At the end of last year I was at 29 restaurants and 42 hats eaten.
This year I'm at...
...29 restaurants and 46 hats eaten.
So my fine dining life is pretty much in a holding pattern. With three kids and another on the way, I'll take that.
The 29 restaurants includes three new reviews for 2018, plus an old one revisited.
2015 (AND EARLIER) HATS EATEN
Three: Momofuku Seiobo, Quay
Two: Aria, The Bridge Room, Icebergs Dining Room & Bar, Monopole, Rockpool Bar & Grill, Tetsuya's
One: The Apollo, The Bathers' Pavillion, Billy Kwong, Kepos Street Kitchen, Spice Temple
Momofuku and Quay have both changed significantly since my experiences there - I need to somehow engineer a return to at least one of them in 2019.
2016 HATS EATEN
Two: Automata
One: Felix, Glass Brasserie, Hartsyard
2017 HATS EATEN
Three: Sixpenny
Two: Bentley Restaurant & Bar, Saint Peter
One: 1889 Enoteca (Qld), Cafe Di Stasio (Vic), Caveau, The Dolphin Hotel, EightySix (ACT), Sake Restaurant & Bar
Quote from last year on Sixpenny - "let's just say it must be two-and-a-half hats, because there's not much missing from this experience." Next year, third hat, totally my influence.
2018 HATS EATEN
Firedoor (two hats)
Where everything is cooked with wood, with no gas and electricity to be seen. And you can watch thanks to the open kitchen. It's a great experience that presents some really unique flavours from cooking exclusively by fire and smoke.
Through a completely unrelated online discussion many months later, I'm also pretty sure the restaurant is located at the bottom of the building where the video clip for Icehouse's Electric Blue was made.
Tuuunnneeeeee!
This restaurant at Pyrmont - but not in the casino! - is an Italian-Japanese mash-up, and definitely at the higher end of the two hat range.
A1 Canteen (one hat)
This is the more casual version of Automata. It's a good dinner option if you don't want to splurge on the set menu and full wine list just across the lane. It's also a cafe style menu by day.
Billy Kwong (one hat - re-review!)
This restaurant is on my 2015 list - I actually went there way back in 2012, when it was located in Surry Hills. This year I finally went to the Potts Point location. I also went as part of a large group, which makes for a much better experience with Chinese cuisine, although I think you can strongly argue that Billy Kwong is an Australian restaurant. Is wallaby tail automatically Chinese food because it's cooked using a wok? I don't think so.
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