When Mr NQN and I moved back to the Eastern Suburbs from Mosman a few years ago, we moved right near to Centennial Park. People used to say to us “Oh that’s wonderful, you must use the park all the time” and we’d smile back and nod and murmur “Well sometimes…” not wanting to admit that despite our close proximity to the expansive green park, we rarely set foot in it. We’d drive past it thinking “We really should go for a walk in there” only to keep on driving. Cut to about four years later and we’re finally using it on an almost daily basis whether it be to work out or take walks.

It was my trainer Nina that put me onto The Park, the pop up restaurant that sits at the Paddington Gates at The Cottage. Open from Friday to Sunday midday to 10pm-ish fairy lights are strung from trees and a white picket fence borders white tables and chairs. There’s a bar and food provided and during weekend days it is abuzz with people and I think that the best time to go is on a sunny afternoon rather than on a cold evening. We’re arriving here on a Friday night, albeit this past very breezy, chilly Friday night and the crowds gather where the outdoor heaters are located. There is live music and bakes of hay, pumpkins and rustic country touches abound. The Park pop up is for another couple of weeks until June 2nd, 2013.

We start with drinks-I do a double take when I see giant jugs of cocktails for $95. There are two sized jugs and the giant jugs are big but $95 is quite a price. There is also Mumm French champagne for $95 a bottle, beer for $9 and other drinks. We go for a small jug of the Elyx English Godmother Pimms cocktail. It’s just after 6.30pm and we’re mid happy hour although there are no signs saying so and when we come to pay they tell us that our drinks are half price so canny Louise suggests that we order another jug, the next one is an Elyx Bloody Mary.

Elyx English Godmother $39 (or $20 during happy hour)

The English Godmother is pleasant and light, like a Pimms cocktail but doesn’t have the abundance of fruit and cucumber that you usually get with a Pimms cocktail. It’s also very much full of ice. You get about four glasses worth of drink in one of the small jugs and I’m glad that we hit happy hour because Mr NQN gristles at the quantity of ice for the price.

Elyx Bloody Mary $39 (or $20 during happy hour)

The bloody mary is also ice laden and has a little spice to it that helps to warm us up. I look at half-Finnish Mr NQN and Danish Viggo who are both shivering and Louise and I decide that it’s best that we get some food into the poor boys.

Thick cut chips with rosemary salt $6

Next to the bar is where you order and pay for the food. Nothing puts warmth in the belly quite like piping hot chips and arancini so we ordered those. The fat chips were excellent, crunchy on the outside and fluffy and soft on the inside. And incredibly warming too!

Arancini balls with fresh tomato sauce and parmesan $12

We also enjoyed the arancini which had a lightly crispy outer, cheesy risotto rice inside and a thick, rich tomato sauce and shavings of parmesan.

Pork and fennel snags with mashed potato, onion gravy and crispy eschallots $16

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Whenever it’s raining, I always see rainbows as a sign of something good to come. Symbolic perhaps of a lesson learnt after a hardship or a silver lining in a cloud. Rainbow themed anything from cakes, biscuits and cupcakes adorn my blog and when I see a sign saying “Double Rainbows All the Way Across the Sky” beaming at me from a yellow neon sign as soon as we walk into Chi Chi Asian Kitchen, I see it as the reward at the end of a long drive.

I was with my usual partners in crime Mr NQN, Miss America and Queen Viv. The latter two are the friends that best like an adventure to a far flung suburb and on this torrentially rainy Sydney Saturday, Mr NQN and I bundled into the car avoiding fat drops of rain and picked up Miss America from Potts Point and Queen Viv from St Peters and went on our way to Canley Heights (on the way buying twelve blocks of butter but that’s nothing new). We were running a touch late and perhaps we were over optimistic with the travel time to Canley Heights. The rain doesn’t help traffic conditions and Chi Chi isn’t actually on Canley Vale road as the address says but we stumble upon it on Derby Street while trying to find a park in this busy little suburb.

Inside, it’s quite different from the large number of Vietnamese eateries that line Canley Vale road. There’s a large Manga style wall complete with a waving lucky panda alongside an exposed brick wall and pink metal cut outs of pandas in sunglasses partition off the marble bar from the main restaurant. They tell us that Chi Chi just means chic and the idea was to introduce a Melbourne sort of vibe to Canley Vale. One of the owners Les Huynh of Chi Chi also owns Blue Ginger in Balmain. Every table is taken this evening and I’m glad that they take bookings. Service is very friendly and they take time to explain things to us and give us recommendations.

Liquid Pavlova $18 (left) and Hello Chi Chi $8

It’s funny how one ingredient can evoke a whole dish. The passionfruit in this cocktail and fluffy top brought forth memories of pavlova immediately. My choice was the Hello Chi Chi which was a delicious mocktail tasting of sweet strawberry and lychee. The only complaint was that there was a lot of ice in both drinks and they were gone rather quickly within a few gulps.

Spanner crab, pomelo, caramelised coconut, galangal and peanuts on betel leaf $4.80 each

It’s a short wait for the entrees that arrive all at once. We start with the two betel leaf items which are always crowd pleasers. The spanner crab, pomelo, caramelised coconut, galangal and peanuts on the betel leaf are perfectly balanced, with just the right amount of sour pomelo and rich, sweet caramelised coconut never overpowering the crab.

Smoked trout, galangal, roasted chilli and fried shallots on betel leaf $3.90 each

We follow the crab with the smoked trout (on their recommendation) and it’s also good with the strong smoked trout flavour dominating but out of the two betel leaf toppings, the crab ones were just that touch more balanced.

Son-in-law eggs with house XO sauce $5.90

I originally found Chi Chi from Tina’s blog Bitemeshowme and I recall that she was smitten by these on her blog and I’m in total agreement. They’re simple enough, boiled eggs lightly dredged in cornflour and deep fried so that the outside gets a crispish coating. Inside the yolk is runny and golden and topped with house made XO sauce, that powerhouse spicy sauce flavoured with dried scallops and pork. “I could have eaten a dozen” Miss America says to eating lifting the last mouthful to his mouth.

Steamed dumplings of seafood and vegetables with ginger soya sauce (5) $11.90

On the drive here Miss America had made several requests for us to stop in Ashfield for dumplings. It was rainy weather after all and that means holing up with a plate of steaming dumplings. These were filled with seafood and vegetables with an egg pastry wrapper. Drizzled on top was a ginger soy sauce. They weren’t bad but they also weren’t very distinctive in flavour in terms of the seafood and I couldn’t tell what seafood it contained.

Crispy skin baby chicken with house satay sauce $20.90

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“In the nineties, I had an erotic dream about Kim Beazley…” Marcia says to Natasha and I one evening. I almost spurt out my drink and then try to scrub the visual from my mind. It’s times like this when I’m glad that we’re sitting outside, the busy Sydney Friday night around us muffling our somewhat sordid and not-for-public-consumption conversation. We’re at Tapavino in Circular Quay, in Bulletin Place, a snug little laneway that to be honest I never knew existed that is pitched right next to a hotel. Inside is a red hued wine bar with a shiny display of glasses on the back wall but we’re sitting al fresco in this slightly chilly but still lovely Friday evening.

Cristina Oloroso Abocado sherry $9

Tapavino is said to be Australia’s first dedicated Jerez or Sherry bar with 54 sherries on the menu with 46 available by the glass. Patrons can tell them what sort of wine they usually enjoy and they will match them to a suitable sherry. They also specialise in Spanish wines by the glass or three carafe sizes or bottles. I do love a drop of Pedro Ximenez so I flick through to the sherry pages. On the waiter’s recommendation I try a Cristina Oloroso Abocado which is medium dry scented sherry although truth be told I should have really stuck with the Sánchez Romate Pedro Ximenez which was sublime with an intense raisin flavour, incredible legs and that went down as smooth as silk.

Razor clams $16

We’re on a tiny table for the three of us although it seems that we’re lucky to have this table given the shuffling that’s taking place around us for other tables. The menu is quite extensive and holds an intriguing and hard to choose list of menu items. Between the three of us, we decide on a list of four items and then thought that we should compare them to our friendly waiter’s recommendation. It turns out that there were none in common so we went with our own choices. Our first was the razor clam dish served as six razor clams topped with verdant mashed peas and broadbeans, eschallots and thin, crispy pieces of jamon. They were full of fresh flavours.

Pata Negra $30

There’s a jamon menu with eight different plates of jamon, mostly jamon serrano but as soon as I see Pata Negra, I can see nothing else on the list. Oh my kingdom for Pata Negra or Jamon Iberico, that incredible glossy jamon made from pigs that feast on black acorns. Yes, it’s expensive but it’s quality over quantity and the intense flavour and melt in the mouth texture is hard to find in other jamon. It is served here with fresh crusty bread and breadsticks.

Sardines de Compostela $17

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