Bennelong

My partner's parents had a week-long trip to northern area, including Hunter Valley.  They have come back to Sydney to spend the weekend to meet up with their daughter who was leaving for Papua New Guinea to join her boyfriend.  Since her flight was in the morning, we had arranged a late lunch with them and their friends at this restaurant, Bennelong, located right in the Sydney Opera House.

A long-awaited blue sky brought many tourists to the landmark, and I could see so many people enjoying the scenery of beautiful harbour.  Somehow most of them were from China, and it reminded me of how Tokyo was, especially, Ginza.  (Ginza is a shopping spot - now filled with Chinese tourists.)

The restaurant was surrounded by panoramic view of Sydney Harbour, and it offered a spacious dinning area.  Even with this much space, the restaurant was one of the hard-to-book places, so I was so thrilled to enjoy the lunch there.  I am pregnant, so I cannot drink there, but they have such a posh bar right near the entrance, and I seriously want to go back there after serving my duty!

The food was beyond my expectation, and I loved them all.  I felt well-served and staffs were well-trained.  I definitely consider this place to be one of my favourite places in Sydney.  As it was organised as my early birthday lunch (great surprise!  I wasn't expecting this at all!,) we did not have to pay for the lunch...kind of feeling bad as the lunch 3 course was 150 AUD per person.  I thought it was a well-worth of quality, and I would love to go back to this restaurant again.

I would definitely dress somewhat nice for this place.  I felt okay wearing jeans, moccasin and jacket, but I don't mind wearing nice dress with heals to have intimate dinner or champagne in the bar.

By the way, during the lunch, his parents were talking about this restaurant in Hunter Valley.  Definitely going there during my next trip!  http://www.exprestaurant.com.au

For Bennelong, I have to give ★★★★★ for everything.

Nikuzo Japanese BBQ

My partner goes to this Japanese owned hair salon called Shinka in Sydney.  (They have shops in Tokyo, and he was a regular customer there as well.) His hairstylist had recommended this Japanese BBQ place near our place, so we'd wanted to try it for awhile.

The place does not have a website, but here is some information from tripadvisor.com.  The restaurant is called Nikuzo, and it is an authentic Japanese BBQ, 'Yakiniku' restaurant.

The restaurant opens at 5:30pm, but we could only book for 5:30pm or 8:30pm, so we went there at 8:30pm.

The food was just like what we had in Japan.  I recommend "special" grade instead of "regular" grade for meat.  We ended up ordering all in special grades.  At the end, we decided to order one more plate of meat, and they mistakenly gave us this regular grade, and we could tell right away that the grade was completely different.

I think I enjoyed the experience of Yakiniku, but what disappointed me was this person who served our table towards the end.  I have a feeling that he was the owner or restaurant manager, but he absolutely had no smile or friendly attitude; he acted like he was unhappy serving us.  Because of the experience, I am not sure I want to go back there again.

Regardless if you like do-it-yourself kind of environment, you will enjoy indoor BBQ experience. Please do not wear anything fancy as you need to wash your clothes as soon as you get home.

Food was great, but the place could be cleaner and more friendly.
I need to give this place ★★