Dinner was at Quay restaurant, right near the hotel with killer views of the bridge and Opera House. It's another three hat restaurant, and we had a great meal here for our last night in Sydney. The look of the place is fairly controversial, and generally unpopular, although I really like it, very wallpaper magazine. I started with their signature crisp pork belly and scallops, and Somchai had a boring looking seafood dish that he proclaimed the best dish he's had in Sydney. Mains and desserts were equally strong, all served by a very charming staff. (Food-19, Decor-17, Service-19). And for the record, they introduced a new menu last year (2006) and it's now my favorite food in Sydney, although service has gotten fairly spotty.

We had dinner with a half dozen friends at Finger Wharf, an old wharf that's been converted into the W Hotel (recently changed to the Taj Hotel), some condos, one of which houses Russell Crowe, and a half dozen good restaurants. We ate at Otto's, the best of the bunch, and food was great. In particular, my figs and goats cheese curd salad was outstanding, but all the jazzed-up Italian food is very good, and the restaurant is very fun. After dinner we headed into the wharf for drinks at the very cool bar in the lobby.

On Friday I worked in the morning and had lunch at Machiavelli's, the preferred restaurant of Sydney's powerlunching crowd. It's certainly the worst restaurant I've been to in Sydney, and one of the worst anywhere. It's housed in a couple of dark, windowless rooms, decorated with black and white photos of Australian politicians. Apparently it's a big deal to have your photo on the wall, and the restaurant moves them around depending on who's in and who's out. None of this is interesting to me, and as decor, it's pretty lame. Food is very basic Italian, like spaghetti and meatballs or veal parmigiano, stuff nobody's ordered in a couple decades. In keeping with the menu, the waiters are well past retirement age, and the only time you'll see them smile is in this photo. One very discordant note, the waiters are wired with a headphone and a handheld computer for taking orders, which looks really funny when wielded by an eighty year old. (Food-5, Decor-4, Service-4).

After drinks we went upstairs to est., the hotel's flagship restaurant. Sydney uses chef's hats rather than stars in its restaurant ratings, and est. is one of the half dozen Sydney restaurants awarded three hats. It's got the same Soho tin ceiling and pillared loft decor as the bar downstairs, but it's a much more rarefied environment. This happens to be one of our favorite restaurants, and we invariably bring our friends here who are visiting from out of town, but I guess I wasn't overwhelmed on this initial visit. Quoting from the journal, food was good but not very inventive or flavorful, and service was patchy and slow. I started with a very nice foie gras dish, but followed with a disappointingly bland barramundi. Somchai had a boring piece of swordfish for his main. (Food-13, Decor-18, Service-13). We did enjoy the wine though, a '92 Yalumba shiraz. Thailand has plenty of Australian wines, but usually dirt cheap, with French wines occupying the mid and upper ranges. I'm still a French wine fan, but it's fun to be introduced to a new world of high quality Australian wines here. And remember, the restaurant is much better than what I wrote here, I was probably just cranky from lack of sleep.