A night at the theatre

Last night was our big outing to Sydney Opera House to see Waiting for Godot, and Aria, one of the best restaurants in Sydney. 

 Our pre-theatre dinner was absolutely gorgeous - and much better than Cafe Sydney despite people telling us otherwise. On arrival we were offered delicious homemade sourdough bread and an amuse bouche of pumpkin veloute with parmesan foam. 

To start I had roasted scallops with Serrano ham, glazed chestnuts and brussel sprout leaves, whilst Dave had roasted goose breast with chicken liver parfait and raspberry jelly. Both were beautifully presented and scrummy too.

For main course Dave had the roasted lamb with red capsicum, baby artichoves and a lavendar and green olive sauce. I had a seared fillet of Murray cod with a fricassee of girole mushrooms, salsify and borlotti beans. Although the deal was two courses, we both chose to have dessert for another $17 because we couldn't resist (actually, I could but Dave forced me in to it). 

First, however, came the petit fours - pistachio nougat, chocolate covered turkish delight and coconut macaroon. Yum! Dessert for Dave was a custard tart with poached pears, nutmeg and gingerbread ice-cream. I chose the poached rhubarb with honey-scented cream cheese, candied walnuts and rhubarb sorbet. Both desserts were absolutely beautifully presented and tasted pretty good too. The only problem was that they were so pretty, you didn't quite know how to start eating them!  

I wish I had taken photos so you could see what we ate but it was such a posh restaurant, I would have felt silly! 

On full tummies we headed to the Opera House for a pre-show drink. The play was absolutely brilliant - the acting was fantastic, and it really brought to life the humour that you sometimes miss whilst reading the play. I was quite surprised to see Matthew Kelly of Stars in their Eyes fame acting the character of Pozzo. I didn't realise he was in to acting but he portrayed his character extremely well.

We decided a night cap was in order so we walked to the Shangri-La hotel which has a cocktail bar on level 36 that provides gorgeous views of the city. Interestingly you can purchase a $10,000 martini here, which includes a one carat diamond at the bottom of the glass....

We weren't quite feeling flush enough for that so normal cocktails sufficed! 

A really lovely night had by both of us :-)