Polo in the City featuring Kirin Lounge and a zebra

A 'zebra' at Paspaley Polo in the City, 16 November 2013, Centennial Park, Sydney

I had to look three times. There was a zebra prancing around the middle of a polo field in Sydney's Centennial Park.

It seemed about the same size as the polo horses and galloped about the same way, but those black and white stripes were strikingly unmissable (it was actually a pony painted in stripes by The Classic Safari Company).

Kirin Lounge at Polo in the City

I was at the Paspaley Polo in the City event in Sydney - my very first polo match - thanks to the Kirin Lounge.

As part of this year's annual event, the cloud-threatened day in Sydney featured the Kirin Lounge - an area for the general public - in addition to corporate and VIP sponsor marquees; another step in making the sport of media tycoons more accessible and approachable.

While the day's weather forecast wreaked havoc with planned wardrobes, the dress style was a leisurely, understated, ultra-classy smart-casual with footwear appropriate for grass, and soggy grass at that.

Polo match in play

Admittedly, the game of polo takes a bit of getting one's head around, with horses thundering towards a small ball flying up and down the field, with mallets whacking it into the air - hopefully between two posts.

And like the races, there were inordinate amounts of time spent drinking, socialising and posing for photos, and somewhat less time spent on watching the game of men on horseback with white pants, helmets and long mallets.

Kirin Lounge

In its first year of event sponsorship, Kirin hosted the largest space, open to public admission with a popular cash bar and food by Fresh Catering.

A little classier than General Admission at the races, there were plenty of tables and chairs beneath large umbrellas, with the front row, prime viewing seats gone in a hurry and the umbrellas proving useful for both sun exposure and varying levels of rain.

Kirin Cider

The recently-launched range of Kirin Ciders was made available at the Kirin Lounge. The range of ciders is made under licence in Australia and exclusively available in Australia, going some way to demonstrate our market for cider.

Based on Fuji apples - one of my favourite varieties due to their crispness and tartness - there are four flavours of Kirin Cider: Fuji apple, Fuji apple and mikan mandarin, Fuji apple and ume Japanese apricot/ plum, and Fuji apple and ginger.

Kirin Cider range
(Image courtesy of Lion)

What I like most about the Kirin Cider range, aside from the gorgeous hand-illustrated label imagery, is that they are not overly sweet. The Fuji apple has a nice dry finish with a tart kick; while the Fuji apple and mikan has a citrus bitterness - in a good, not too artificial way.

The Fuji apple and ginger has quite a strong flavour of the spicy rhizome so it's closer to an alcoholic ginger beer than a fruity cider, while the Fuji apple and ume was my favourite with a well-rounded sweetness.

Quinoa salad by Fresh Catering at the Kirin Lounge

Food in the Kirin Lounge was done by specialty event caterers Fresh Catering, with great cold options like a hearty quinoa salad, brimming with colourful tomatoes, cucumber, beetroot, chickpeas and sauces of pesto and perhaps Greek yoghurt.

Antipasto platter by Fresh Catering at the Kirin Lounge

I was all over the antipasti plate before remembering to take a photo (cured meats have that effect on me).

With crackers and breadsticks packed separately, this generous and varied platter featured salami and prosciutto alongside roasted capsicum strips, marinated artichoke, mixed olives, cornichons, roasted almonds, a little tub of hummus and a handful of rocket leaves - perfect daytime grazing food, if you ask me.

Beef burger sliders by Fresh Catering at the Kirin Lounge

The pack of sliders was perfect for sharing, being four cute little buns sandwiching a particularly chunky beef pattie. The super coarse mince was a nice testural surprise within the slider, with melted cheese and pickles making it a very satisfying few mouthfuls.

Chroizo roll by Fresh Catering at the Kirin Lounge

The chorizo roll was undoubtedly my favourite of the lot, served on a white bread roll with rocket and aioli of sorts. The red-hued sausage was perfection; perhaps not the most graceful for eating but so tasty with spices and a great coarse texture but no kick of heat.

The first divot stomp

I'm sure all the ladies had Pretty Woman in mind when the first divot stomp was announced; a polo tradition where the audience are asked to help return clumps of the torn up turf to its rightful position.

There's a graceful art to it, especially in damp weather conditions, stilettos, and differentiating between what is turf and what isn't.

Women's dash 

With two polo matches on for the day, there was plenty of time for activities in between, including of course, a divot stomp or two.

Most amusing would have been the dash for prizes, on the polo field for both ladies and gentlemen. Best achieved bare foot, the dash was essentially a sprint on the grass field with sponsor prizes up for grabs for the speediest.

Women's dash  - go!

There was no mercy in the dash, and perhaps just the tiniest lack of grace, all building a case for bringing polo to the people - or at least the ladies who weren't wearing pantyhose.

Men's dash  - ready, set, go!

The men's dash was just as entertaining, with a few pairs of light-coloured pants ruined for the afternoon.

Men's dash

Guests at Paspaley Polo in the City

The day's intermittent rain didn't spoil too much: with my first day at the polo under my belt, being thoroughly introduced to the Kirin Cider range and a near zebra sighting, I'd call that a pretty decent chukka.

See more photos of Paspaley Polo in the City, Sydney, on 16 November 2013 on my Facebook page.

Food, booze and shoes attended Polo in the City as a guest of Kirin Cider and Lion.

Melbourne eats: MoVida Next Door

On my trip to Melbourne earlier this year, I finally made it to MoVida Next Door, the neighbouring tapas and wine/sherry bar to the original MoVida restaurant in the CBD's grafitti-ed Hosier Lane. It only took about one attempt each four previous times I'd been to Melbourne and a 4pm late lunch.

At the bar at MoVida Next Door, Hosier Lane, Melbourne

Having had my first ever MoVida experience in Sydney, I was looking forward to a bit of laneway wining and grazing on small plates. It has to be said that this is my favourite way of eating: fresh and tasty morsels alongside endless glasses of wine, or indeed, sherry.

The kitchen at MoVida Next Door, Hosier Lane, Melbourne

We were seated at the bar at MoVida Next Door, next to the intimately-sized kitchen, where it was prime viewing of food preparation and even staff meals.

The pull-down stairs that led up to either a larder or fridge above the kitchen demonstrates that big things are possible in small spaces.

Ostra - freshly shucked oysters

As we were right next to the fresh seafood cabinet, freshly shucked oysters were top of mind. I can't remember exactly where in South Australia the oysters were from, but they were extremely briny and nothing like a Sydney rock oyster in flavour.

I was also disturbed by one of the oysters being pierced during shucking, which wasn't a particularly good look for the plate or the oyster-queasy.

Padrón - deep fried peppers

I'd seen the deep fried padrón green peppers at MoVida Sydney, served simply with a sprinkle of salt flakes. Somewhat comforted by the fact that only about one in ten are hot, I dug in, relishing the saltiness of the mostly capsicum-like mild, sweet peppers.

Until I got a hot one. Holy MoVida, it was one of the most intensely hot things I've ever eaten with the most sudden impact on the palate. More bread and oil didn't help, white wine didn't help, water didn't help.

With the beginnings of tears in my eyes and plenty of hand-fanning-face action, I heard the chefs have a bit of a chuckle as I pushed the remaining half of the hot padrón aside. Lesson learnt, but I still wouldn't refuse them in the future.

Boquerone - White anchovy with tomato on crouton

The anchovy boquerone is one of MoVida's signature tapa, with a single, salty anchovy lined up alongside a tomato gel and a creamy sauce, aioli perhaps, on a thin, crisp crouton. Baby capers added even more punch and saltiness to each bite, with microherbs garnishing the simple and so-right tapa.

Smoked sardine and tomato salad

A salad of smoked sardines and tomato was exactly and simply those two ingredients, with a bit of baby basil and oil-based dressing adding zing. The firm-fleshed sardines were perfection: salty and smoky, matched exquisitely with the ripe, sweet tomato segments.

Brussels sprouts cooked with bacon and onion

With our tummies intrigued over a special of Brussels sprouts, it was nice to be offered the option of a half serve, cooked with liberal amounts of butter, bacon and onion. The Brussels sprouts had a somewhat stewed but still firm texture, basking in the rich sauce.

Despite the padrón experience, I still adored this light meal at MoVida Next Door. My persistence in getting there certainly paid off, as rhere's just something about the light, casual style of MoVida that has me hook, line and sinker.

Bird is the word at The Bank Hotel

There’s no shortage of Newtown pubs, even just along King Street, but the recent revival of a few iconic pubs is proving competition for Newtown restaurants and eateries too.

Refurbished and relaunched venues include The Bank Hotel, next to the upgraded Newtown Station. Now owned by pub group Solotel, the downstairs section has been converted from long-time tenant Sumalee Thai to a spacious beer garden and courtyard so that there are now multi-level drinking and smoking areas.

Bird is the Word Sunday half roast chicken at The Bank Hotel Beer Garden,
King Street, Newtown
Food, booze and shoes sampled the Bird is the Word as a guest, with thanks to Agency G.

The new Bank Beer Garden offers a modern, casual pub dining menu with daily specials: Friday nights are for cheap share plates; pulled pork for groups on Saturdays; old school fish and chips on Tuesdays and paella Wednesdays among some of the nightly food temptations.

'Bird' is the word on a Sunday afternoon when roast chicken is the go – almost every kitchen order we see that afternoon is the half bird with all the trimmings, designed for two eaters.

Bird is the Word

The roasted skin on the half bird is perfectly and evenly golden with a lovely crispness, while the moist chicken hides a chunky stuffing with a wealth of corn kernels and bacon lardons.

The large plate arrives with an abundance of sides: roast potatoes and pumpkin; a soft-centred, golden-surfaced Yorkshire pudding; and a cabbage salad.

To drink there’s the Newtown-brewed Young Henry’s on tap (the Natural Ale is my pick) and an impressive selection of ciders by the bottle, as well as all the beer and spirit usuals.

French fries

Potato wedges

For total potato overload, we added French fries and potato wedges to our order; the latter being huge, golden deep-fried, skin-on potato segments – some larger than single chat potatoes – served with the classic combination of sour cream and sweet chilli sauce.

Sweet corn fritters with red pepper relish

Also on the ‘light food’ menu are sweet corn fritters, served with red pepper relish. Seemingly covering off brunch on the menu too, the fritters are packed with corn and decent enough, but much improved with the creamy, pureed capsicum sauce.

Spiced eggplant, cauliflower, hazelnut, herbs, yoghurt

I felt the need to add a salad; for appearances at the very least. The Middle Eastern flavours in the spiced eggplant were palate-awakening, with natural yoghurt making for an ideal and simple dressing for the myriad of spice flavours.

The Bank Beer Garden
(Image courtesy of Agency G)

With gas heaters to combat the winter cool, The Bank Beer Garden is all about long afternoons with beers, mates, and a decent bite to eat. And don't forget on Sunday afternoons, Bird is the Word.

The Lobo Plantation: Sugar, spice and all things rum

Sydney CBD's newest small bar – The Lobo Plantation – opened its lovely, arched doorways just last week, joining what’s becoming a hub of new small bars on Clarence and Kent Streets, just south of King Street.

The Lobo Plantation, Clarence Street, Sydney

The Lobo Plantation is definitely my kind of place, and it’ll be yours too if you like themed bars, Caribbean hospitality and eats, and great drinks. Oh, and rum.

Located in a former basement hairdresser on Clarence Street across from seminal hidden CBD bar The Baxter Inn, The Lobo Plantation is a rum drinker’s haven with over different 150 bottles on offer, most of them Caribbean rums uncommon on Australian shores.

Entry doors

I'm a little in love with the entry foyer just past the iron gates before the white-painted doors, which is a bit like a transition space for drinkers entering off the CBD street into mid-20th century good times in the Caribbean.

Step down the winding staircase into the atmospheric, jovial space and The Lobo Plantation's dedication to the rum is clear, lining several shelves of the back bar.

Seats at the bar

Seating at the long, wide bar is ideal for bartender and cocktail watching; otherwise there are small tables, small group lounges and a red leather Chesterfield-style banquette that spans the width of the venue where larger groups can congregate and imbibe.

Like The Baxter Inn, general manager Jared Merlino (ex ivy Pool) explains that The Lobo Plantation does not take bookings at all; large groups just have to get there early – and damn early on Friday evenings if their first week of trade is anything to go by.

Raised seating section

I've not been so smitten by a thoroughly, all-out, themed venue like this since Mr Wong. As the menu explains, the bar is named after Julio Lobo, a wealthy Cuban sugar trader from the mid-20th century.

There’s a lovable, hedonistic feel as the venue is decked out as if it were his private refuge: boldly colourful with Caribbean influences and worldly touches of aged, shabby opulence, representing his collections from travels around the globe.

The relevance is all things rum – a spirit made from sugarcane by-products or juice, then typically aged in oak barrels.

Plan-Ting cocktail

The long-winded cocktail list is a good starting point for rum newbies, with the likes of the strong but easy-drinking Plan-Ting cocktail mixing ting, a Jamaican soft drink, with Plantation Over Proof (OP) rum and lime.

Another soft drink plus rum cocktail combination is the Shore to Shore cocktail, featuring American root beer with Havana 3 rum and Angostura bitters, also served tall with lime.

Almost all drinks are served in faceted crystal glassware, including water and rum (neat, on the rocks or otherwise).

But not the coupe-glassed Millionaire cocktail of Appleton VX rum, house-made Lobo liqueur, sloe gin and grenadine which is served with a sour, fruity log rolled up in a miniature bank note print and pegged to the edge of the glass

Table and banquette seating

From the back bar of rums, we sampled the most uncommon Cor Cor Green Okinawan Rum from the southern Japanese island; a remarkably dry white rum with a smoky kicker at the end of each sip.

At the extreme other end of the spectrum was the Gosling's Black Seal; a dark rum with sweet caramel and vanilla tones that made it easy enough to drink neat.

Baked cheese balls with guava dipping sauce

For a small bar there’s a fairly decent menu of nibbles in addition to the complimentary fried plantain chips; best had when generously tossed in their jerk spice mix.

The food offerings are actually done by Darlinghurst's Food Society, reducing the pressures imposed on the small kitchen and allowing The Lobo Plantation team to focus purely on the drinks and the experience.

The well-priced baked cheese balls are served with the most wondrous sweet guava dipping sauce that goes deliciously with the gluten free, lightly cheesy balls.

Pork crackling rolled in spice, black pepper, garlic and vinegar side

The steamed, dried and fried chicharrón style pork rind has been seen increasingly around town, but the vinegar dipping sauce was a surprise pairing, cutting through the oil and fat of the naughty but tasty snack.

Just don't let the crackling dip in the liquid for too long, lest the crunchy, airy pork skin goes soggy.

Tamales en Cazuela

I've had one prior experience with tamales and never wanted to return. For The Lobo Plantation's tamales alone, I'll return to the bar time and time again.

They are amazing little packages of varied ingredients and flavours, possibly healthy too. Wet but crumbly polenta (not masa harina as is traditional), corn and pulled pork are steamed within a neat corn husk sheet.

The package is then topped with soft black beans and a beautifully fresh, chopped salsa of cucumber, tomato, coriander and chilli with a bit of kick in the latter. A tomato-ey sauce brings it all together with every mouthful of soft polenta highlighted by at least one of the salsa ingredients.

Flan

Although The Lobo Plantation isn't really a proper dinner destination, they round out the menu with two dessert choices. The flan is an eggy baked custard infused with Cuban rum, and it's plain spectacular.

It's doused in a caramel sauce that has the perfect edge of burnt toffee notes while the hint of coconut flavour I detected in the firm custard was just divine.

The archway on Clarence Street

I think there's a lot of capacity for more themed bars in Sydney, and with The Barber Shop on York Street (by ex Merivale group bars manager Mikey Enright) and Papa Gedes on Kent Street due to open soon, it looks like these city streets, which become awfully quiet after work hours, are set for some enlivening.

In the meantime I'm more than happy to work through the cocktail and rum menus at The Lobo Plantation, where it's sugar, rum and all things nice.

In the Vicinity of a dining boom

It's taken some time but the dining scene is now catching up with the apartment boom in south-east Sydney. All those shoebox-living young urban professionals need to eat and they can now boast local venues like Vicinity Dining in a still-industrial part of Alexandria.

Baba ganoush, olives, mixed nuts at Vicinity Dining, corner of Bourke Road and Collins Street, Alexandria

I'd visited the ambitiously spaced Vicinity in its very early days – for breakfast and Sunday Bloody Marys. Since then it seems there’s been some reshuffling of the menu and kitchen, for the better.

With its gas-heated outdoor verandah area, Vicinity was just right for a group lunch that needed versatility – while the menu is split into entrées, mains and shared mains, it’s easy enough to order a number of starters as share plates.

Ideal for sharing was the smoky eggplant baba ganoush with sourdough bread pieces and warmed flat bread, served on a wooden board alongside Sicilian and kalamata olives and roasted assorted nuts in matching cups/jugs.

Chicken liver parfait

A grazing favourite, the chicken liver parfait was also served on a wooden board with sourdough. The wide-mouthed jar caused no access issues to the rich, buttery parfait, topped with a dark jelly.

Crispy calamari with tamarind-ginger glaze and green papaya

The tapas-sized calamari was also great for sharing, making an instant visual impact with its intriguing black and white puffed cracker. The golden battered squid was moist and tender, but could have used more seasoning to really make the sweet, Asian-influenced tamarind sauce pop.

Pan seared chorizo, apple cider, parsley

The tapas theme continued with slices of a particularly spicy and firm chorizo, somewhat tempered by its apple cider cooking treatment and cooked apple wedges. There was plenty of bread available to help tide the spice heat of the chorizo as it seemed a lot of our dishes had bread components.

Ocean trout gravlax with soft-boiled egg and avocado on sourdough

We were also wooed by the waiter’s description of a daily special which was a bit brunch-ish but ultimately a deliciously generous shared serve of dill-marinated ocean trout gravlax.

Ocean trout gravlax with soft-boiled egg and avocado on sourdough

As a dill-lover, I found the cured fish to be divine in combination with ripe avocado slices, half a perfectly soft-yolked egg, lettuce and just-toasted bread with lemon juice adding a bit of zip.

Salad in a jar (served on a plate)

The salad in a jar was one of the most creative serving methods I've seen in ages: a large glass jar with a lock lid filled with lettuce leaves, red witlof, tomato chunks, chickpeas and brown lentils then doused with a vinaigrette dressing. The entire jar was shaken at the tableside and served out onto a plate.

Vicinity chips with selection of salts

We couldn't resist a couple of serves of chips with a "selection of salts" which amused some but makes sense if you've ever visited nearby food emporium, Salt Meats Cheese. I'm actually not sure what salts there were, although there was more interest in the aioli as a dipping sauce for the perfectly crisp chips.

With shared, grazing-style food sorted; a pretty bar with decent selections all round; and the gas heater cranking under cool, clear skies, Vicinity offers a perfect, casual group space amid the Alexandria dining boom.