Bianca: West Hotel Sydney, Curio Collection by Hilton opened in late 2017 on Sussex street, towards Darling Harbour and Barangaroo. The boutique hotel is home to 182 rooms and the restaurant Solander Dining & Bar.
Inside the fit-out is sleek, a marble bar and bold deep purple and electric blue velvet chairs set the mood. Even during the day, it’s a sexy affair.
Stormy Skies -w/ Havana rum and activated charcoal $21 was interesting but not to our tastes.
The Pineapple Colada $20 a little too easy to drink. I turned away for a second and honoury FFS member Felicitations quickly knocked it back.
The 2017 Nanny Goat Pinot Noir $19.5 was Fruity and quite light on the palate and paired well with our meal.
The small bites section offer a number of optimal bite-sized bar snacks. The Sesame crusted Smoked Salmon Croquettes -w/ camembert & wakame salad $15 were full of oozy camembert and juicy, cooked salmon pieces.
You HAVE to order the Triple Grilled Cheese Sandwich $20. Now, I did ask for bacon but they forgot, no quibble as this was delicious… If there was a grilled cheese beauty competition I’d say we had a winner. The only thing that could make this even better would be, well bacon… or truffles.
Our waitress Angela deserves top-notch points for pointing us in the direction of the Truffle Parmesan Chips $11 on the bar menu.
I surprised even myself by how much I enjoyed this next dish from the ‘lunch bowls’. The Poke Bowl-w/ brown rice, edamame beans, tofu, pickled ginger, wasabi mayonnaise $22 + Charred Beef Fillet (100g) $10. Everything just worked so well together, seasoned perfectly and the beef, medium rare and melting in the mouth. The textures within this dish were incredible.
Another great option is the Potato Gnocchi -w/ wild mushroom, charred radicchio & saltbush $26. Forget your nonnas tomato sugo gnocchi, this is fresh, zesty and colourful. Fluffy pillows of potato gnocchi paired with the slightly bitter charred radicchio, sweet tomatoes and meaty mushrooms, it was a dish we kept gravitating back to.
The open-air garden atrium. Available to book for events and functions. Or for those balmy summer nights.
Desserts are always my favourite part of any meal and so we settled on the Chocolate acacia fondant & blackberry sorbet $19.
Bianca
The food all looks and sounds great and I love the decor too, that cheese sandwich looks immense!!
Them THICC truffle friesss looks so crispy in the outside and fluffeh inside. OMG that triple cheese toastie though!