Hunter and Barrel, Darling Harbour

Matt and I often walk along Cockle Bay Wharf and on this particular Saturday, we visit Hunter and Barrel in Darling Harbour. As I walked along Pyrmont Bridge, I couldn't help but appreciate how beautiful Sydney is. I love Sydney!

I decide to sit outside to enjoy the sunshine on this particular Saturday at lunch time. Hunter and Barrel has a big a la cart menu however on this occasion, I look at the Light Lunch Menu. You can get 1 course for $28pp or 2 courses for $35pp which includes a glass of the house wine, tap beer or soft drink. Great! Sounds good to me and I note it's valid Monday to Sunday 12pm to 3pm.

Matt orders a beer to go with lunch and as I'm trying to behave as we get into December, I get some sparkling water.

We decide to get the two course meal for $35 and we will share of course. Matt and I share all our food! For entree we order the Fried Squid with nuoc cham sauce. The Fried Squid is perfection with a light crispy coating, soft calamari filling and the Vietnamese tangy sauce is a nice compliment to the dish. It's delicious and I highly recommend!

We also order the Chicken Wings. As I am writing this blog post, I notice on the menu that you can choose original or buffalo with ranch sauce. I am not sure which one I got as I didn't specify at the time but I will assume original chicken wings. The chicken is quite flavoursome and cooked well. I think a small sauce on the side would further enhance these chicken wings. Matt enjoys the chicken wings.

Our mains arrive including the Jager Pork Schnitz with red cabbage, thick cut chips and a mushroom sauce. The Schnitz is perfection, thin, crispy and very moreish to eat. I envy Matt's choice in main and continue to eat off his board of red cabbage and mushroom sauce. I'd highly recommend ordering this dish.

I order the Lamb Pockets with slow cooked shredded lamb, salad and a tzatziki sauce with thick cut chips. The lamb pockets look adorable although the tzatziki sauce is going everywhere which makes it difficult to eat. I envy Matt's Schnitz! I negotiate and trade a lamb pocket for some Schnitz as Matt doesn't seem as bothered with the sauce going everywhere. He tells me the slow cooked lamb is delicious! I eat the pocket by eating the filling with a fork. The chips are delish.

So dessert is not included in the light lunch menu but I couldn't resist! I order the Caramel Delight ($12) and the Apple Skillet Pie ($12) off the a la cart menu.

The Caramel Delight arrives looking like a deconstructed piece of art work. It contains white chocolate mousse, pepita praline and rosemary roasted peaches. The rosemary surprisingly gives the dish a nice lift. There's nice crunch from the pepita praline and there's a real rich sweet flavour from the white chocolate mousse.

The Apple Skillet Pie comes out looking like a hot super model. I am so in awe but how good it looks. I can't wait to get into this. The Apple Skillet Pie with orange syrup and ice cream is perfection.  The light, flakey pastry holds the tender apple pieces together. I absolutely love it.

Summary: Overall, I thought the light lunch menu was great on value, big on taste and I enjoyed my experience at Hunter and Barrel. The highlights of my meal included the fried squid, the schitz (will have to come back to try the steak) and that apple fillet pie. Why not check it out?!

Price: $35 for two courses with a house drink (wine/beer/softdrink) and dessert was $12. 

Location: Access Hunter and Barrell up going up the escalators at Cockbay Wharf or via Pyrmont Bridge. Tenant 303 Cockle Bay Wharf, Wheat Rd Sydney


Opening Hours: 
12pm to 10pm daily (10:30pm close on Friday and Saturday nights)

Weekend Food Escapes dined as guests of the venue or their representatives. All photos, opinions and words are my own.