Sanctuary Hotel, Sydney

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Howard

13 May 2009

Dinner, Modern Australian, Sydney, CBD

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Pub grub bistro style

Ever since our Uni days, my group of friends would often frequent the same couple of bars, pubs and eateries. Every Friday night we would usually start off with a drinks at Bar Ace, yes, the dodgy looking establishment on George St.

Recently, I found out that Bar Ace has closed it’s doors. I felt part of my youth had just been taken away from me. We went from poor old Uni student to full time employees in the work force, but we’d still go to Bar Ace every Friday night as our first port of call. If any of my mates read this blog, they would be familiar with the term ” Let’s meet at Le Deu Bar Ace”, which is our attempt at making this place sound more glamourous than it is. It had ridiculously cheap drinks ($2.50, then $2.80) and a dodgy looking Asian restaurant attached to it. What more could we ask for ?

Anyway, ever since it closed we have been trying to find a new pub/bar which has decent food and drinks. We’re not expecting the charm of Bar Ace, but if it get’s close we’ll be happy. The L Man suggested we give the Sanctuary Hotel a go, which has been open since 2008.

This place has a nice ambience to it and plenty of room too. Several LCD’s are scattered across the place with the Friday night football and Foxtel playing. The crowd is a mix of early 20’s to mid 30’s , ranging from students to office workers. The bar has plenty of room and staff and the food menu is actually quite large. Could this be the “new” Bar Ace ?

And the food …

The food at Sanctuary Hotel is not too bad for pub/bar fare. The service is quick and the servings are generous. There seems to be a trend towards bistro style pub grub these days and Sanctuary is certainly jumping on this bandwagon.

The Aussie Burger ($14)

This decent sized burger comes with tomato, beetroot, grilled onion, smoky bbq sauce and hot chips. The L Man is impressed with the serving size, considering it’s price. The meat patty is a decent size but is a little too thin and tastes more like mixed sausage than it does proper hamburger meat. I guess it’s hard to beat a home made hamburger with self processed chuck steak.

250gm certified angus rump w/ chips $11

For $11, you really can’t ask for too much. When it comes to pub fare the least you expect is the meat to be cooked as directed, in this case medium rare.

Daily special risotto ($11)

The rissotto tasted fantastic, albeit a tad too sweet. The chorizo was generous, with also a decent lashing of parmesan cheese on top. However one thing I noticed was that it looks quite different to the one grabyourfork posted about last year. It definately looks a bit wetter, maybe they just had an off night ?

Trio of gelato and pistachio waffles ($7)

The dessert menu only consists of three items, with the gelato and waffles looking the most tempting. Chocolate, hazelnut and pistachio gelato is topped with some whipped cream. The waffles were nothing special but the chocolate sauce was the saviour for these waffles.

The Sanctuary
545 Kent Street, Sydney
(corner of Kent and Liverpool)
p: (02) 9262 9144
w: http://www.sanctuaryhotel.com.au/

All-day dining everyday 12pm – 10pm
Supper club menu Thursday to Saturday 10pm – 2.30am

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15 Comments »

oh you have to do the steak sandwich. it’s a triple-decker! it’s my usual, and you know, i didn’t even know they had a dessert menu

Helen’s last blog post..Chophouse, Sydney

Helen || 13 May 2009 at 2:17 am

I don’t know how common this knowledge is, but it is extremely rare to order risotto in a restaurant and have it made from scratch. The rice is always pre-par-cooked, and often not using the traditional risotto method, so it is not creamy and the starchy outer part of the arborio grain doesn’t do it’s magical thing. When a risotto order comes up, you take a hunk of stodgy precooked rice, and risotto-fy it with the right flavour for a few minutes, then serve. This could be why the risotto was so different on different visits (and also why I never order the risotto). Probably they weren’t having an off night, just a different chef who thinks that their risotto is the best

lili – pikeletandpie’s last blog post..Pear and Quinoa for breakfast

lili - pikeletandpie || 13 May 2009 at 7:18 am

This doesn’t look to bad as a hang out and the food looks typical of pub bistro food. How were the prices of the drinks?

Simon || 13 May 2009 at 7:34 am

looks far too clean to be the new Bar Ace. and oh! indeed at the existence of a dessert menu (and one bearing waffles at that).

shez’s last blog post..suze’s frootie housewarming

shez || 13 May 2009 at 8:47 am

It doesn’t look too shabby for pub food, you get what you paid for, especially $11 steak. At least the food looks neat and clean.

billy@ATFT || 13 May 2009 at 9:18 am

It’s sad to lose a favourite place. I hope you can find a new Friday tradition.

Arwen from Hoglet K’s last blog post..A Food Tour of Hartley

Arwen from Hoglet K || 13 May 2009 at 9:37 am

$11 for a wagyu steak sounds pretty good value.

Simon Food Favourites’s last blog post..Kazbah On Darling, Balmain (8 May 2009)

Simon Food Favourites || 13 May 2009 at 11:29 am

RIP Bar Ace and their 5 dora spirits… MMmm pub steak!

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FFichiban || 13 May 2009 at 11:11 pm

Only three dessert items…:( The one you chose looks great, pity the waffles were nothing special.

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Anita || 14 May 2009 at 8:11 am

Helen : I’ll have it next time, it looks huge (on your post). The menu is pretty diverse it’ll be a while till I get around to it all lol.

Lili : Thanks for the master class in risotto

Simon : Drinks were standard, I think I paid $6 for Becks on tap which is a tad expensive compared to Bar Ace!

Shez : Definately too clean, but it’s only a matter of time before it turns dodgy like all the rest of the bars in that area.

Billy : Yeah that’s right, for the price can’t complain at all! Good pub food is hard to come by in this end of town.

Arwen : It’s not easy! But as they sad, all good things come to an end.

Simon FF : If only it was a Wagyu steak

FFichiban : RIP indeed, as long as we don’t goto Pavillion I am happy. That place is wrong.

Anita : Yes three is a bit dissapointing! But I guess people don’t come her for the desserts heh.

Howard (author) || 15 May 2009 at 9:35 am

its very cute how they had the little flag on the steak

betty’s last blog post..Badde Manors

betty || 15 May 2009 at 10:02 am

Bar Ace? No way! I think I’d been in there once or twice and was always too scared to make any sudden moves… not that I could, considering how sticky the floor/carpet was

Y’s last blog post..Bacon and Chocolate

Y || 15 May 2009 at 10:17 pm

Looks like I will have to try this next weekend Howie!

Y – Howie and our friends group up in far western Sydney.. so pretty much any bar in Sydney is not considered scary!

Marek || 17 May 2009 at 10:32 am

lol marek “far western sydney” …

suzie || 19 May 2009 at 8:56 pm

Betty : It is, saves confusion atleast.

Y : That was the beauty of it, somewhere which never changed. It had the dodgy atmosphere and dirty floors but we kept coming back

Marek / Suzie : South West thank you very much.

Howard (author) || 22 May 2009 at 12:12 am