Even with the Aussie sun blazing at 40°C, some traditions are hard to shake! Like many of my generation, I grew up with a classic Sunday roast lunch, followed by a comforting plate of bubble and squeak on Sunday evening. These days, life’s a bit too hectic to prepare a whole roast, so a group of friends and I have started the “First Sunday Roast Club.”
Mishy’s at Surry HillsDuke of ClarenceMorrrison’s on George StreetForrester’s at Surry Hills
This adventure began a few months ago, around the first anniversary of a life-changing event for me – a lower leg amputation. To celebrate life and friendship, we decided to indulge in a monthly tradition. Each month, one of us takes charge, finding a Sydney restaurant that serves up a delicious Sunday roast. We make a reservation, and whoever’s free joins in. There’s always the option to bring a guest, though we haven’t explored that much yet.
I’m in charge of finding our next venue, and have a few ideas swiling around my head. So far, there’s only one I’ve ruled out. I tried a nearby RSL, and while their roast was plentiful, I thought there was a little too much “Gravox” involved. If you have a Sunday Roast suggestion for Sydney, please comment below.
Here are some photos of our culinary adventures so far! The photos pretty much speak for themselves – the food has been fantastic. Of course, the lively conversation and good wine only add to the experience.
POST SCRIPT – New photographs taken after the original post.
“Christmas Roast” at Strawberry Hills HotelLord Dudley – February 2025Roast beef at the Woolpack Hotel, Redfern, April 13, 2025Roast Lamb at the Dove & Olive, Surry Hills 04/05/25The Village Inn, Paddington 15/06/25The Rocker, Bondi 24/08/25The Old Fitzroy 21/09/25The Trinity, Surry Hills 09/11/25The Waratah, Darlinghurst 11/01/26
I’ve done the “Symphony in the Domain” series on a couple of occasions previously. I also done “Tropfest” on a couple of occasions. Both events involve walking long distances, taking along a hamper of wine and food, and sitting on the grass watching distant big screens, surrounded by thousands of people in a similar situation, many of them drunken yobbos. It’s usually good fun, but to be honest, probably a little disappointing, since you feel like a total pleb. Now that I’ve done “Symphony” in the VIP tent, there ain’t no going back.
As we arrived at about 6.30pm, entering via the Hospital Road Entrance, we were greated by friendly faces giving us wrist-bands and confirming our tickets which would allow us to enter an area where the wine flowed freely and where we were given small containers of food. But this was no Neil Perry Qantas Pack, this was very nice, with my vegetarian meal offering a very tasty chick pea salad. After wining and dining, we entered the VIP area, with the only difficulty being getting up and down from seats so low to the ground, although it provided much hilarity for the young people sitting next to us.
With all of the drama of the “Domain” series out of the way we were able to truly enjoy the music. Tonight it was the Sydney Symphony Orchestra playing the works of George Gerschwin, who I hadn’t known, had died tragically young at the age of 39. I was pretty aware of Gerschwin’s work, and have a number of CDs in my collection, especially the better known works. I was unaware, however, about some of the other works performed, including a work based on Cuban rhythms and sounds, composed while he was living, briefly in Cuba. Caroline O’Connor also came on the stage to sing about a half a dozen Gerschwin’s songs, many of them very moving. This was truly an evening of musical delight, offering both substantive works as well as the more popular. The conductor, who often played piano, clearly understood the works with a great deal of depth, thus allowing him to “play around” just a little, varying the pitch and speed at which some of the works were played.
At the end of the night the orchestra, reluctantly I think, played the 1812 Overture, which is a regular part of the “Domain” series, along with fireworks and explosions. There was a real sense in the words he used the conductor loathed this work, especially in the context of an evening of Gerschwin. But the fireworks went off, the explosions occured, and this really dramatic and exciting work went ahead, being a real crowd pleaser. Unfortunately, during the performances, many of the other people in the VIP area, including people on both sides, thought instrumentation was an invitation to conversation. If they’re not singing, it’s time to chat. I guess it’s okay if you’re out to impress a new girlfriend, but I think if you’re lucky enough to be that closed to a terrific orchestra playing beautiful music, it’s best to shut up and enjoy it!
Damo and I had a drink or two tonight (later joined by Michaela) at the White Horse Hotel. We used to go there in the old days when it was very dodgy indeed. I remember a vast room with a piano and karaoke. And for some reason, strippers also come to mind, but I could be wrong about that. These days, the White Horse Hotel is very upmarket. Although Damien and I had drunk there soon after it opened, we had never been upstairs which is where we were last night. “A very modern beer garden” is how I’d best describe the place, with a clean, upmarket, yet also informal feel about it. With a personal television at each table there was also lots of Australian Open watching.
“You’re a local”, Damien said, “What’s the crowd here? This doesn’t look like the usual crowd of Surry Hills grunge folk and poofs”. I suspect the crowd was mostly lots of people who at least work in the city, but who socialise in Surry Hills. It was then that I looked over and saw a woman wearing a pearl necklace, leading me to observe, “It’s not the usual kind of pearl necklace you get in Surry Hills”.
Sorry, that was a gross, and very dodgy thing to say. That said, the “White Horse” was also ONCE a very dodgy place, as was the nearby Clock Hotel. I remember one occasion, for example, soon after moving to Sydney, when there was an armed hold-up in the Clock Hotel bottle-shop. Unsure of what to do, I found myself descending behind a tower of beer slabs until the drama was over. It’s one of those stories you never bother to tell your family from the country, already worried that you’re living in Sydney.
Back in the mid 90s when I arrived in Sydney, the Clock Hotel also had a downstairs leather bar (which incidentally sold good cheap meals), and Surry Hills was quite a different place.
These days, it’s all upmarket, with some of the genuinely best bars and restaurants in Sydney.
Last night we had dinner at “Bird, Cow, Fish”, run by chef Alex Herbert. Although Damien had been for Breakfast there once, I’d never been before, possibly because it’s so close to home that I normally just walk past it. Our meals were good, with the entrees and deserts being the standout courses. We were both a little disappointed with the main courses, though they matched well with the wine.
For entrees, we shared a very tasty “assorted meats” terrine, with accompanying toasted bread, and a thin pasta dish with some very tasty mushrooms. We both thought both were tasty and well-presented.
For mains, we shared a thinly sliced steak dish (with accompanying fruit) and lamb rump with verjuice-marinated currants and burnt butter sauce. Yes, fruit and meat are back together on the same plate again after a long break, and I’m pleased. There was a certain snobbery associated with this combination for a long time, which I’m pleased to say seems to have passed. Although the meals were well-matched with the wine Damien brought along, a Charles Melton Nine Popes 2000, grenache-based wine from the Barossa, we were a little disappointed with the main courses. They were fine, but maybe we expected a little more.
For desert, we had butter-milk pudding with fruit accompaniment, which was TREMENDOUS. The secret, according to the waitress, was dusting the fruit in icing sugar, to really bring out its sugar qualities.
So yeah, I think I’d like to go back to “Bird, Cow, Fish” and try some other main courses. The only other negative is that it was a little noisy. On a positive note, however, the staff were very nice, providing timely, courteous service.
“Are podcasts dying? Have they peaked?” I wondered to myself when I saw some of the research presented at “Podcast Day 24” in Sydney. In relation to podcasts, the United States has always been a little ahead of the game. Compared with Australia, there has always been a greater awareness and use of podcasts in the United States until this year.
Australia now seems to be ahead of the United States, which made me wonder “Have we finally caught up?”, or “Have things peaked in America”. It’s hard to know for sure, though the vibe from today’s conference was that the industry was “maturing”, and that maybe some of the extraordinary growth in the past few years has come to an end.
I can’t remember who it was, but someone noted there was fear in the industry about the possible impact of COVID. As people worked from home, there was a fear there might be less podcast listening, as people stopped taking public transport. But they started walking a lot more. And there has been a significant increase in in-car apps from Apple and Google, meaning people have actually been more likely to listen to podcasts. And most people listen to podcasts from home!! Like seriously, most people.
“Being a radio guy, I know it’s all about routines”, one of the panellists said today, noting the challenge for podcast listening now was to re-establish routines. With radio, people get up, turn on the radio, and it sets them up for their day. The research around podcasts is that, on average, people listen to seven each week. Obviously, some people listen more and others less. The challenge is how you make your podcasts interesting/distinctive enough to be part of people’s lives. “You need a 50/50 rule”, one of the panellists today said, noting “You need to spend 50% of your effort finding audiences for your podcast, not just creating it”.
This was the second time I’ve attended this conference and actually enjoyed it much more than the previous one in 2021. “You almost had too much content this year”, I said to the organiser, James Cridland. By the end of the day, my brain was “full” of many ideas and thoughts for the futurue. “I haven’t been making notes, as much, as action points”, I said to a colleague who I sat with for most of the day.
She’s very active in the audio on-demand space, whereas my interest is very much around the state of the radio… um… er ah… I’m supposed to just say “audio” now, space.
As a “radio person”, I was especially interested in how some of the “rules” of radio apply equally to podcasts. For example, there was a presentation about the effectiveness of “live reads” vs “promos” in promoting further listening and advertisers (it wasn’t just an ABC conference, with lots of commercial people there too!). There were no surprises for me in the research: a presenter telling you to listen to something else, or to buy a product is more effective than an advertisement read by someone else. But for me, the “takeaway” was that we likely aren’t doing enough of this on podcasts. With the exception of someone like Leo Laporte who is a master at this, I think there is likely too much of a gap between the high-end “art” podcasts, and the more informal “two blokes around a kitchen table” style of podcast. “There is still a lot to learn from the middle ground lessons of 100 years of radio craft”, I said to someone.
Some research about promoting your podcasts. The impact of an unscripted live read from the host, a scripted one, and a pre-recorded read from someone else.
Another highlight for me was a presentation by Siobhan McHugh, a “veteran” radio producer who now works in academia, but still keeps her hands “dirty” by making podcasts. I first met her maybe 30 years ago when she did a wonderful oral history project about the people who worked on the Snowy Mountains scheme. https://siobhanmchugh.org/the-snowy/ More recently, she worked on a project with Patrick Abboud about the “special” gaols for gay men in Australia. https://www.patrickabboud.com/podcasts/the-greatest-menace She spoke about structure and sound in the creation of podcasts. She is wonderfully inspiring with her enthusiastic love of sound.
Wonderful presentation by Siobhan McHugh about structure within a podcast episode.
From a different generation, there was the wonderful story of a couple of young people from radio backgrounds who fell “accidentally” into podcasting, and who are now working full time on a podcast that’s been picked up by Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/show/5OzkclFjD6iAjtAuo7aIYt
Ryan and Toni
In particular, I loved how they spoke about their affection for their audience. “Do you think we should do the Spotify deal?” they asked them. Ryan spoke about the time it takes, but always responding to the comments from listeners. “I love their work ethic”, one of my colleagues commented. There was no sense of “privilege” that you sometimes/often find from people in the media.
Even though the conference is very much a “nerd fest” for those of us who work in the industry, I picked up a few listening suggestions along the way too.
The audience watches and LISTENSScott Stephens and Waleed Aly from The Minefield on video from MelbourneWith some of my colleagues from “our part of the ABC”: Blythe, Angela and Oscar
It’s Sunday night and I’ve just watched “The Simpsons”. The last few days have seen a real explosion in my social life as I’ve gone from event to event. Bizarre really… isn’t it that with two weeks left in Perth suddenly I have lots to do. So, without further ado… here’s what I’ve been up to lately.
On Friday afternoon I went to the Government House Ballroom for the launch of the Perth International Arts Festival. Since David Mark from Sydney was in town, I invited him along for a glass of wine and a canape too while we caught up. The launch itself was interesting, as the organisers chose a catwalk for the main speakers to walk up and down which worked sometimes and didn’t others. When it was good, such as when the vocalist sang at the beginning, but when it was just a speech with clipboard, it began to take on “Anthony Robbins” motivational speech qualities. The ballroom itself, though, was just gorgeous.
Although, of course, I won’t be here for the festival, I was interested in some aspects of the program, including: Steven Berkoff Shakespeare’s Villains Steven Berkoff is considered of the world’s most acclaimed actors, writers and directors. He has electrified audiences with chilling productions such as East, Salome, and Coriolanus and as the archetype of evil in the films Octopussy, Beverly Hills Cop, Rambo and The Krays. and HG Nelson: On the Lurk (Australia) A bloke, a barbecue, a big screen and a bunch of ideas – what more could you want from arguably Australia’s finest cheese and cracker mind?
After that, Di and I headed off the Maritime Museum at Fremantle for the launch of the second series of Surfing The Menu. The publicity blurb for the series goes like this: Two hunky Aussie larrikins who just happen to be world class chefs, Ben O’Donoghue and Curtis Stone, have escaped their kitchens to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. With their surfboards and boning knives packed, they’ve hijacked a film crew to cook up a Gourmet Adventure Series that’s one part travel show and two parts cooking show. As Di is WA’s Tv publicist, I was briefly introduced to Curtis who seems like a nice bloke, though taller than I expected. Apparently the food for the launch was done by Ben Elton’s sister-in-law who lives in Perth. The combination of attending both events meant I didn’t have to worry about dinner on Friday night!
Yesterday was a gargantuan social day, starting off with lunch, which led to dinner and then to a fortieth birthday. I was invited to lunch by a lovely guy from work and his soon-to-be wife (they’ve been together 13 years) who are both terrific people: smart, good humoured, really nice people. Two other couples were invited, all of whom were also smart, good humoured nice people with interesting lives. For several hours we sat around, dissected the rights and wrongs of the world while enjoying a lovely meal in a great house. Could life get any better?
From there it was almost immediately straight off to dinner. I had dinner with Tiffany and three of her friends, Michael, Alistair and Terry who I met a couple of weeks ago at a trivia night. The result of that wonderful meeting of minds was a free dinner at Coco’s Riverside Restaurant And Bar. The food was reasonable, the service okay (I’m probably being kind), but the view was magnificent.
And then it was off to a fortieth birthday party for Russell from work. As was lunch and dinner, it was a terrific opportunity to catch up with smart, good-natured, people with whom I really bonded. We laughed, got angry, dissected the world and had a drink or seven.
I hope the next two weeks will be as much fun.
Tomorrow I’m catching up with a couple of ABBAMAILERS here in Perth, co-inciding with Christian Deligny’s visit for the Telstra Rally. I just spoke with Christian a short while ago and suggested inauspiciously named “The Lucky Shag” which is near The Belltower in the city as a good place to catch up tomorrow evening at about 6.00pm It’s has a great view and it’s central, so I thought he’d really like it. And of course, we can celebrate Frida’s Birthday!!!
Thanks to Facebook Group: I don't mind if the Swedes take over Australia.
There has been a proliferation of news about Sweden and Swedish-ness in the Australian newspapers lately, and I don’t mean just stories about Julian Assange. Of course, there are the regular stupid stories – the Swedes are so kooky stories – about studies from various universities, elks, Nazi connections to the Swedish Royal Family and so on, but there have also been some generally interesting stories about the influence of Swedish culture.
For example:
Roxette have sold 100,000 tickets for their forthcoming tour, and they had trouble getting a promoter in the first place.
Swedish cider brand Rekorderlig has launched a national campaign to boost its standing in the high-growth alcoholic beverage category, positioning itself as ‘Beautiful Swedish’.
“My God, I hope we don’t end up over the bridge again”, I whispered in Colin’s ear as we caught the shuttle bus from the Opera House to The Argyle for the Helpmann Awards After-Show Party.
It was a reference to a Sydney Film Festival opening or closing (I can’t recall) night we attended several years ago.
On that particular occasion, our bus driver took the wrong turn on the way from the State Theatre to The Argyle and suddenly we found ourselves half way across the bridge.
There was a lot of laughter, and recognition. Who hasn’t found themselves criss-crossing Sydney Harbour Bridge by missing the right turn. It’s a bit like going to Canberra and ending up in a continuous circuit around Parliament House.
After show party for the Helpmann Awards at The Argyle
Thankfully this time the bus driver found his way correctly, and we were soon happily drinking champagne and eating canapes.
Colin and I had met at 5.30 at Opera Bar where I, in particular, enjoyed the ravioli. Gosh it tasted good. And it was just the right size for a quick bite before a night at the theatre.
“Why are you going so early?”, Colin told me a friend had asked him. “Nobody goes to the early show”, his friend had told him.
“We do”, we both agreed. Even though the awards presented are not major ones, we both agreed it was great fun to go to both “sittings” of the Helpmann Awards, which recognise live performance in Australia.
As such, there was everything from a “physical theatre” group, to straight opera, ballet, contemporary dance, and a rather loud and raucous version of “Women In Uniform” by Skyhooks, though fronted by Jimmy Barnes, and also featuring Diesel.
You will no doubt recognise my bald head as part of the Helpmann Awards telecast.
“It’s a bit of a theatrical fruit salad”, I commented to Colin later in the night.
To attend and to enjoy everything, you really need to have broad tastes in live performance. Luckily I do. And so for me there was some joy in everything I saw.
The only slight disappointment for me this year was that there wasn’t as much comedy as I’d remembered from previous awards. Even though hosts, Julia Zemiro and Jonathan Biggins were both absolutely terrific, I felt like I would have liked a few more laughs.
I remember with fondness The Helen Clarke Five from a couple of years ago, an inspired act featuring Biggins and Phillip Scott who based there act around the song “Take Five” by The Dave Clark Five, but who sang a really funny ditty about New Zealand.
I just love these awards, though, because they celebrate stuff which I personally find incredibly important in my life.
For me there’s nothing quite like a night in the theatre. Unless there’s something deeply troubling you, you can suspend belief for a moment. For a couple of hours you can let your mind wander and focus on just one thing. And it’s mostly always done with the best of intentions – to make people happy, to make people sad or reflective, or just to make people think. Great stuff.
Oh, and I love the champagne and canapes too!
The absolute highlight for me, though, was Liv Ulmann who presented an award. Cool. Nordic. Strong. I love women like that.
As we walked down the stairs I instructed Colin about how to greet her in Swedish – “Hej Liv, välkommen till Australien” – just in case we ran into her at the after party.
She wasn’t there. And it’s just as well, because I’ve since discovered that, despite her Swedish connections, she’s actually Norwegian by birth.
“En genant situation” avoided…
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4 Comments
The Forrester’s looks the most appealing to me, but none look conventional.
They have all been pretty good so far. Forrester’s was yesterday, and the pudding was by far the largest. It’s so amazing to try out the different variations.
The Forrester’s looks the most appealing to me, but none look conventional.
They have all been pretty good so far. Forrester’s was yesterday, and the pudding was by far the largest. It’s so amazing to try out the different variations.
May I recommend the Terminus Hotel at Pyrmont (https://www.terminuspyrmont.com/), had a really good roast pork belly.
Also, the renovation of the hotel is very good and it has a lovely courtyard to eat in.
Thankyou. Will definitely check it out.