Visit me at indianatyourplace.com.au to see how fabulous foods

On a rainy day in Redfern what better place to be than the Patagonian Toothfish restaurant. The name is enough to entice you.

We were there for lunch on a quiet Saturday, but at night the best table is in front of the fire – perfect for a cold winter night.

On warmer days or nights there is outdoor seating under cover where you can watch the passers by.

Next door is the Woolpack Hotel which we went to after lunch for a cleansing glass of wine (or two).

The restaurant is small and intimate. Hong Kong born, Mauritian raised owner Steven specialises in light curries and tapas which have been influenced by French Mauritian flavours.

For more information about what I do, visit yumchaatyourplace.com.au

I moved to Redfern a year ago and found it to be so different to my initial impression. Ten years ago, I would not have ventured into certain areas and would not have felt safe walking the streets at night – but I do now.

What we have here is a fabulous change occurring, not gentrification but the buzzy feeling of an exciting, energy filled hub of the city.

The shutters are coming off the shops (goodbye Beirut) and the sun can shine in.

Great time to be here – lots of things to share with you

If you are in Brisbane and bothered by termites visit ecopest.com.au

Back again

I have been inactive for a while running Catering at Your Place - visit us at cateringatyourplace.com.au and follow us on Facebook.

More to come about fabulous Redfern

Hustle & Flow then to Tany's

On Thursday night I met up with my red haired Blog Buddy (RHBB) and her partner (let's call him BB2 - as he doesn't really have a lot of hair, no colour will be in his moniker), and dropped into the new Hustle & Flow bar at 105 Regent Street, next door to Cafe Ish.

I live just around the corner and still had difficulty in finding it, as I have NO sense of direction, so spent some time wandering Regent Street. However, if you are like me, who has difficulty not only in finding a place, but remembering where it was when you did find it, the pleasure lies in the little burst of happiness when you do arrive safely at the destination and my BB's were already there.

Tim and Brian man the bar and the rap/hip hop music is really good. The night we were there they were playing music from a group of indigenous kids at the Koori radio station - really good music.

Here is a photo of Tim behind the bar

The seating is comfortable and the lighting subdued. In the front are couches but we chose to sit at a small table with stools (with backs thank goodness) so that we could view the bar and the people coming in.

The walls have been painted with exceptional graffiti and the place has a feeling of having been there longer than a couple of weeks. I do like graffiti in situations like this - colourful and spontaneous in nature - perfect in this instance and it's not on a train or someone's fence.

The food menu is small but not bad for a bar and whilst we didn't try anything to eat as we were going Japanese I will definitely be back to sample the menu. On offer, apart from toasties and nuts, is a Filo Burger with a Filipino twist (sounds interesting) and a Big Chilli Style Con Carne. Below are some of the menu covers.



Cocktails include Brass Monkey, Thug Passion and Caribou Lou - I wonder who thinks up these names?



A quick update

I had taken some photos on my phone but didn't know how to move them onto the computer and I wanted them in this blog. I dropped back into the bar on Saturday night to take some more photos with my camera which I do know how to work. Brian told me how to transfer them from my phone - and it worked!

Brian offered me a glass of mulled wine which he poured while I was photographing the art on the walls. When I returned to the bar, I picked up a glass of red, took a mouthful and thought "holy cow, that's pretty weak". Turned out that I drank the red tip jar water.

There are times when my level of sophistication is just underwhelming.

From there we wandered up Redfern Street to a new Japanese eatery where Drylands used to be - goodness, they didn't last long! Just near the corner of Chalmers Street which strip is beginning to jump. I saw a DA for another cafe to open, hopefully soon.

Word seems to have got around as we arrived around 7pm and by 7.30pm the place was full with quite a few people coming in for take-away.

My RHBB is knowledgeable about Japanese food having spent time in Japan so it was a good opportunity to put it through it's paces.

The standard is pretty good, the gyoza are excellent and the Agadeshi Tofu really good.
Can't remember what the photo below was, but it did taste good.

I intend to return and try a few more things and perhaps get to know the owners and introduce them to you.

see you soon!

Redfern Station

I have had a bit of a respite from the blog for various reasons, but have my mojo back and there is still so much to write about.

When I moved here I was surprised at how large Redfern Railway station was. I assumed it would be a couple of platforms, but to my surprise there is something like 18. So I got to thinking.

Well before oral contraception was readily available – the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and to some extent the 60’s, a popular expression in Sydney when young people had sex, was to “get off at Redfern”.

If you can imagine that the “goal” in sex was Central, then the popular way for many people to avoid pregnancy was  to "get out early" on their way to Central.

This, of course, was not a very secure contraceptive measure and there are many people in Sydney I would imagine, who could euphemistically be called Redfern Babies.

Maybe that is why there are so many platforms at Redfern Station to cope with the large numbers of people alighting early.

Walking down Redfern Street a couple of weekends ago I was tempted to cross the road by the smell of a sausage sizzle.

107 Projects is a new art space in Redfern Street with 7 founding members. Jamie is one of the group who consist of Jamie (studying to be a teacher), artists and local business owners who have an artistic background.

Two weeks ago was the grand opening and the 10 private studios were open to the public to see what is going on and to meet the artists. There is a theatre performance space which on the day had a magician performing to a large crowd.

There will be a new exhibition every 3 weeks. In the foyer was a funky bridal (I think that was what is was) display

and an assemblage of shoes

hanging clouds

 

all up an excellent initiative for local artists. Well worth keeping an eye on for upcoming classes and exhibitions.

www.107projects.org