O Bar and Dining :: Experience & Taste Vivid Sydney from Up Above

We were invited to taste and photograph the experience of Vivid Sydney at O’Bar and Dining on Level 47, Australia Square, 264 George St, Sydney last Friday night, one of the few places in Sydney where you can dine with a revolving 360 degree view of the City of Sydney … and the food quality is excellent, quite atmospheric and lively, filled with Sydneysiders who poured in after work to catch-up with friends for a drink or two and dinner. Friday night outings are not dead. With the downpour of heavy rain in Sydney in the last few days, we could not have been happier to experience and photograph Vivid Sydney lights from up there, and experience their special Vivid Sydney cocktails at the Lounge Bar followed by a three course dinner with matching wines at the restaurant.

Firstly, they have a special ‘Illuminate cocktail’ happening where you buy 2 and get a complimentary tapas canapes from their Robata Grill throughout the Vivid Sydney Festival (from 27 May – 18 June). The canapes from the grill are homemade chicken and crab meatballs. Fresh meat grilled on a Robata has a subtle smokey flavour and was wonderfully delicious and an excellent appetiser. The second appetiser we tried was their handcrafted burrata with grilled vegetables and pesto. The ‘Illuminate’ cocktail was quite a novelty and as the name suggests, lights up because of the glowing LED cube light inside and is refreshing made of fresh watermelon juice, shizo, Galangal infused Bombay Gin, mescal, and cold pressed lime. As we were enjoying them, we were photographed the Vivid Sydney lights from different perspectives as the restaurant slowly revolves around Sydney. The best viewing is when we got to the Sydney Harbour Bridge and it’s kaleidoscope of light that illuminates the city.

We probably had about 5 waitstaff looking after us all of whom were attentive and checked in on us from time to time to ensure our transition from the Lounge Bar to the restaurant was seamless. I’m always full of bags on a Friday night as so much stuff accumulates in my office during the week, not to mention always having my camera gear at hand and I was so glad when the waitstaff offered to take my bags and store it in the cloakroom to make things lighter and more comfortable for me.

When we finished our ‘Illuminate cocktails’, canapés and photographing the Sydney city lights, we were seated in a spacious two seater for dinner and the lovely waitstaff, Eleonora looked after us for the evening.

There was nothing disappointing and everything to love about the restaurant at O Bar and Dining. We had a three course dinner designed by Head Chef Darren Teppleman with matching wines. When you look at the front cover of the menus, the words ‘Sustainable’, ‘Seasonal’, ‘Wholefood’ appears and the quality of the dishes were evident last night.

The entrees recommended to us for dinner were seafood dishes which we were only too happy to try and they were divine. I love the sweetness of seafood shellfish meat. These included the seared scallops with house smoked guanciale pastrami, creamed labneh, sticky mustard eggplant and salted black barley. The crab salad was Fraser Island spanner crab garnished with horseradish, savoury macadamia, pickled celery, smoked milk skin and aloe vera. The matching wine we had with the entrees with the One Block Chardonnay 2014, Yarra Valley, The Quarry, a wonderfully cool, light wine with no trace of heaviness on the long finish. Perfect match for the seafood entrees.

For mains, we tried something that wasn’t on the menu yet and that’s one of their premium cuts of meat which was the 200g of Robbin Island (TAS) wagyu sirloin (MS9+) with horseradish miso pine mushrooms and Jerusalem artichokes.

We also tried a main dish, the steamed deep sea hapuka, a beautiful dense white flesh fish, with crisp school prawns, which gave the flavours an extra punch, scorched pepper romesco, sweet garlic, black quinoa and black olives. As a seafood lover, this dish was well balanced and superb. The matching wine with mains was the Torbreck, Barossa Valley, 2014 Cuve Juveniles, which is an unoaked blend of Barossa Grenache, Shiraz and Mataro.

For desserts, we tried the nitro frozen meringue, poached rhubard, roasted strawberries and iced lemon cream. This dessert had an interesting texture, wasn’t too heavy, citrusy in flavours and absolutely delicious. The other dish we tried was the ripe pear, caramelised white chocolate, salt, roasted hazelnuts, whipped house made organic curds and sweet miso. A beautifully plated dessert for those who felt like the chocolate taste. It was a delicious dessert but I loved the flavours and textures of the meringue more.

Dining at O Bar and Sydney during Vivid Sydney is a great way to experience Sydney’s light show that’s happening until mid June, particularly in this wet weather we have had lately, in the comfort of a high rise, revolving space where you are pampered with good cocktails and excellence in food quality.

O Bar and Dining

Level 47 Australia Square
264 George Street
Sydney 2000
www.obardining.com.au/