Coast, Darling Harbour

Sir D never likes to visit the same restaurant twice. Every time I ask him after a meal if he would return, he says, "I'd rather go someplace new" (unless it's somewhere really amazing like Quay). So in the spirit of trying someplace new, we wander around Darling Harbour looking for a place to have a nice dinner before catching a movie at the IMAX and we stumble across Coast on the top level of Cockle Bay Wharf.

It's still early on a Friday night so the restaurant is quite empty. It's nice and spacious with views of Darling Harbour and the Harbouside Shopping centre on the other side. We're seated at a table with a good view of the open kitchen and above us is a big light fixture which reminds me of ocean waves.

We order two mains and a side and while we wait we're given some complimentary bread and olive oil to munch on. The bread is actually really good, so when the waiter asks if we would like some more bread, we happily say yes.

Bultarra Saltbush Lamb rump, kipfler potatoes, capers and dill - $37

Rise, Darlinghurst

One birthday celebration simply isn't enough. After celebrating Sir D's birthday at Masuya, we celebrated again with more food of course at Rise in Darlinghurst, who has (in my opinion) one of the best value degustations in Sydney.

China Blue: a mixing sensation of grapefruit juice and paraiso - $10

On Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday nights, Rise offers their 7 course degustation at 25% off the usual price, for just $48pp, which is fantastic value. Of course we took up this offer, and we arrived for at the first 6.30pm sitting on a cool Tuesday night.

Spicy pork belly salad with tofu and bean sprouts namuru

The first course is the spicy pork belly salad, which is a soft square of tofu holding up some peppery rocket, slices of roast pork belly and topped with a pile of bean sprouts. Although the pork belly is nice, what really wins me over is the combination of the bean sprouts which have a lovely sesame flavour and the cooling sensation of the tofu.

Sweet corn soup with scallop mousse

All You Can Eat Ribs at Waterfront Grill, Darling Harbour

When planning a birthday celebration with food bloggers, one always needs to consider the food. Will it taste good? Will there be enough? Thankfully this was not an issue when I celebrated my 21st birthday with a giant horde of super hungry food bloggers craving for ribs at Waterfront Grill.

Raspberry iced tea cocktail (Thanks Leona!)

The amount of food was never going to be a problem since what we were there for was the All You Can Eat Ribs for $29pp, available on Tuesday nights from 5pm. And although there were some inconsistencies with some ribs being a bit drier than others, when they did arrive smothered in BBQ sauce they were delicious!