After about two months of working in Sydney, I went out for
my first official lunch meeting in late May. I must admit I haven’t seen much
of the city or CBD as it is known, although I lived my first 40 days
here. I didnt visit many restaurants either as I preferred to cook at
home. So, I was looking forward to this one – some intelligent conversations
around (hopefully) delicious food.
And, once again, Sydney did not disappoint.
I was the only one on the table with a vegetarian meal –
Spaghetti semi-sundried tomato with cheese and chilli, while others had grilled
Tasmanian salmon with tomato and strawberry sauce. The latter looked so
tempting that I have promised myself to try a salmon soon. (For those
interested, a kg of Salmon is for A$33 at supermarkets, probably among the more
expensive varieties. I don’t know how much they cost back in India or anywhere
else) I don’t know much about fish varieties either, the only one I know is
probably the freshwater Rohu which holds a special place in my heart. My granny
made the best ever rohu fish in rich mustard gravy and she would lovingly
remove every tiny, thorny bone off it, mix with plain, steamed rice and feed me out of
her hands. That used to be my favourite dish as a kid. But sometime during my growing up years I completely gave up fish and meat, although I am trying to
reconcile to it now.
As soon as I returned from King 143 Restaurant I looked up
the menu online. (We weren’t offered a menu there) The Spaghetti I had cost $25
while the salmons were for $28. They also served hot breads for $3 followed by
the most delicious baked pear with vanilla ice cream for $13. Not very
expensive for the service, ambience and taste, I say. I looked up the internet
for Sydney's best cheap eats. And
boy, what did I find? Well, when in Sydney, don’t talk cheap! :P