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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I was in unusual territory. Not Bondi, that’s familiar enough. Not a Hardware store, although that is one type of shop I find confusing, but I was in unfamiliar territory doing a little mischievous matchmaking. It occurred to me one day while getting ice cream with my hairdresser, the gorgeous Elly from Stevie English Hair, that she’d be a good match for Mr NQN’s brother Manu. She was sporty, easy going and also from the country and it seemed almost too good to be true. So we arranged for a double date at Bondi Hardware.

Even though it’s a Monday night, things on Hall Street are busy with people but I guess that’s Bondi during warmer weather for you. Bondi Hardware is themed, all of it referencing its earlier incarnation of a hardware store. Tool boxes and tools line a wall while on tables wooden boxes house cutlery. There’s a skylight at the front and a bar on the right and there’s a lot of timber everywhere and menus are clipped onto wooden boards. The menu items are marked vegetarian and gluten free where appropriate.

We’re too busy trying to encourage conversation between Elly and Manu to look at the menu and the poor waitress comes back three times for us to get our order. I’ve never been part of a double date with a blind date by the sleight of my own hand so I feel just as nervous as these two might!

Giant mezze $30 

Manu is a vegetarian with a big appetite so we order some items that he can have and will fill his hungry self along with some for the rest of us omnivores. The giant mezze was ordered to fill that yawning chasm but this and the other food has quite a long wait. When it arrives, it is really very large indeed and it’s hard for even the two hungry boys to finish.

There is a nicely charred bbq baby octopus, beetroot dip, red capsicum dip, cannellini bean skordalia, tabouli in a cos leaf and an Italian coleslaw that is tangy and dressed in an olive oil and vinegar dressing rather than a creamy one. There is also plenty of lightly toasted bread, olives, tomatoes and marinated artichokes. The selection is good and mountainous and even by the end and having been nibbled at by hungry boys, they’re still unable to finish it.

Slow roasted spicy lamb salad $19

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Sometimes, things go wrong. You do your research and you think that you’ve found somewhere fantastic to dine and somehow, you end up having a below average lukewarm meal, the four of you seated at a table for two, the evening bereft of service which ends with the waitstaff carelessy sweeping the crumbs into your handbag.

We looked at each other and we were all thinking the same thing. We bypassed the dessert menu and hightailed it to nearby to RivaReno to try and salvage the night with gelato. RivaReno is the first instalment of the Italian chain’s presence in Australia, and its first location outside of Italy. The store is located on Crown Street, just near Oxford Street. And when we first drove past it, I did a double take. It didn’t look anything like what I pictured an Italian gelato place to look like. To me Italy is all about colours, richness and warmth. This store looks more like a lab where molecular gastronomy might take place with lots of metal and a series of changing light colours.

The gelato isn’t on display here in colourful mounds, scooped from in front of customers. They’re actually housed in the traditional way, in pozzetti which are covered metal containers. The staff all have Italian accents and readily proffer up samples to taste. For the undecided like us, it’s helpful up to a point because we pretty much want everything that we try. To the right of the store is the lab where the gelato is made every day in small batches and we watch them mixing up more batches as the night turns busy. There are long seats on which to sit as well as bar seating facing busy Crown street.

The chain opened in 2005 in Milan and has expanded to Turin, Milano Marittima, Ferrara, Florence and Rome. It was created in Bologna by two Italian gelato-makers, a former BBC journalist, an Italian lawyer, and a former Italian car executive and RivaReno is the name of a neighbourhood in Bologna. Said to use only alpine milk and cream from the Stura Valley in Piedmont they’ve received numerous awards and a mention in the Louis Vuitton guide. There is a sign that also tells customers that there are no hydrogenated fats, preservatives, anti-oxidants and artificial colourings.

Kieren Tosolini (right)

Kieren Tosilini is the man behind bringing RivaReno here and owns the license for RivaReno in Australia. He first conceived of the idea of bringing a gelato brand to Sydney in 2006 and in 2010, he came across two of RivaReno’s stores while visiting Italy. A long negotiation process ensued and at the end of January 2013, the first store opened here. He emphasises that the gelato here is churned in small batches to individual recipes. The ingredients in the Australian store uses a mix of imported Italian ingredients (most of the ingredients are Italian, including the alpine milk) with local ingredients (fruit, except for the lemons).

The pozzetti

The pozzetti, is part of the key to why the gelato is so smooth as it allows for a better temperature control and seals in the cold air. Changes in the temperature can result in larger ice crystals which affects the texture of the gelato. He also says that because they don’t have to pump cold air to keep the displays cold, they can store it 2°C higher than other gelaterias with open displays which is better for taste as cold is an anaesthetic and can suppress the taste sensation.

Mango and pistachio gelato $6.90 for two scoops

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