon O'mead

A few bowls of popcorn and some gardening had given me the courage to try The White Hart's mead; an in-house created honey wine, served almost Viking-style in a wooden tankard. One sniff should turn off lightweight drinkers as the alcoholic smell is anything but subtle.

There was definitely a noticeable honey flavour beneath the slightly citrusy alcoholic kick, although I probably wouldn't order it again. The trouble was that served in a beer stein-like vessel, I found I was drinking it more like an ale rather than the wine it was.

White Hart Bloody Mary

The British theme continued with the Bloody Mary cocktail involving Belvedere vodka, a dash of port, hot English mustard within the Bloody Mary mix and a Guinness emulsion that darkened the bottom of the glass. It was unlike any other Bloody Mary I've tasted before, mostly in a weird way.

Truffle arancini

There's nothing like a few drinks to get the deep-fried food cravings going, so we picked a few nibbles from the bar snack menu, which I believe Italian chef Danny Russo consults on. The golden panko-crumbed aranicini balls looked the goods, but were let down by dry, cheesy innards scented with truffle oil.

Sweet potato chips with aioli

Much better were the sweet potato chips which were the crunchiest rendition I've ever come across, helped by what looks like a light batter or flour coating. These crunchy surfaced chips retained their soft, sweet innards and were as well matched with aioli as their potato cousins.

While there is the option of proper meals in The White Hart restaurant, we took our leave before the mead kicked in too much and threatened drinkers with falling off the bar stools.

As a drinking hole for the locals, I can definitely see the appeal of The White Hart while for Bridge-crossers, the rather unique novelty of some of the drinks is well worth the Bridge toll at least once.