Eating out for less that $10
April 23rd 2007 05:04
Category: Guides
Sydney can be a fantastically expensive city; for the rich and wealthy, this means that all the best things in life are at their gilded fingertips, while the rest of us shuffle aimlessly in the dust. Plates of steaming seafood and Kobe beef fly past our trembling noses to the tables locked away in restaurants accessible only by secure elevators.
Are there no alternatives for those of us with a single $10 bill in our pockets? Can we expect some change back from that tenner?
Of course we can. Its Sydney, and beneath the veneer of sky rises and expensive restaurants with harbour views, theres a cornucopia of inexpensive eats around town.
For around $5, you can grab an infamous Tiger from Harrys Café de Wheels in Wooloomooloo. This outrageous meal is filling, hearty and borders on certifiably insane. A Tiger is a large meat pie, topped with a sizeable dollop of mashed potatoes, topped with mushy peas. A ladle is used to indent a small swimming pool in the mushy peas, and is filled with dark, salty gravy. It sounds wretched, but it is indeed quite tasty although Id be wary of someone that could manage to finish two in a row.
With the large influx of Mediterranean immigrants to Australia has come excellent cuisine at reasonable prices. The most ubiquitous form of Lebanese/Turkish cuisine is the fast-to-go kebab spit-roasted chicken or beef, with fresh lettuce and tomatoes, dressed with garlicky hummous, all wrapped in a soft pita. Some people mistakenly believe that the kebab is synonymous with a bad diet, but in actuality, kebabs have a healthy serving of vegetables, carbohydrates and protein, with little fat, if you leave off the cheese and the sauces. In the city, there are countless kebab kiosk open late at night, but an excellent location is Fifis in Enmore, where the kebabs are created by artisans.
During the day, lunchtime is the perfect time to get a pleasant, filling meal for under $10. In the city, in Newtown, on Oxford Street anywhere, really, you can visit fantastic Asian restaurants and fill up on hot food. Thai restaurants in Newtown offer coconut curries in large servings for between six and eight dollars, served by cute Thai servers with cheerful smiles. Thai Pothong, on King Street, has some delectably decadent meals accompanied by sinfully rich soups and appetizers.
A bowl of Vietnamese noodles can go down the right way; loaded with big, chewy pieces of meat, fresh vegetables and flavours, Vietnamese soup, known as Pho, is a nutritious, quick meal that is convenient to eat when short on time, and entertaining to boot. Plates of lemons and sprouts arrive at the table, encouraging creativity on the part of the diner, and the free tea is a superfluous addition that is gratefully drunk in large sips. One of the citys most popular Vietnamese shops is Pasteurs on George street, recommended by city denizens for an excellent bowl of soup, and self-proclaimed as the best noodle soup in Sydney.
Of course, Asian cuisine and bohemian neighborhoods dont appeal to everyone. There are those who would like to have a pint and watch the footy while on their lunch break, and Sydney never fails to satisfy. Many pubs around the city are starting to offer $5 pub meals, which are usually a reasonably sized steak, potatoes and veggies, and are bought in conjunction with beer the total is less than $10, and the pub atmosphere is definitely conducive to long Friday lunches. The $5 meal has become so popular that bars in the expensive city have followed suit, such as Star Bar on George.
While excellent food is easily had for copious amounts of cash, its often more entertaining and rewarding to have a Dyno-Mite meal for less than the cost of a movie. The advantage of living in the city is that competition keeps the quality and value of food at an acceptable level even staples like pizza, burgers or fried chicken is still reasonably priced in the right places, and if it tastes good, at these prices, why not overindulge yourself?
Are there no alternatives for those of us with a single $10 bill in our pockets? Can we expect some change back from that tenner?
Of course we can. Its Sydney, and beneath the veneer of sky rises and expensive restaurants with harbour views, theres a cornucopia of inexpensive eats around town.
Revolting... or delicious?
With the large influx of Mediterranean immigrants to Australia has come excellent cuisine at reasonable prices. The most ubiquitous form of Lebanese/Turkish cuisine is the fast-to-go kebab spit-roasted chicken or beef, with fresh lettuce and tomatoes, dressed with garlicky hummous, all wrapped in a soft pita. Some people mistakenly believe that the kebab is synonymous with a bad diet, but in actuality, kebabs have a healthy serving of vegetables, carbohydrates and protein, with little fat, if you leave off the cheese and the sauces. In the city, there are countless kebab kiosk open late at night, but an excellent location is Fifis in Enmore, where the kebabs are created by artisans.
During the day, lunchtime is the perfect time to get a pleasant, filling meal for under $10. In the city, in Newtown, on Oxford Street anywhere, really, you can visit fantastic Asian restaurants and fill up on hot food. Thai restaurants in Newtown offer coconut curries in large servings for between six and eight dollars, served by cute Thai servers with cheerful smiles. Thai Pothong, on King Street, has some delectably decadent meals accompanied by sinfully rich soups and appetizers.
A bowl of Vietnamese noodles can go down the right way; loaded with big, chewy pieces of meat, fresh vegetables and flavours, Vietnamese soup, known as Pho, is a nutritious, quick meal that is convenient to eat when short on time, and entertaining to boot. Plates of lemons and sprouts arrive at the table, encouraging creativity on the part of the diner, and the free tea is a superfluous addition that is gratefully drunk in large sips. One of the citys most popular Vietnamese shops is Pasteurs on George street, recommended by city denizens for an excellent bowl of soup, and self-proclaimed as the best noodle soup in Sydney.
Of course, Asian cuisine and bohemian neighborhoods dont appeal to everyone. There are those who would like to have a pint and watch the footy while on their lunch break, and Sydney never fails to satisfy. Many pubs around the city are starting to offer $5 pub meals, which are usually a reasonably sized steak, potatoes and veggies, and are bought in conjunction with beer the total is less than $10, and the pub atmosphere is definitely conducive to long Friday lunches. The $5 meal has become so popular that bars in the expensive city have followed suit, such as Star Bar on George.
While excellent food is easily had for copious amounts of cash, its often more entertaining and rewarding to have a Dyno-Mite meal for less than the cost of a movie. The advantage of living in the city is that competition keeps the quality and value of food at an acceptable level even staples like pizza, burgers or fried chicken is still reasonably priced in the right places, and if it tastes good, at these prices, why not overindulge yourself?
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