Melbourne-born and raised, she did a three-year stint in London before relocating to Sydney in 2012. Lisa is a freelance writer, editor and content producer. Sink a few drinks and enjoy a long lazy meal here on a sunny afternoon while watching the ferries float in and out of the terminal.Ģ2-23 E Esplanade, Manly NSW 2095, Australia There also some fun combinations in the sides and starters too ”“ we enjoyed the pea guacamole, Vietnamese slaw and roasted cauliflower with romesco, parmesan and brown butter crumbs as part of the Papi Winter Feast Menu.Īn extensive wine selection, a South American-inspired cocktail list, and beers, local and imported, offered on tap and by the bottle are available to help wash it all down. There’s pork belly, ribs, pork shoulder, and Wagyu brisket ”“ which was a generous, tender-tasting cut served on waxed brown paper with BBQ sauce and a soft white roll. Smoked meats are all slow cooked for six hours or more over hot wood in a special oven. Headed up by chefs Patrick Friesen (formerly of Ms.G’s) and Christopher Hogarth (previously of Mr Wong), the menu melds South American, Canadian and Asian flavours.
Try for a table by the windows for a meal with a seaside view. An impressive copper-topped bar sits proudly at it centre, while a loose Cuban theme resonates in its interiors, including cane furnishings, antique-style ceiling fans and table lamps, with mirrors and framed prints dotting its white-washed brick walls. While Papi Chulo is a large space, a thoughtful approach to design helps to makes it feel intimate. Taking over and revamping the space that formerly housed a Chinese restaurant, it stepped up the standard of dining wharf-side in Manly. “We've got boutique gins with individual tonics and garnishes that match the botanicals in the gin,” says French.īrick Lane 75 Stanley Street, Darlinghurstįacebook.A buzzy, waterside restaurant located on Manly Wharf, Papi Chulo opened in January 2014. That back bar serves some vaguely Indian-inspired cocktails and four gin and tonics. The hidden back corner (obscured by the bar) is plastered with an Eve Bracewell installation of old newspaper comic strips.
A bare brick wall hosts Shannon Crees’s multi-textured depictions of Indian holy men.
The restaurant’s façade is lit by neon, which is also underneath some of the inside benches. While the food on the famous London street is mostly traditional rice and curry, the mood there is what Bains and French are inspired by fun, unconventional and experimental. It's a place in London people tend to gravitate to if they're a little bit unconventional,” says Bains. It's also known for its street art and fashion. “Brick Lane isn't just known for its food. There are some wild ideas, certainly different to anything else out there, but they’re still accessible, which Bains and French say is essential to the Brick Lane concept. There’s a fried-egg bap with curry sauce and miniature potato chips smoked beef brisket with soft-boiled eggs, curried hot sauce and papadums and even a Vietnamese-inspired “naan-mi” with spiced pork belly, pate, spring onions and chilli wrapped in naan. Bains, and business partner Alistair French (who comes from a restaurant-managing post at Papi Chulo), have brought in Joey Ingram (ex-Claude’s and Tetsuya’s) to change traditional Indian fare into something fresher, cuisine-bending and new.
“We're trying to take the spices and flavours of India but not necessarily serve them in Indian food,” says Brick Lane’s Kiran Bains. The idea is to carve a piece of chook off the bone, place it in the bread and douse it in pickles, yoghurt and hot sauce. It serves a juicy, crunchy fried half-chicken with pickled cauliflower and cucumber yoghurt vindaloo hot sauce and three folds of buttery paratha (flat) breads. There’s a new sort-of-Indian diner on Stanley Street.