The Cut Bar & Grill, Sydney

It's easy enough to make a decent steak at home, but there's something about the dark furnishings and luxury of being able to pick and choose lots of sides to go with your steak that make it a bit of a treat. I decided to treat Sir D on his birthday with a visit to The Cut Bar & Grill for some tasty meat.

As you walk downstairs into the restaurant, it's almost like you're walking into a secret underground cavern. The restaurant itself is dark and moody with plush leather banquette seating as well as individual tables.

Scallops, peas, mushroom, bone marrow - $25

We're here for the beef but we decide to start with a few entrees to whet our palates. The words 'scallops' and 'bone marrow' catch my eye so we order the scallop entree which has three juicy seared scallops sitting on some crumbled blood pudding, with peas, mushrooms and little blobs of bone marrow. The earthy flavours of the blood pudding and mushrooms pair quite well with the sweet scallops which are perfectly cooked.

Beef tartare, quail egg, truffle mustard, traditional garnishes, lavosh - $35

Night Noodle Markets 2014

Life has been crazyy! So October (aka Good Food Month) started and it barely registered on my radar until I started hearing and reading stuff about the Night Noodle Markets. Somehow I managed to get my act together and make it out to the first night of the markets, which looked a little something like this around 6pm.

Night Noodle Markets opening night

It was crazy-town and after a quick scout of all the stalls it seemed like there were barely any without queues. I did notice that there are more food stalls than last year which is always a good sign. There are also more seating areas and bars scattered around Hyde Park - but don't let that trick you into thinking that it's easy to find a seat!

Bar area

After our recon mission, I'd picked out a handful of stalls that I was keen on getting food from. Hoy Pinoy drew me in with the billowing smoke and smell of grilled meat.

Basting the meat

This Melbourne-based Filipino BBQ food stall had huge skewers of chicken and pork belly cooking away on several grills, all the while being basted with sauce.

Skewers at Hoy Pinoy