Hunter Valley: A wine tasting tour

Photo was a little too zoomed-in but I didn't go too near in fear that I could've scare the kangaroo, which may lead to the kangaroo hopped away, or gave me a good kick. Anyway, the photo was taken at a winery in Hunter Valley.

Hunter Valley is about a two-hour drive north of Sydney, making it a popular day trip from Sydney. It is also Australia's oldest wine region, so we did a wine tour.

We signed up for a tour departing from Sydney which included visits to 4 different wineries, Kiss of Fire outlet for some liqueur tastings and Hunter Valley Chocolate Shop at the end of the day. Cost of the tour was $120 per person and we opted for the lunch option and paid additional $25 per person.

On the way there, we stopped at Oliver's Real Food for a toilet and self-funded breakfast break. Then we continued on our way to the first winery stop.


Ridgeview

We were told that the owner lives in Sydney and also works as a dentist (if I remember correctly), which we went, "wow!". Here are the wines we were served and my friend ended up buying the the 2015 "sweet tooth" which is sweet but good. Out in the vineyard looked beautiful but as we were there in early August, there were a little bare.

All she needed to do was to pay and give her name to the driver/guide. Our driver/guide would take the wine she bought and put it in a box along with the rest of the purchases by the rest of the tour members and carried it to the coach. Yup - they made purchasing very easy. Haha.

Macquariedale Organic Wines

Yup, wines can be organic too. Macquariedale Organic Wines was the first certified organic and biodynamic vineyard in the Hunter Valley. Unfortunately, my friends and I didn't quite enjoy the organic wines but many of our tour mates did considering the purchases made.

Hermitage Road Cellars
This was our third stop. Wines were served with some cheese pairing here, which is suitable timing because I was getting hungry by this time.

After this, it was lunch time! We opted in for lunch, along with another 4 other tour mates. We were served 8 pizzas and 4 salads between the 7 of us. There 4 types of pizzas and 2 different salads, plus wine of course.

From left: salmon, chicken, meat lovers and vege 

There were plenty of leftovers to take away. Then we were off to our last winery stop.


McGuigan Wines

This session was really enjoyable. The staff who was assigned to our group was entertaining as well as informative. The other friend made a purchase here. By this stop, I was almost at my threshold of alcohol.

Kiss of Fire

We were done with wineries but we had another alcohol stop - Kiss of Fire that sells liqueurs. There were liqueurs with different flavours including chilli which did have some kick to it! One of the flavours I enjoyed was the butter scotch liqueurs.

Then we went across to have some chocolates before returning to Sydney.


Hunter Valley Chocolate Factory

We were each given 4 pieces of chocolate and told to start with the chilli chocolate first, I think. I seem to recall that there are some with dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate combination, which I didn't realise when I picked it up from the tray. This was also the first time I tried ruby chocolate.

I had a very good sleep on our way back to Sydney courtesy to the alcohol intake. Haha.


Side note: Less than 2 weeks to finally a day of public holiday... though I need to work.. 

Sydney: Fourth visit of the year - an eating trip

Y and R wanted to visit Sydney for a couple of days and I thought I'll join them as well, hence my fourth trip to Sydney this year. Y and R flew out from Melbourne in the morning while I joined them after work on the same day. The food below were consumed from Wednesday dinner till Sunday morning. These are new places for me too.


Altum Restaurant
1 Olympic Dr, Milsons Point NSW 2061

Upon landed, I commuted to Milsons Point right away to join Y, R and another friend, F who lives in Sydney for dinner. The place has a good view but the food is mediocre, at least what I ordered. My friend liked her duck dish though.

Seafood fregola with calamari, baby octopus, saffron, scampi and tomato ($36)

Delizia al cioccolato - chocolate, hazelnut layer cake, raspberry sorbet, hazelnut praline and amarena cherries ($17)

Crescent Ramen Bar
468-472 George St, Sydney NSW 2000

My colleague brought me to try this new ramen bar which is a Japanese hostess club at night. Ordering food is at the bar. There are some seating at the bar, or tables with leather couch. The setting is definitely inline with it's night business.

This reaffirms my opinion that Sydney has better Japanese food, and yes, this includes ramen.

Bonito chicken and pork stock ramen ($16.5)

Starbucks Coffee
My friend went in to check out their flasks collection and bought one as a souvenir. With the purchase of the flask, she was given a 50% discount on coffee and ordered a matcha espresso fusion.

Matcha espresso fusion

Sydney Madang Korean BBQ
371A Pitt St, Sydney NSW 2000

My friends went to Blue Mountains for a day trip and came back wanting hot soup. We settled on soupy Korean food. We ordered the assorted seafood soup and it was served with udon which we swapped with ramen.

Baek Se Joo - Korean red ginseng & ginger wine ($22)

Dweji kimchijun - Pork and kimchi korean pancake ($17)

Jjambbong jungol - assorted seafood and noodle ($49)

The Meat and Wine Co
International Tower One, 100 Barangaroo Avenue, Barangaroo NSW 2000

We came here for kangaroo meat under recommendation from Y's friend. Good food but as you can see, pricey.

I love the menu cover. They are different animals photo on different menu.

2017 Cape Mentelle Sauvignon Blanc Semillon ($63)

From top, clockwise: Kangaroo skewer - Loin-fillet, buttered potato, native bush spice, tomato chutney and crispy onion rings ($38); side of sweet potato fries; slow-cooked ribs platter - beef and pork ribs ($59)

Messina
Darling Square, 1 - 19 Little Hay St, Haymarket NSW 2000

We had dessert pre-dinner. My choice was pannacotta, fig jam and amaretti biscuit. It was one of the specials for the week.

Home Thai
Shop 1/2, 299 Sussex St, Sydney NSW 2000

After ice-cream, R wanted to lie down and skipped dinner so Y and I went out without her. Even though we weren't too hungry but for some reason the 2 of us still ended up with this amount of food!

Pla Ma Nao - steamed barramundi with lemon, chilli, garlic and lime juice ($36); background: Jasmine rice ($3)

Stir fried shrimp paste morning glory with rice ($15)

Tom yum clear soup with prawns ($20)

Boon Cafe Eatery & Grocer
1/425 Pitt St, Haymarket NSW 2000

Another Asian brunch place but this time in Sydney. I like my order of kai gatah but R commented that her crab congee was rather bland and the crab wasn't fresh. Y had the same dish as what I ordered, half hit and half miss. Probably need another visit to see if they are as good as the high rating online.

Kai gatah - pan-baked eggs with smoked fish sausage, chicken mince, sliced pork and sausage loaf ($10); Goldilocks latte - cold pressed turmeric, milk & vallentines ($5.5) 

Most of my travel to Sydney were for work so it was either early morning and/or late evening flight. It was rare to see Sydney during midday with views like this. I enjoy living in Melbourne but in my opinion, Sydney is more impressive as a holiday destination.

Side note: Wow.. and we are suddenly at the last quarter of the year.