We spent a rather adventurous few days staying in the city, and as is my habit, I seemed to plan all of our activities around the food we could eat. Our hotel room overlooked Central station, and I liked watching the trains come in. It had a nice little kitchen where I cooked us dinner a few times – tagliatelle with sage and brown butter, and a rather interesting meal of Eumundi Smokehouse duck and pistachio sausages.

On Saturday morning we got up nice and early to visit the Good Living Growers Market in Pyrmont for the first time. I’m usually never awake early enough to make the trip into town when they’re on – the first Saturday of every month – but this worked out nicely. A short walk to Central and we caught a tram to Star City. It was already quite warm by the time we got there, and I loved browsing the stalls. For dinner, I decided to buy some Eumundi sausages after hearing so much about them and some salad vegetables to go with them.

But cooking the sausages in a small hotel room caused a lot of smoke, and even though they weren’t burning, it set the fire alarm off in the room! We tried to shut it off but within seconds there was an announcement to evacuate the building!! A crowd of guests formed on the footpath outside the building, and a few minutes later, two fire trucks arrived outside!!! Embarrassed, we explained the situation, and I ended up finishing cooking the sausages in the oven and not the stove. I am happy to say though, after all that drama that the duck sausages were delicious, and the vine cherry tomatoes and baby carrots were some of the sweetest I’ve ever tasted.

I don’t usually do restaurant reviews, but I wanted to mention another memorable meal we had at Baja Cantina in Glebe. I’ve walked past the place hundreds of times on lunchtime excursions to Gleebooks next door, and saw them win on The Chopping Block on Channel 9 a few weeks ago with the highest star rating ever awarded on the show. My curiosity was piqued and we decided to go there for dinner after my graduation last Monday. We got there early, but the place soon filled out, and for that reason the service fluctuated between overly attentive and not existent. I liked the décor – bold, bright colours, different for each wall with quirky touches like mis-matched cutlery, coloured water bottles and hot sauce on each table and a few cacti for full Mexican atmosphere.

We started with some tomato and coriander salsa with warmed corn chips, and then ordered the Chicken Mole and Taco Supremo with pork carnitas to share. I was looking forward to the Mole – chicken and chocolate, what’s not to love, but it was the taco that really stole the show. From the tender pork pieces to the absolutely delicious soft tortilla, even the salad dressing was tasty. It was also a huge portion size for a very reasonable price, and even between us we couldn’t finish it. The chicken mole was tasty, served with rice and came with an odd accompanying sauce that didn’t taste like much. We asked our waiter what was in it, and all I remember from what he said was “pork fat”. I’ve been craving tacos all week, and I’m looking forward to a return visit with my sister one day soon.

Baja Cantina and Beer Garden
43-45 Glebe Pt Road, Glebe