needs more sugar

I’m never disappointed when I go to Longrain. We’ve always walked away with full and happy bellies, and the cocktails are really fantastic.

I love its chilled vibe, friendly staff, and the fact that even when it’s busy I’ve always been lucky enough (I’ve gone and jinxed myself now) to find a place to sit in the bar area while we wait for a table.

I think the wait for a table (you can’t book a dinner reservation) at Longrain is something to look foward to, they have a very extensive cocktail list – so please, let me wait. There’s plenty on there to keep me entertained.

The cocktail list is broken up into categories including the classics (think perfectly made gin martini’s with twists of lemon – my all time favourite), stick drinks (which come with little pitch-fork esque tooth picky skewers to eat the chunky fruit), and many others which I neglected to note as I was too busy enjoying said beverages. Mmmm.

One of my fave’s of the stick drinks is the Ping Pong – check out this bad boy. Passionfruit and lychies smashed up in one awesome glass = Yum!

We order our first round of cocktails at the bar as it’s pretty busy tonight and we’re pretty excited about getting some booze into us – yay for Friday.

Adam chooses his fave – The Chilli and Coconut Martini ($16). This isn’t on the menu anymore, but if you ask for it they will make it. Adam asked why they took it off the menu and the bartender said “I don’t know why  they took it off, it should never have been taken off – it’ll be back on in a couple of weeks”. DAMN STRAIGHT!

They usually top this with chilli and coconut strands – but we’ve only got chilli on the top today. Sad face.

Normally when we pre-dinner cocktail at Longrain I go for a stick drink or something packed with fruity happiness, but I’m feeling a bit saucy tonight so go to my personal favourite cocktail, a dry gin martini with a twist of lemon - Tanqueray Gin Martini ($17).

The twist is a little over the top in terms of size – but the drink itself is perfect. I’m super, super fussy when it comes to my martinis – and I will tell you if you don’t make it right (i.e. dry means dry, not “swimming in vermouth”, and please don’t squeeze the life out of the lemon, I beg you). Make me a good one and I’ll love you for life!

Happy times when Emily gets a martini in her hand.

We manage to snag one of the waitresses eye and order another round of drinks. I have to say the martini went down a little too easily.

Adam gets the Passionfruit and Vanilla Martini ($17) which is just divine. The best way for me to describe it is that I wanted to throw the whole thing in my face at once, I could have drank that bad boy in one gulp!

I go for the Cherry Sour ($16) which is sweet and tangy, and reminds me of cherry Jolly Ranchers, or Starburst – or some lolly like that.

Betel leaf topped with prawn, peanuts, roasted coconut and ginger and Betel leaf topped with smoked trout, chilli, garlic, galangal and trout roe – Both $5.50 per leaf. I always order the prawn ones, and up until a couple of visits ago never had the trout – we’d had some delivered to our table by mistake and loved them, so ever since then two of each please!

For drinks with our food, Adam orders a Sapporo ($15) which looks to us like a Zeppelin, or a blimp!
“Hey there, blimpy boy – flying through the sky so fancy free”.

I order a glass (or two) of the Man o’ War Pinot Gris ($11.50). Light, slighty sweet – perfect with the flavours of the food.

I can’t go past the Salt & Pepper Silken Tofu with Soy and Lime ($15). I love anything salty & peppery, so this doesn’t disappoint. I love the fried bits of garlic. Mmm yes crunchy deliciousness. I like to split open the piping hot tofu and spoon the soy and lime dressing into the silky insides, letting it all soak in.

As we always order the same stuff, I decide to go totally outrageous tonight and try something new (gasp!). The Grilled coconut braised Angus beef ribs with thai basil and lemongrass ($39) is so tender and soft, the meat shredding with ease. While it doesn’t look like a huge serve on the plate, it’s decent – and very filling. The coconut and lemongrass sauce is happily soaked up with some hot Brown Rice ($4 per serve).

I deliberately don’t over order during the mains as we usually do, so that I can save room for dessert. It’s the right thing to do. I order the Taro and coconut pudding with roasted peanut ice cream ($15). Adam… ‘shares’ this.

…. kinda.

…….but not really.

The pudding is like a denser version of a sponge, with the unmistakable yumminess of taro. Very tasty too. The roasted peanut ice cream – GIVE ME A WHOLE BOWL OF THIS PLZ.

And of course, we have to finish the meal with a sticky. Everyone likes sticky. We decide on two glasses of Torbreck Bothie ($11 per glass).

I do love Longrain.

 

Longrain Sydney

85 Commonwealth Street
Surry Hills, NSW 2010.

p: 02 9280 2888
http://www.longrain.com.au/

Tags: restaurants, review

This entry was posted on November 22, 2010 at 9:26 am and is filed under out & about. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.