Food News

Nothing makes my heart beat faster than the idea of a month-long happy hour! As The Victoria Room has racked up ten years of serving Sydney-siders killer drinks, they’re celebrating throughout November with three ten-buck cocktails – namely the Sugar Daddy, Rose Petal Martini and Hanky Panky (normally $19 each). It’s enough to make you think it must be your birthday not theirs…
www.thevictoriaroom.com

The latest local area festival to pique my interest is the Woollahra Festival of Arts and Ideas, on from the 15th-18th November. The best day to come is Sunday 18th November when Queen Street will be closed off, and turned into a rolling village green. There will be roaming street artists and performers, and if you book, you can even stick around for the Dinner on the Village Green. What could be more enticing than three courses of fine dining, music and dancing under the stars?
www.woollahrafestival.com.au

It wasn’t so long ago you had to struggle to find a tasty tomato in this town. Heirloom tomatoes were my saving grace, so I’m excited to see Crust has picked them (straight off the vine) and run with them on their new Heirloom Tomato Upper Crust pizza. It’s basically a tarted-up margherita, with red, green, black and orange tomatoes,  oregano-based salsa verde, and three types of mozzarella (smoked, buffalo and cured) that are also locally sourced. It’s yours for under twenty bucks…
www.crust.com.au

“How may I live without my name?” John Proctor asks in The Crucible. It’s likely that owner Erez Gordon and chef Paul Cooper are considering the very same question, as they avoid wasting time and money in court by changing the name of Crown Street Assembly. Unfortunately the fight comes less than three months after they opened, and if you ask me, for no good reason. “We love our name but others felt they had sole right to the word “Assembly” and it was too much bother to make them see reason.” explains Gordon. The new name will be Bishop Sessa – a none-too-subtle dig at the political strategy, bartering and threats that distract from the business at hand – great food and wine. Speaking of which, I’m told Paul Cooper’s scallop ceviche with ginger beer sorbet is really worth the trip.
www.bishopsessa.com.au