Day 4: Sydney
Day 4 in Sydney was about indulgence. I slept in, went to the gym, and finally ventured out for lunch at Aria. As I was looking for “fine dining” in Sydney, this restaurant was on all the lists. Surprisingly, most of my fellow diners seemed to be there for business meetings, with one intimate birthday celebration behind me.
They gave me a fabulous table. This was my view.
I selected the tasting menu with wine pairings.
Over the next 3 hours, I ate almost every bite. The food was beautiful and delicious. The John Dory and the Duck courses were simply perfect. I was a bit nervous about the Wagyu Tongue course.
They did a great job with the wine pairings. The Trebbiano (another new white wine for me) and Barolo were both lovely. The pear cider was a new experience, not necessarily one I want to repeat, but interesting and appropriate for the food.
The mango dessert was amazing – fresh mango, mango sorbet, on coconut rice with macadamia nuts. Delicious. The prior course was a blackberry sorbet with what tasted like frozen almond milk crumbles. Not bad, but not what my mouth was expecting. The petit fours with coffee were different. The back one that looks like a caramel was flavored with some kind of mushroom.
That evening I attended my first ballet – Sylvia – at the Sydney Opera House. While I watch a lot of ballet and dance documentaries on Amazon, this was my first every in person ballet. It was a great first experience with lots of mythic themes woven in – Zeus, Apollo, Artemis, Psyche, Eros. For a ballet written in 1876, it’s surprisingly focused on female warrior women.
I ended up seated next to a woman who had been a season ticket holder for years. So she gave me lots of insight into the history of the Opera House, the Australian Ballet in general. And she had dozens of ideas for things I should fit in while I’m here. There was almost a full moon that could be seen during the intermissions.
