Swine & Co, Sydney

It's been a bit quiet on here but with good reason. Those of you who follow me on Instagram will know that I've been eating myself silly in Japan for the past 2 weeks! Now that I'm back, we'll be returning to regular broadcasting but keep an eye out for some Japan posts coming soon!

But first, let's talk about pig. With a name like Swine & Co, you'd expect this restaurant to serve pork, pork and more pork - and you'd be right. Set in the space of what used to be Bavarian Bier Cafe on O'Connell St, the area has been revamped to a bar on the ground floor, and a dark, cavernous restaurant below ground, complete with swine decor and punny welcoming signs.

While we wait for our food, we're treated to a bread basket which has slices of white and rye bread, paper thin flatbread and the best grissini I've ever eaten! They're all swaddled with a small dish of butter in a cloth basket.

Complimentary bread basket

Complimentary amuse bouche

We're also surprised with a complimentary amuse bouche to start the night which was a small piece of seared tuna on a cucumber jelly with creme fraiche and dill.

Crisp pigs tail - $19

It wouldn't be right to not have a pork starter at a place called Swine & Co, so we chose the crispy pigs tail to kick off our porcine journey. The pigs tail was flattened and crisped up on one side, and paired with some pine puree, pickled mushrooms, grapes and pistachio.

Tuna crudo - $17

Khao Pla, Chatswood

I've mentioned before how Thai is not one of my favourite cuisines, but I'm willing to give anything a try if someone tells me it's good. I'd heard good things about Khao Pla in Chatswood, so we visited one Thursday night on the recommendation of Electjai.

Isaan steak tartare - $13

We let Electjai take care of the ordering since he'd been before, and the first thing we ate was this Isaan steak tartare. Raw beef was mixed with roasted rice, chilli flakes and lime juice. I don't do well with too much chilli and while this steak tartare was absolutely delicious, oh man did it burn!

Thai milk tea - $4

The problem with having a low chilli tolerance is that a lot of the time the food is still tasty so you just kind of have to put up with the burning. Luckily there was the perfect foil to all the hot Thai food with this iced Thai milk tea. Sweet, cold and milky, it did the trick in cooling some of the chilli heat, especially from that steak tartare.

Yum mango - $18