Glass Brasserie, Sydney

A couple of weeks ago, I was in Sydney for our work's legal training conference.  The conference always includes a lovely dinner, and on this occasion, the selected venue was Luke Mangan's Glass Brasserie at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney.

While we were waiting for dinner, we went for drinks at the gorgeous Marble Bar in the basement of the Hilton.  I was glad that we went when the bar first opened, as it is extremely popular and fills up very quickly (after which new comers are locked out). Jess, Lee and I had a couple of cocktails in the beautiful surrounds of marble, bronze and cedar, with vintage prints.  The bar was built in the 1800s, and was dismantled and re-assembled in the Hilton in 1973.  It is definitely worth a look for its beauty alone.

From Marble Bar, we caught the lift up to Level 2 to Glass Brasserie.  We were allowed to choose an entree, main and dessert from the set menu provided for our group.

For entree (starter), I chose the quail with dukkah, Serrano, pear and agresto:

Salted quail is a favourite of mine at Chinese restaurants, so it was fun to try it here.

Lee chose the tart of fig, Roquefort, onion marmalade and verjuice dressing:

She enjoyed it, but said it was very rich.

Adrian, another of our colleagues in the wider legal group, I believe was the recipient of this dish of tempura prawns, Thai salad, peanuts and tamarind dressing:

There were no complaints from Adrian, so I assume it tasted good.

For main, I chose the truffle poached jewfish, warm cucumber, garlic flower, onion, peas, white asparagus and shimeji (whatever that is!):

Doesn't it look delicious - so fresh and green with all those lovely vegetables.

Finally, for dessert, I chose the strawberry cheesecake:

All of this food was good, but we were a little spoilt having been to Aria the night before - so unfortunately, this food did not blow us away like our meal at Aria.

Our colleague Adrian then decided to drink whisky with Jess:

Adrian would have been very disappointed if I did not publish this photo of his stoic efforts.  Unfortunately, Adrian did not realise that Jess is a legendary whiskey drinker, and therefore what a tough challenge he had set himself in attempting to match it with her.  This is despite the fact that Adrian is a Scot and ought to know a little about drinking whisky.  I did not even try to compete (I hate the burning sensation of whisky), and stuck with the wine.

Afterwards, we went to Zeta Bar (after a failed attempt to re-enter the Marble Bar), also in the Hilton, to continue socialising.  We stayed there until 2am the next morning - I for one am way too old to deal well with such shenanigans, and was shattered the next day (and it was not the alcohol - it was the lack of sleep). We looked like an odd lot in the bar in our ordinary work clothes, mixing it with the clubbing crowd and those in formal wear who had escaped from Christmas parties.  At least there was safety in numbers, and a good night was had by all.

Glass Brasserie
Level 2, 488 George Street
Sydney, NSW 2000

Ph: (02) 9265 6040

Zeta Bar
Level 4, 488 George Street
Sydney, NSW 2000

Ph: (02) 9265 6070

Marble Bar
Level B1, 488 George Street
Sydney, NSW 2000

Ph: (02) 9265 2000