The complimentary bread and butter were most welcome.

Jac ordered the crumbed chicken livers (AU$22.50) which were served with mashed potato and lightly pickled cucumbers. The livers were huge. Jac said they were okay, but the serving was so generous she didn’t even get through half of it. I think she found the crumbed coating to be a little too thick and crusty for her liking.

I ordered the chicken schnitzel (AU$22.50) and was given the choice of mashed potato and creamed spinach or chips and salad. I chose the mash and spinach. The mashed potato was creamy and really delicious. The schnitzel was very good – fantastically crisp crumbs, and the chicken inside was so very white and not dry at all. There were two large schnitzels – one would’ve been plenty! I’m not complaining though, as I was really hungry and almost managed to finish both schnitzels.

The creamed spinach came in its own dish. I really liked its texture and creaminess but after a couple of mouthfuls a strong prawny flavour became apparent, which I found somewhat off-putting. It was a shame it wasn’t to my taste. After a couple of mouthfuls of lingering prawniness I just couldn’t eat it any more.

It was nice sitting there amongst it all, people-watching. I quite liked the bustle of Bondi, with all the shops and all the places to eat, all right next to the beach. The Gelato Bar offers a selection of delectable looking cakes and pastries (and gelato, of course!), but we were too full to fit any sweets in. We decided to catch a bus to Circular Quay after lunch so I could play tourist and see the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. Here’s a photo I took as we waited for the bus.

A Christmas tree:

This was an impressively big ship. Jac loves looking at ships, and marvels at their size and bulk. She was really excited by all the ships we saw at Circular Quay and throughout the trip.

This ship looked like it had been built with LEGO.

The famous Sydney Harbour Bridge. Maybe next time I’m in Sydney and have the time I’ll go on one of those Bridge walks.

The also famous Sydney Opera House. I think it actually looks better from a distance. I was surprised at how it looked up-close. Kind of armadillo-like.

Another Christmas tree!

It was a gloriously sunny day (as you can see!), and we got very hot with all the walking around. Before leaving Circular Quay we shared an ice cream from Royal Copenhagen (AU$5.50). That snowy white top scoop you see is lemon sorbet (my choice) and the one below is honeycomb and butterscotch (Jac’s choice). I think lemon sorbet/lemon gelato is my new favourite flavour – but it has to be really tangy rather than sweet. This lemon sorbet was just perfect, refreshing, tart and so very smooth.

We walked around the city and ended up in the Queen Victoria Building, where we decided to buy a few Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (AU$2.25 each) to take home. It would’ve been much cheaper to buy a dozen, but seriously, there was no way we could get through that many!

The chocolate iced traditional doughnut :

The butterscotch cruller. I liked the butterscotch glaze, but the shortbready texture of the cruller seemed too much like dry cake to me.

The best one 0f the lot, the strawberries and creme filled doughnut. The strawberry-flavoured creme was gorgeous, and I just loved biting into the soft cushiony doughnut. I ended up with icing sugar on my nose, all part of the experience!

Jon lives off Bondi Road, so it was very convenient for us to just wander along Bondi Road and decide what we felt like eating. While Jon was at a mate’s house for dinner, we decided to grab some takeaway for our dinner from a place called Charcoal Charlies. I couldn’t go past the homemade chicken pie (AU$6.50). The filling was very chickeny indeed – shredded chicken, which I presume came from leftover cooked chooks (one of Charcoal Charlies’ staple items). The flavour of the gravy reminded me of tinned chicken and vegetable soup. It was okay. I’d probably eat it again, but it wasn’t something I’d crave. We got a bag of potato wedges too ($can’t remember).

Jac chose the American style ribs (yeah yeah, I know Americans might dispute their American style-ness, but that’s what they were called, okay? :)) They were ok, but not amazing.

We also got coleslaw (AU$4.50 I think!). This was very bland indeed. There wasn’t enough dressing, and all I could taste was raw cabbage – there was nowhere near enough carrot. Not recommended.

The Italian style roasted vegetables (AU$5.00) were pretty good. If you’re anti-oily you’d probably find them too oily. The roasted eggplant was the best veg of the lot.