RivaReno Gelato

RivaReno Gelato was recommended to me by a friend – they make their gelato fresh daily from scratch, and have a great range of flavours. I was very excited to see a sorbet section on the menu, which included two of my favourite flavours – raspberry and peach. I decided to go for the peach, as it’s the rarer flavour, and was surprised by the creamy texture of the sorbet. Definitely no icy nonsense here, this is the real deal. I was struck by how buttery the flavour tasted, with an almost nutty undertone, meaning that there was clearly no artifical peach flavouring going on. The flavour seemed to develop and become more peachy the more I ate, although it certainly wasn’t a particularly sweet sorbet. I really haven’t had any icecream/sorbet like this before – it was complex and authentic, with flecks of peach skin throughout. I also tasted my friend’s lemon sorbet, which got my saliva going – incredibly tart and acidic, it would be the perfect palate cleanser after a nice meal. The quality here is excellent and I would also be keen to try their chocolate-coated gelato on a stick, which looked amazing in the display cabinet.

RivaReno Gelato, 280 Crown Street, Darlinghurst, NSW, http://rivareno.com.au/

Hoi Polloi

I may have forgotten that stopping in at Hoi Polloi requires one to take a long lunch from work…oops. Anyway, my friend and I dined in one long weekday lunch, both keen to try something we hadn’t eaten before on the menu. I was sorely tempted by the burger (created by the awesome Bec), but instead I was drawn in by the sandwich option – essentially a reuben, with corned beef, Swiss cheese, and sauerkraut. The sandwich came out and I realised what a task I had ahead of me. It was huge! Not only that, but it came with a large serve of chips, which I can’t resist. To be totally honest, I found the sandwich a bit disappointing. The beef was rather bland, leaving the cheese and the sauerkraut  to do all the heavy lifting on the flavour. I know that corned beef can be like this, but I found the blandness exacerbated by the weirdly homogenous, smooth texture of the meat – it was clearly broiled. I did appreciate the good quality bread, but I probably wouldnt order this again. The chips were really tasty though, and my friend enjoyed a noodle special with tuna; one for two on this visit.

Hoi Polloi, Old Parliament House, King George Terrace, Parkes ACT, http://www.hoipolloioph.com/