Wednesday 24 August 2011

eating & drinking sydney - the guide!


Eating & Drinking Sydney
In stores 1st September 2011
RRP $29.95

FIVE COPIES TO GIVE AWAY!
Scroll down for details

This is a momentous milestone for me. I am now a published writer!

Although I’ve been published online before, there’s something very fulfilling about a tactile, physical book that has your name scrawled across the cover.

This is Hardie Grant’s new guide to Sydney’s restaurant and bar scene, and I was cast in the role of Chief Contributor, Bars.

The goal of the guide was to capture a cross-section of venues in each of Sydney’s distinct locales and to demonstrate the unique reasons that making any given venue worth a visit. I’m pretty proud with what we achieved.


What does a chief contributor do?

My job was to compile a list of the 200 bars to be reviewed as well as some top 10 and top 5 lists and a few break out boxes on topics like NSW wines and cider. It was tough selecting only 200 bars for inclusion, especially when we had to cover off such a huge geography across Sydney. Some very worthy venues just couldn’t fit in.

Although I wrote many of the bar reviews too, there was an army of other writers out there, drinking and boozing away to give my poor liver some time to recover .

Besides bars, the guide covers restaurants and a cheap eats too. Professional journalist Lizzie Meryment, food critic at The Sunday Telegraph and The Weekend Australian, managed the 330-strong restaurant section and suburban dining expert Helen Yee, blogger of the much celebrated Grab Your Fork, came up with 170 cheap-eats.

Guiding us throughout the creation of this guide was the talented and incredibly supportive Clare Brundle. She was the project manager and editor, flying solo without a sub-editor and doing a marvellous job at getting the content ship-shape and off the publisher. We'd have nothing without her!

Being part of this project was a wonderful experience and I’m so pleased with the final product: this shiny, ultra-professional guide book.

The true test is whether I’d buy it myself and, yes folks, I would!


What were my favourite cocktails?

Having quaffed my way through a myriad of Sydney bars, apart from borderline alcohol dependence, I’ve built myself a list of favourite cocktails. My all time favourite is a well prepared Charlie Chaplin, made from sloe gin, but of the unique inventions I came across, these are the ones that resonate in my memory and draw me back for seconds, thirds and tenths.

NUMBER TEN
The Winery
Rosé Sangria
Rosé wine, Martini Bianco, lemon, strawberries

NUMBER NINE
Bloodwood
Grandfather Gus
Chivas Regal 12yr, Disaronno Amaretto and a slice of dried fig

NUMBER EIGHT
Madame Fling Flong
Madame Coco
Creme de Cacao, Frangelico and Baileys blended with milk. Poured gently into a chocolate sauce coated glass & topped with a light dusting of chocolate powder

NUMBER SEVEN
Eau de Vie
Smoky Rob Roy
10yr Talisker and 16yr Lagavulin Scotch whiskies, sweet vermouth, Olivia #5 cigar infused Zacapa 23 rum, Laphroaig quartercask rinse, orange bitters and a bourbon infused cherry

NUMBER SIX
Lotus
Celestial
Plymouth gin, lime juice, elderflower cordial, apple juice, kaffir lime leaf

NUMBER FIVE
Ms G’s
Yuzu Slushie
Limoncello, Russian Standard Vodka, shochu, yuzu juice, yuzu curd and Regans’ orange bitters

NUMBER FOUR
The Loft
Baghdad Iced Tea
Cucumber infused vodka shaken with fresh apple, mint, apple liqueur and rose syrup served tall, topped with chilled jasmine tea

NUMBER THREE
Tokonoma
Saru Caprioska
Monkey Shoulder Whisky muddled with pineapple, lemon and house-made vanilla & ginger sugar


NUMBER TWO
Gardel’s Bar at Porteño
Banana Old Fashioned
Banana infused Jack Daniels shaken with smoked maple syrup and served on hand-hewn rock ice

NUMBER ONE
Stitch
Grandma’s Addiction
Clement Creole shrub liqueur shaken with Mandarine Napoleon, Tiki spice syrup, balanced out with fresh lime juice & orange bitters.


Do you want to WIN a copy?

Then tell me, what’s your favourite cocktail?

GIVEAWAY:
For Morsels & Musings readers, Hardie Grant is giving away five copies of the Eating & Drinking Sydney!

HOW TO ENTER:

Tell me, what’s your favourite cocktail or drink?

Leave your answer
1) As a comment on this post (AND email morselsandmusings AT yahoo DOT com DOT au so I can get in touch with you if you win)
2) As a comment on the Morsels & Musing’s Facebook page

Entries close Friday 16th September when five lucky winners will be picked and a guide mailed their way courtesy of publishers Hardie Grant!

Eating & Drinking Sydney
In stores 1st September 2011
RRP $29.95


An iPhone app is on it's way too!

17 comments:

  1. Congrats! I'm not a big fan of cocktails but whenever I feel homesick I make myself a pisco sour (pisco, lime juice, egg white, syrup, dash of bitters) or an algarrobina (pisco, carob syrup, evaporated milk, syrup, cinnamon).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Anna. Congratulations on being published. My favourite cocktail is a caipirinha. It's so refreshing and reminds me of the wedding I attended in Rio a few years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congrats Anna - love the blog and i'm sure the book will be great.

    I love the No.9 cocktail at Grasshopper.

    Frankly i like almost all their cocktails as they are really well balanced and concocted with all ingredients in harmony.

    fuzz

    ReplyDelete
  4. Such a pleasure working with you, Anna! I reckon you got one of the harder gigs - all that boozing. Ahh it's a tough life! lol. Congrats!

    ReplyDelete
  5. wow! Congrats Anna!
    I would love to give this book to all my students going to study in Sydney :)

    meg

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi there Anna! CONGRATULATIONS!!! Good job! I am in no way surprised you are now published ;-
    /Mooselegs

    ReplyDelete
  7. YAY ANNA!

    Congratulations, great work!

    I will definitely be trying the Rose Sangria, Celestial and Yuzu Slushie.

    Niki xxx

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thats awesome, i am sure it is excellent. Espresso Martini

    ReplyDelete
  9. Congratulations Anna!!! Can't wait to get my hands on your book :)

    My favourite cocktail if Mojito! Love it anytime of the day, especially on a hot, sunny day by the beach!

    ReplyDelete
  10. you've already picked mine - the amazing Banana Old Fashioned at Gardels. It converted this hardcore bourbon hater....

    ReplyDelete
  11. Congratulations! It looks fantastic (and will be sure to pick up a copy - think it will very useful when I pop back to Sydney to be a brideslave in a couple of weeks time). Favourite drink; glass of just blushing pink wine, but then a straight campari over ice is pretty hard to go past.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Congratulations! It looks like a great book, and must be so nice to have the printed copy in your hand after all that ardous cocktail-sipping. My favourite cocktail is a mojito. I had great ones in a bar in Brussels with Liv, where they used sugar cane sticks to mash / stir the mint in - YUM.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hard job you must've had... :p Congrats once again. My all-time favourite cocktail was from Sake Restaurant. It was called a Mr Miyagi; sake and limoncello. I like my cocktails fruity so this one was right up my alley as it was citrusy with just the right amount of sweetness. I'm bummed that they don't have it anymore :(

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anna, this is great!! I want a copy of your book so you have to either bring me one when you visit Sweden next time or send me one and let me know how to send you tha payment.

    I have to know where to eat whenever we go to Sydney again :)

    Love
    Camilla (cousin)

    ReplyDelete
  15. just looking back on all your comments. so nice to be so congratulated by so many friends and family.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for saying hello. It's great to know there are people out there in cyberspace!

Related Posts with Thumbnails