The plant is not just a plant. It has a huge role in the whole of our way of looking at the world. The plant is a totem, the plant is a relation, the plant is a skin group, it fits into a system of relationships with humans. It occurs in a particular season, it has a relationship with insects, birds and animals … including humans. It has a corrobboree, a dance, a song and a paint … The wattle tree isn’t a tree where you gather the seeds, put them into a package after you’ve roasted and ground them. It’s a lot more than that. – Pat Torres, quoted in The Oldest Foods on Earth , A History of Australian Native Foods by John Newton.
I moved back to Sydney just before Christmas after living in Canberra for three months and a distinct memory of nation’s capital, particularly in Spring, was how lush green it was. Streets in Canberra are wide streets lined with leafy green trees and occupied by homes with beautiful plants and gardens. Canberra is called the ‘bush capital’ for a reason. However, what Canberra has that Sydney doesn’t, Sydney makes up for it in its own urban way. There are many things you can see, taste and do in Sydney to keep you interested and occupied during the holiday season. It didn’t take me long to reconnect and settle back in Sydney. I packed my overnight bag and headed to the new West Hotel Sydney conveniently located on the western side of the Sydney CBD between Barangaroo and Darling Harbour for a staycation and to reconnect once again with my home city.
West Hotel Sydney is a new hotel in Sydney that is part of the Curio Collection by the Hilton Group. The hotel design is distinctly around botanical motifs and geometrical lines and it is hard not to notice this as soon as you walk in to check into the hotel. The hotel is sophisticated, contemporary and calming, and the atrium ‘jungle’ is a soothing sanctuary for quiet time, a drink or two, whilst enjoying all-day sunshine.
But the most visually beautiful (and the most Instagrammable) place in the hotel was my room with the botanical canopy over the bed covered with matching designer bed linen and cushions with surrounding bedroom décor to match. With temperatures soaring to the mid 30s this summer in Sydney, I wasn’t in any hurry to wander out to reconnect with Sydney and I was quite content to curl up in bed and read a good book in the comfort of a room set at the right air conditioned temperature. My room has state-of-the-art in-room entertainment systems, plus practical work areas for the busy corporate traveller. The bathroom is a decent space and the body products, called Biology are Australian made and sulphate free, paraben free and other harmful chemical free. The body products smell fresh, native and divine, tying in with the botanical theme to complete the sensory experience. A gift pack of the products was left in my room to take home, which comes as part of the Botanicals Package.
If you do wish to wander out of your room, here is what you can see, taste and do in and around the West Hotel in 24 hours:
See
Barangaroo Reserve and Sydney Harbour
Sunset on a Sydney summer is remarkable. Walk up the stairs to the top of Barangaroo Reserve, pick your spot and you’ll see the sunset in Sydney.
A further walk around the reserve, you can see some 75,000 native plants, and also see the Sydney Harbour Bridge too on the northern side of the reserve.
In January, Sydney Festival is on and there is also the opportunity to view the various creative installations that are in place as part of the festival.
You can also check out the things to see around Barangaroo at https://www.barangaroo.com/
Taste
Solander Dining and Bar
The first night I got there was so hot we decided to stay inside the hotel and dine at Solander Dining and Bar. The concept at Solander Dining and Bar is inspired by Daniel Solander, embracing the best regional and seasonal produce New South Wales has to offer. Executive Chef David Vandenabeele carefully selects produce of the highest quality, uses his background in French cooking and his global experience from kitchens in Belgium, New York and London, to add international flare to each dish. If you stay there as a guest, there is a special fixed menu (a choice of 2 or 3 courses) that you can choose for a set price. Make sure you try the charred beef fillet with potato cake, asparagus and Shiraz sauce if that’s on the menu when you visit. Absolutely delicious.
Whilst there are many spots near the area to try, my preference is go to one of the restaurants on The Streets of Barangaroo. Here are my picks:
For breakfast, I like to pick up a croissant at Bourke Street Bakery and a fresh juice at Joe’s Juicer if I’m in a hurry. Also for great coffee and tumeric latte, I like the fairly new GVO Sydney (GVO standings for ‘good vibes only).
If I have time to sit and have lunch, I like to go to Bel and Brio as Chef Davide always puts a lot of heart and soul in his food and Chef Davide told me 80 percent of their fresh produce is grown on their own farm.
For a Japanese fix at lunch, I like the Zushi and Fujisake for a bento box or Zushi’s superfood salad.
For something a little more upmarket and really nice food, I like Nola Smokehouse.
For my seafood fish and chips fix, I like to go to Love Fish Barangaroo.
For dinner, I really like Bel and Brio’s dinner menu and I always have a great meal with their homemade pastas.
There are other restaurants to try (you can browse through the list here but these are the ones I go to and trust time and time again.
Do
Aboriginal Cultural Tour
The location of West Hotel Sydney is central enough so it is a close proximity of the iconic Sydney shopping districts such as Pitt Street Mall and The Queen Victoria Building. However, I was a little ‘shopped out’ from Christmas and decided to do something I hadn’t done in Sydney before and go on an Aboriginal Cultural Tour to learn more about Barangaroo.
I was often reminded of the historical significance of the Indigenous community in landmarks I visited in Canberra and also a project I worked on there. My time living in our nation’s capital over the past few months has made me appreciate the First Australian Indigenous community. Nearby to the West Hotel Sydney, the Aboriginal Cultural Tour that Barangaroo Authority runs interested me to learn about Barangaroo’s history and significance and explore the site’s native foods and plants that surround the reserve. My guide Mary, an Indigenous woman took me around Barangaroo and explained to me the historical significance of the site.
Would you believe there are 75,000 species of native plants at Barangaroo Reserve? As Mary guided me through Barangaroo Reserve, we stopped along the way so that Mary could explain each native plant. It was interesting to hear how the plants were used by the Aboriginal people, some as sustenance and some for medicinal benefits but one thing I learnt is that when they use a plant, they use the whole plant in some way, not just by eating it but in some cases, to create tools for hunting and gathering. Along the tour I learnt about the usage of the following plants snake vine or golden guinea club rush, pig face, lomandra, wattle, dianella, red flower paperback tree, bonjela nature daphne, native figs, tea tree and warrigal greens. The plant I found most interesting was the wattle tree because Mary showed me how the wattle leaves were used as soap (if you followed my Instastories on Barangaroo, you would have seen how this was made when we were on tour).
Did you know Barangaroo was the second wife of Bennelong? I found the story of the woman, Barangaroo interesting too. Bennelong, to whom Barangaroo was married to was a Wangal man and one of the best known Aboriginal people from Sydney’s early days because he was the first Aboriginal that had first real contact the Europeans after initially being captured and shackled, Bennelong grew to become friendly with the colonists, dining with Governor Phillip and adopting many of their customs. He later travelled to England and met King George. The site of the Sydney Opera House is named after him. Barangaroo, a strong and independent Cammeraygal woman from whom Barangaroo the place takes its name, was a considerable influence in the days of the early European colony. From the Eora language group, she was one of the Cammeraygal clan who lived in and around the north harbour and Manly. Barangaroo was know to have her own way of dealing with the early settler. Historically the Traditional Custodians, the Gadigal, used the land where Barangaroo is today for hunting, the harbour for fishing and the foreshore as a place of congregation. Barangaroo was a fisherwoman. Eora women like her were the main food providers for their families, and the staple food source of the coastal people around Sydney was fish.
West Hotel Sydney, Curio Collection By Hilton
65 Sussex St, Sydney NSW 2000
Website
See.Taste.Do stayed as a guest of the West Hotel Sydney, Curio Collection By Hilton
