Ever since Mercado was named one of the best new restaurants of 2016 by the Good Food Guide, it’s been on my wishlist.

So it was with great anticipation that I looked forward to dinner.

I was not disappointed! No, much more than that, I was surprised and delighted at the generosity of Mercado’s service, approach and prices – something that can be hard to find now in popular, trending restaurants.

Let me tell you how:

Mercado takes bookings at the time you want – not set sitting times.

Mercado lets you order a la carte or from set menus – it’s up to you – no compulsory degustation or tasting menu. (Unless you are a group of 8 or more when you must have the $80 set menu).

Mercado has great service from thoughtful, knowledgeable wait staff who care about their guests and their product. They establish warm, but respectful rapport and anticipate your needs. They provide continuity from start to finish.

Mercado has good value prices – coffees are $4.50 not $8.

Mercado has great food – every dish was a winner.

Mercado offers you a $65 set menu on the house for your birthday (if you subscribe) when you book as a group of 4. (Available lunch or dinner Monday – Thursday).

As we were heading to Vivid, we arrived by 6pm and went for the Pre-Theatre set menu for $55 per person. This turned out to be a great choice.

The food reminded me of both Stanbuli and Continental Deli, having a style that falls somewhere in between.

The Pre-Theatre menu offers:

The Chickpea puree with brown butter was wonderful with great crispy chickpeas and deliciously warm flatbreads.

Marinated olives

A selection of cold cuts cured in house – all excellent and perfect with the Mixed pickled vegetables

Turkish ravioli of pumpkin with yoghurt & burnt butter – we loved this.

Chorizo with salsa mojo verde – very good.

Chef’s selection from the rotisserie – we had the wonderfully succulent and flavoursome rotisserie chicken with lemon & aioli and a great house made sauce.

Salad of mixed leaves & herbs.

Dulce de leche ice cream served dramatically with butterscotch & candied bacon – delicious!

$55 per person the Pre-Theatre set menu is available in the evening before 6pm

I estimate it provides the equivalent of $171 of dishes for $110 for two people, so it’s excellent value.

However, the table to us was ordering a la carte and their dishes looked wonderful too. They loved them especially the Foie gras parfait, Braised Octopus and Beef carpaccio – all dishes I would order next time to try. Instagrammers agree.

Foie gras parfait, pickles & toast 26

Escabeche of kingfish, fennel & lemon 29

Soft shell crab bun, harissa & aioli 24

Braised octopus, sobrasada, potato & olive 32

Roasted prawns, chilli oil & romesco 39

Beef carpaccio, ortiz anchovy dressing & caviar 28

Wine by the glass includes a very good 2016 Jauma y Mercado ‘Garnatxa’ Grenache McLaren Vale, SA $14 for a generous (150ml pour).

Located in the cellar of a building off Angel Place, the setting is cozy and inviting.

I’m not taking it off my wish list, but I’ve added it to my Sydney favourites – at the top.

The four day Taste of Sydney just finished yesterday.

And wow, what a great foodie festival it was…and yes you do need friends with you, who like to share!!

Not just a wonderful chance to enjoy some pretty special dishes from some of Sydney’s best restaurants but lots of excellent free or low cost interactive sessions, wine tasting and way too many selfie opportunities (apologies in advance).

Having done our research we booked our sessions and headed off to start on our dish hit list.

First to Porteno where Adam and the team were serving up some delicious dishes…

Grilled cheese with Almond Romesco $6 (one of our favourites)

Steamed corn and cheese tamale with Tomaillo sauce $10 (another fav)

BBQ pork sausage with creamed corn and spicy sofritto $12

Icon dish – BBQ beef belly with crispy fried Brussels sprouts $18

Then dessert….the highlight of the day Hazelnut Mousse Cake with Pedro Ximenez and gold leaf from Mercado Restaurant, with a hollow chocolate core filled with divine liquid $10. We weren’t the only ones who loved this dish, it was ranked No. 2 in the Best in Taste awards.

Time for one of the World’s best margaritas…..

Some very delicious Rum Chata…..

And some Tamada Georgian wines (apparently the world’s oldest wine growing region)…

Then back for more dishes, a lovely Lavender and Rose soft serve with red vermouth caramel and pistachio praline $6 from Banksii…

…who also had their Ora King salmon rillette with red pepper relish and rosemary flat bread $10…

….and their Banksii duck sausage with vermouth plum jam and fennel salad $12

…..then another of our favourites, the Liquid pumpkin and Parmesan gnocchi with forest mushroom tea $12  also a Best in Taste winner at No.3…

…and a Black sticky rice coconut slice $6 from Long Chim along with their Icon dish of Charred rice noodles with chicken, yellow beans and Chinese broccoli $14

Time to get cooking with Meat & Livestock Australia’s Cook’s Corner as Andy Allen and Ben Milbourne from Andy & Ben Eat Australia……

….taught us to cook Brisket and Charred Herb Salsa…

…and then off to the Lurpak Cookery School……

….to do some hands on..

…Butter Poached Fish served with Butter Charred Corn and Passionfruit Curd Tart (delish!).

We just caught the end of the Ethihad Airways Taste the World winning chef preparing Bouche on the Bridge’s No.1 winning Wallaby skewers with spiced cashew sauce (wild Tasmanian wallaby tenderloins marinated & cooked over charcoal)..wow!

So sad to not be able to get to everything like IncredibleIndia’s Delhi ‘O Delhi or Organic Darjeeling Tea tasting…

…or the many Table talks and wine appreciation chats.

 

And then there were also all those chef talks that would have been fascinating, like Nathan Sasi from Merado and Mike Nicolian from Continental Deli and of course, the dishes still on the hit list we didn’t get to:

Nel’s Banana and Peanut Butter Ice Cream $10

Captured by @pipedream.celebrations

Summer Efforescence -Strawberry Sorbet, lychee, champagne mousse, crystallised rose petals $12

Captured by @jamielee.lane

Wagon Wheel – raspberry, yuzu and milk chocolate wagon wheel $6

Captured by @tasteofsydney

Truffle Hunt with chicken, truffle, porcini mushroom croquette & edible truffle soil $10

Captured by @davidxiao8891

Mercado’s

Foie Gras Parfait $12

Captured by @patsplustots

Long Chim’s Grilled Squid with Sriracha sauce $10

Captured by @katty_sydney_

or Saint Peter’s Pambula Sea Urchin Crumpet $24

Captured by @glendonww

Next time!!!!!

Parking was surprisingly easy and free near the Centennial Parklands venue and while it was clearly very popular and you needed to book sessions ahead, lines were short and waiting small. 

General tickets were $25 on-line, most activities were no cost except for most wine tasting (around $4 a 60ml pour) and the Chef’s Secrets $12.

Truly a great experience and I’m looking forward to next year!!!

Hartsyard is just one of the hatted restaurants on Enmore Road (and very helpfully just across the road from the Urban Hotel).

Focusing on American style dishes, it’s famous for it’s fried chicken and biscuit and the soft serve desssert of the week!

Especially good choices for sharing were the….

Smoked Trout with onion dip, golden beet, trout roe, bagel chips $29

….the signature dish Fried Chicken with  buttermilk biscuit, low country sausage gravy $33

A generous serve with four pieces to share and two delicious pieces of soft buttery biscuit.

Perfect with the hot sauce.

Hartsyard soft serve of the day- this time banana with rich caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, shaved chocolate and whipped cream – must be shared! $20

But other excellent choices are the cauliflower dish and the mushroom dish, next time!