According to a former chef that I know, Sydney-siders are notorious for one thing as far as dining out is concerned. It’s that we are obsessed with new places whereas in other countries and cities, people stick to a restaurant, get to know the owners and staff and go back again and again. I must admit that I do have this need to try out new places-not just because I’m always asked if I have tried this new place and that. And Sydney feeds this craving for new with restaurants opening up (and shutting down) to accommodate this need.
One restaurant that I had wanted to go to for years was Rubyos in Newtown. It stands out a little on the King Street strip, not as grungy or alternative -to me the decor looks like an upmarket bistro. This month’s Crave food festival sees “satellite” areas outside the CBD like Newtown banding together and offering menus to entice diners under the banner of “Newtown Food Festival”. When we sit down we’re handed the regular a la carte menu with an extra page for specials, a Taste of Newtown set menu as well as a Tuesday night love birds menu.
I’m slightly flustered as to which one to order but we go for the Taste of Newtown menu. The waitress explains to us that the menu is made up of grazing portions similar to tapas style dishes and come with four portions to a serve. However the Taste of Newtown and the Love Birds menus have two portions per serve to allow for more variety. Each dish comes one at a time from lightest to heaviest.
Our Kir Royales come out first and they’re a nice touch to the menu. The price is $45 per person and you get a Kir Royale along with an eight course tasting menu.
Salad of honey baked goat’s cheese
The first item to come out was the frisee salad with small chunks of honey baked goat’s cheese, walnuts, pear slices and a tangy cranberry vinaigrette. I find that with frisee salads, sometimes distribution of “bits” can be hard as the leaves don’t hold them so I have to make sure that I get some cubes of goat’s cheese and most of the cranberries don’t make it onto our plates with the tongs so we go scooping for these.
Seared deep sea scallops
This was both Mr NQN and my favourite dish and the thick, creamy leek and chestnut compote and fried shallots were so beautifully balanced with the juicy scallops. And you can bet I licked the scallop shell clean of the sauce! 
Flash fried calamari
Another favourite of ours, the calamari came as four curled pieces to our serve and were marinated in sesame and rice wine. They were crunchy and served on a Korean hot chilli gochujang puree and crunchy sweet and sour lotus root.
Panfried haloumi
I love the salty kick from halloumi and topped with watermelon, coriander and mint salsa with the sweet, refreshing salad going well with the salty halloumi. It was said to have chilli oil but if it did, it was very mild indeed and I ended up using a bit of the gochujang on it which was nice indeed.
Atlantic salmon rosettes
I’m not sure why I was thinking that these would be cold smoked salmon rosettes but there are hot cooked ones steeped in mustard seed and dill. It’s served with a Chardonnay risotto, mustard cress and balsamic roasted beetroot chunks. Whilst this wasn’t a bad dish, I think the saltiness or the halloumi and the spice from the calamari meant that this was just too mild and timid to follow them.
Turmeric marinated chicken tenderloins
This was saucey turmeric marinated chicken tenderloins served with a kaffir lime roasted pumpkin, with a chunky tomato and lime kasundi and black pepper pappadums. The chicken was tender and I liked the crunchy black pepper pappadums and the strong kasundi, a dipping sauce that is used in Bengali cuisine.
Grilled duck and ginger sausage
Even though the serves were small, we were really filling up quickly, even bottomless pit Mr NQN. The sausage was split in two and served on a chunks of coriander seed roasted kumara, topped with gingered orange gravy. Whilst I thought that the sausage was really lovely, there was a bit too much orange with the kumara and it was really dominated by it.
Crispy new york style crushed chats
I love a good, crispy potato and these with rosemary salt were nicely crispy edged. I ended up leaving some of the potato filling as I was quite full. If anything, I would say that these would be even better with those really tiny potatoes so that it’s mostly that lovely, salty crispy edged goodness.
Winter warmer plate
Did I just say that I was full? Well full for savouries although there’s that handy dessert stomach! There is no dessert on the set menu but the last time I didn’t order dessert, some of your Dear Readers got quite vocal about it! The Winter Warmer sampler plate finishes in about 3 week’s time but the items sounded too good to pass up and it’s only about $4 more than a standalone dessert. There are four mini desserts. I started with the sticky chestnut and apricot cake with butterscotch sauce which was my favourite. Strong in chestnut, it was also generously studded with rustic, chunky apricot pieces and a butterscotch sauce which smelled like white chocolate.
My second favourite was the black forest semifreddo with dark cherry compote with chunks of dark chocolate and black cherries with some plump, sweet black cherries on top. There was also a sweet, stewed rhubarb and strawberry crumble with crunchy macadamia topping with big chunks of macadamia nuts which was good although perhaps the nuts could have been slightly more chopped up because sometimes you would get a mouthful of just macadamia thinking that it was crumble. Last of all there was a lovely mulled wine jelly infused with mandarine, nutmeg and cloves with chopped, candided fruit.
Oh and in case you were wondering what is behind the name Rubyos? We ask the owner Liz about this and she tells us that there isn’t really a meaning behind it and that it was “a result of a group of friends and too much red wine!”
So tell me Dear Reader, do you like to try the newest places or do you tend to stick to old faithfuls?
NQN and Mr NQN were a guest of Rubyos
Rubyos
18-20 King Street, Newtown
Tel: +61 (02) 9557 2669
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32 Comments | Add your own
Are Sydney-siders obsessed with new places because they are adventurous or because they didn’t like traditional (national) foods therefore developed the habit of always looking?
The food looks lovely! I’ve always walked past it to and from Newtown to uni and they are always closed – they probably only serve dinner!
That’s amazing value! And those scallops looked amazing!
Looks like you’ve found another winner, Lorraine. Any meal that starts with a Kir Royale is okay by me!
I love the simple yet beautiful salad with honey baked goat cheese…. yum! We don’t really get to try new places all the time as we eat at home during the weekday. But we try to mix up with our favorites. It’s not easy to find restaurants that are pretty good as or better than our favorites. I am always impressed by your details about each dish! Do you take notes while eating and taking pictures? A lot of hard work as usual!
I’ve never seen a cherry in a kir royale!
Love to try new places, but if they don’t deliver, I go back to old favorites.
I have never seen a cherry in a kir royale!
I love to try new places, but if they don’t deliver, then I go back to old favorites (probably because we have a limited number here in SMA).
Dear Lorraine,
I’m definitely an old faithful while Mysaucepan loves to try out new places so we balance out each other though she claims I get my way most of the time
Mmmm, the whole menu looks and sounds delicious to me. This is how I love to eat, little tastes of everything.
I love that you had to get dessert this time my friend, this meal certainly did not disappoint
Everything looks delicious!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Ive been here!!! But when it first opened in 2005? Before we had moved from our home in darling ton – this was a local haunt. Fantastic tapas back then too – glad to see it hasn’t changed (quality wise). Is the huge bookshop still up the street with the many many bookcases???
chestnutchestnutchestnutchestnutFOREVER.
I like a blend of trying new places and sticking to the tried-and-true. But, then again, Canberra probably doesn’t have quite the same level of new places opening
The scallops and calamari are my pick, but it all looks so good indeed!
We have our old favorites, but it’s nice to see what else is out there sometimes too
Hi Kylie! Oh yes I remember that bookshop! :O It was enormous! I wonder if it is still there (we didn’t walk that way)
the dessert platter looks great!especially the apricot cake !
I have tears in my eyes from laughing! You always totally win me over with your Saturday posts, but the moment I saw the Kir Royale I was ALL THERE:) ! An then trust Victoria from Flavors of the Sun to pick up the cherry which should NOT be there
! Your eyes better than mine, milady! Otherwise what a brilliant post which is going to be recommended to all my Sydney friends!! What glorious interesting food well presented and even better priced. Why so many differing restaurants in Oz: we are a new country in every way and we learn our lessons from everywhere – how exciting! Reading the blogs of some of my European friends, many of our ways and tastes are almost unknown [aren't we lucky?]. And it was sad to watch from the previous series of ‘Greedy Italians’ that some of the locals were trying to close some Chinese market gardens there as classic Italian cuisine might be affected by these new tastes! So, bring on the new here, whilst we also cherish the old 
!
Always enjoy exploring somewhere new!
Probably part of my adventurous spirit too!
But going to “A Place Where Everyone Knows My Name” is also very warm and welcoming, TRUE!
The scallops and the calamari would be my pick dish!
Experiencing (and writing about) unique out of the way places in my home state is my wish
Looks so yummy and well-priced.Thank you.Kir Royale to start is such a good idea.
I like a bit of both
I’d LOVE those New York potatoes though….uuuuuhhhhh yum.
Heidi xo
What a stunning meal and gorgeous shots. I have to be honest, I used to LOVE that I would become a regular and know our locals so well but since I have delved into the world of food blogging, I have totally changed my attitude in the quest for discovering new material to write about and photograph.
$45 is really great value for money for a 8-course meal. In KL, it is the same, there are just so many new or even old restaurants around, even if we try a new one everyday, we wouldn’t finish them all in 1 yr. I do have a few favorites which I go back to very often, but the mediocre ones usually wouldnt get a revisit.
Sounds very much like Melbourne!
It depends. If I’m with food bloggers, we’d be wanting to try the latest restaurant for ‘research’ purposes whereas if I’m with my family, I’d be more inclined to take them to somewhere we all know very well and love.
Any place with Kir Royales and amazing desserts get my vote. I love trying out new restaurants, but I usually mosey on back to old favorites whenever I’m blue.
Food looks great, have wanted to go here for ages but just never got around to it. Will try to go soon, we like to try new places but also like to go to oldies as you know what you are getting. What we love about Newtown is that retail stores open late so you can go shopping after dinner
I love to try new places but we don’t forget old friends. The only place I’ve ever been in Newtown was a bar where they have a drag queen show. (don’t ask) I should go back.
Kir, Scallops et al, yes please.
I must admit, we enjoy going to places where they do know your name and your likes and dislikes (and not because you may tip over-generously!), like to try out some new, but if service and food is not up to expectation, I tell them so and NO re-visit.
Where is my comment gone? Try again.
Kir, Scallops – thats for me.
Like very much places where they do know our names, our likes and dislikes. But also like to check out some new occasionally. But if service and food is not up to scratch, I am afraid I tell them so and NO revisit.
This is one of my favorite posts ever, Lorraine. What an incredible variety of dishes. + Love your new profile photo – pretty lady.
We had a work X-mas lunch here a few years ago – it was great and such amazing value. I love the tapas style share plates.
WOW for $45 that’s really reasonable for a 8 course tasting menu! Not sure that you can get it here in Melbourne
All dishes look lovely and even though it’s now Spring I’m still a sucker for the Winter warmer plate with all the yummilicious desserts! I definitely would’ve liked that sticky chestnut and apricot cake the most!
I love trying out new places
because they’re just so different and it’s always exciting to see what new ideas others come up with ~ but then there are those places that I end up going back again and again 
We had our wedding reception at Rubyos almost 6 years ago and it was just perfect … gorgeous interior, friendly and attentive service, flawless organisation by Liz and of course, stunning food that accommodated everyone’s tastes and dietary requirements. We cannot recommend it highly enough. Eat there!
Lovely post, it looks amazing I can’t wait to try.
The huge bookshop is still there and open till late. The owner unfortunately died a little while back but the store is still going strong.
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