Brown Sugar, Curlewis St, Bondi

Brown Sugar, Curlewis St, Bondi
Saturday 16 December, 2006

There appears to be some confusion around Brown Sugar - not being from the East I was provided with some mixed messages...it's down at the beach, no..it's back up in Bondi central. Thankfully, the power of the web enabled me to find this explanation from the SMH,

"Brown Sugar used to be divided into Brown Sugar Nights, for dinner, on Curlewis Street, and Brown Sugar, for breakfast and lunch, on Brighton Boulevard. But Brown Sugar has now shut (it's become Three Eggs) and Brown Sugar Nights has dropped the "nights" to do breakfast, lunch and dinner all in one place. Got it?"

It's like that was directed just to me! Anyway it was very helpful. I have actually eaten here before, maybe 18 months ago and clearly remember the amount of fish pie's coming out of the kitchen - it's their specialty. I didn't have it but planned to tonight.

I was catching up with an Irish/ Australian buddy & her fiance tonight who has just returned to Sydney after 12 months away. What a venue - it's relaxed, laid back and unpretentious - I love it. The dining space is small and there is a buzz from the kitchen that spills out across the room. From the exterior the decor is subdued but inside it is loud - bright coloured dots positioned on the feature wall, a coloured glass jar display and large chalkboard that display the menu.

We ordered the pate and the haloumi salad to share up front. They never deliver enough bread with the pate so we had to ask for more servings....... twice. They were obliging and our waitress was just lovely - she was friendly and happy to give some background on the menu items (the chef first offered the Fish pie 9 years ago and although he updates the menu regularly has not been able to take the Fish pie off the menu).

I, of course, ordered the Fish pie whilst my dinner buddies ordered the Angel hair pasta with tomato & chilli and baked lamb for mains. After devouring the last of the pate (it's really good) our mains were served. The Fish pie arrived and at first glance it is enormous - but the reality is the top layer of flaky pastry appears high but the actual pie filling is minimal - fish chunks, leeks and a mild creamy sauce. I decided to deflate the top of the pie and pull each corner into the dish and mix it all together to create a creamy mess. It was delicious.

After enjoying our meals so much we decided to order one dessert to share between the 3 of us - tiramisu. It came to the table in a large martini glass and 3 long spoons. It was creamy, layered and swimming in espresso. We couldn't finish it.

As we sat chatting and contemplating the last of the tiramisu our waitress returned to explain they had to reset our table for the next sitting. This is one of my pet peeves - why don't they state this up front when you book? If we had known this beforehand we could have made other arrangements. This seems to be a trend with Sydney restaurants and I'm not a fan - what happened to settling into a place for a long night?

Brown Sugar - 106 Curlewis St, Bondi - (02) 9130-1566