Ash's NYC Part II - A taste of things to come.......

It's now one week out before I head back Northside to NYC. It's for a work trip but will be still great to get back to this mighty city. In preparation for it as well as for Valentines day and to celebrate Tracy's new job we had a night out on the town. Di kindly babysat and left the night as our oyster.

I'd struggled to get a booking anywhere decent due to our last minute plans. Throw in Valentines Day and it was a struggle. I lined a place up in Darlinghurst but we swung by Riley St Garage as they do walk-ins at the bar. This place opened in October last year and looked like it had a real Barbuto feel (Converted mechanic workshop in the West Village).

We snagged a couple of seats and were then fortunate enough to get a table from a cancelation.

The palce itself is a massive converted warehouse with a central bar and a exposed kitchen. Had the industrial chic look and I think they did a decent job about the interior.

The night started off well as they served Moscow Mules in a metal cup. True to form but a rarity in Sydney to find this. Admittedly they were not the copper mugs but still I'll take metal over glass any day of the week.

We then went on a progressive share plate crawl which went from strength to strength. Our order went something like this:

• Oysters
• Beef Capriccio (Gave Cafe Sydney's a run for their money)
• Butter and Burnt sage spinach ravioli
• Pulled pork sliders
• Spanner crab risotto
• Pork Knuckle and truffled mash potato

The pork knuckle is their signature dish. It was a bit of an upgrade from the usual knuckle we'd have at the Bavarian. It had this sweet honey soy style marinate which gave it a slight asian flavor that really complimented the meat.

Washed down with a few cocktails and a Malbec and we were back in foodie heaven. We were so full that desert was off the list. A big call considering there was a choc brownie with salted caramel and honeycomb.

A really solid place and somewhere we'll go back to for sure.