SIFF Let’s Do Lunch : Fix St James, Sydney

Sydney International Food Festival, or inevitably abbreviated to be known as SIFF, is finally here! With my going back to work next week in Chatswood – ever so far away from some of the Let’s Do Lunches I’ve got my eye on – I scoured the SIFF website trying to narrow my choices down to just two restaurants.

Because of my excitement, we got there before they actually opened for service, which is from 12 noon to 3 pm. The bartender was apologetic and asked us whether we wanted a drink while we waited outside until they opened.

While we waited, sipping on our drinks, we noticed that Fix St James had a Quick Fix meal, which was 5 courses to share for $35 (requiring a minimum of 2 people). Realising that we were actually contemplating ordering the Quick Fix meal and thus getting distracted from our main purpose of trying their Let’s Do Lunch, we resolvedly looked away from the sign.

Cheese-Stuffed Zucchini Flowers ($4 each)

We couldn’t go past these cheese-stuffed zucchini flowers that we spied on the menu, especially since F hadn’t had zucchini flowers before. We also couldn’t help but ooh as they came out – I didn’t expect them to be so large or fried in a tempura-like batter.

Inside View of Cheese-Stuffed Zucchini Flowers ($4 each)

I forgot to ask our waitress what cheese was used, but I know I really liked how creamy and cheesy it was. The thickness of the cheese was alleviated by the lemon juice we had squeezed on top. I loved how crisp it was, but still retained its fragility.

Fresh from the Oven Bread

Our efficient waitress, after serving us our drinks, told us that the bread’s just in the oven. It’s so silly that I got all happy and excited when I heard her say that and even happier when I chewed on the warm and crusty bread.

The bread on closest to us was our favourite – it was salty but not overly in-your-face salty. F fancied that he could faintly taste garlic in the bread, but I didn’t.

Charred Wagyu Flank Served Medium Rare with Mustard Potatoes and Eschallot

The wagyu was deliciously fatty and utterly succulent. I didn’t find them to be at all chewy and they were really tender. There were parts of it where there was a bit too much fatty goodness, but where I faltered, F was there to help me eat it.

We both enjoyed the mustard potato, which wasn’t over-powered by the mustard – in fact, there was a nice sharp tang to it. I’ve never had potato lathered with mustard before, but I think I shall try that next time with my steak (along with a side of mash potatoes of course hehe).

After our plates had cleared, we were really tempted to order dessert (the honey and clove panna cotta looked mighty interesting), but mindful of our next Let’s Do Lunch at est. we had to regretfully decline in ordering any.

The wait staff at Fix St James were friendly and quite attentive, even when they got busy with the lunch time rush. When I lamented to my waitress that a fly had died in my drink, she gently berated the fly for doing that and promptly replaced the drink with another. It was surprising, but nice as that’s never happened to me before. This sort of thing can happen at any restaurant, but it was how well they dealt with it that stands them shoulders above some other restaurants I’ve been to who get a bit defensive. Well done Fix St James, a great start to our Sydney International Food Festival proceedings!

Fix St James
111 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW, 2000
Ph: (02) 9232-2767
Web: fixstjames.com.au/

4 Comments

1. campgrenada

   October 3, 2009

   

   Love the photos. I had dinner there a month ago and had the Long Fix ‘degustation’. Unfortunately, you don’t get a choice of dishes (most of which were from the a la carte menu), and we weren’t told what we’d be getting, which is a bit strange (for me anyway). We only had limited time and they accommodated us well by quickening the serving of each course. I agree with the surprise with the zucchini flower being tempuraed (is that a word?), as this isn’t a Japanese restaurant; however, it was deliciously crisp and not overly oily and I think the stuffed cheese is ricotta. Most of the courses were okay but the pork T-bone main course was way overcooked and very dry, losing a lot of the flavour. Alas, it was nothing special and like your dead fly I don’t think I’ll return (not that the fly has a choice anymore). LOL

   Reply
2. Reemski

   October 4, 2009

   

   It’s hard doing the Let’s Do Lunch when a restaurant offers better value off their normal menu! Love Fix St James. Unpretentious, but still classy, great food and great service.

   Reply
3. Simon Food Favourites

   October 5, 2009

   

   good to hear the service was good. always wondered what this place was like

   Reply
4. squishies

   October 12, 2009

   

   campgrenada: Yup, F confirmed with me also that the zucchini flowers were stuffed with ricotta (and slightly admonished me that I should have asked him earlier! haha).

   Awww, sucks that you found it not special enough to return to, but I’d like to check out their Quick/Long Fix anyway. For research purposes of course Hehe

   Reemski: Haha I know! We felt like we were on a mission and so had to go through with the Let’s Do Lunch no matter how much we were tempted!

   Simon Food Favourites: Hehe good service makes such a surprisingly big impact on the overall dining experience, I reckon. But then again it’s always lovely when the wait staff are so nice.

   Reply

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