Bistro CBD – Let’s Do Lunch ’09

“Let’s Do Lunch 2009” – Bistro CBD

I’ve always been jealous of people who work in the city! So many delicious options for lunch. This jealousy of course ramps itself up to maximum whenever it hits October.

For those of you who don’t know (though I’m sure most of you do), October is the absolute pinnacle of a Sydneysider’s food calendar. It’s Good Food Month! A month-long celebration of all that is tasty in the harbour city. This year, Good Food Month has been rebranded the Sydney International Food Festival (how fancy!), with a myriad of new events added to an already jam-packed month.

Lucky for us, three basic elements of Good Food Month have remained the same: Let’s Do Lunch, Sugar Hit and the Night Noodle Markets. And lucky for me, I had the whole of October off… which of course means FOOD!

It’s no secret to say that dining out is expensive. Let’s Do Lunch is probably one of my favourite SIFF events, as it lets me sample from Sydney’s best restaurants for a fixed price of $35, including a glass of wine and a coffee (genius!)

So, to Bistro CBD. I’ve passed by the CBD Hotel many times, but never gone in. It’s typically packed on Friday nights, and is a popular after-work drinks locale. Up the cool white spiral staircase is Bistro CBD, a lovely sunny room with high ceilings, wooden floors and starched white tablecloths.

Bistro CBD is a part of the Merivale empire, probably best known for The Ivy and Establishment Hotel – and though it is not as overtly glossy as its stablemates, it’s a favourite place for the many business people in the area for its chic and unfussy atmosphere and food. Unfortunately Bistro CBD lost their 1-hat status in the 2010 Good Food Guide, but looking around at the tables buzzing with people chatting over lunch meetings, its popularity seems to have remained unchanged.

For Let’s Do Lunch 2009 – the menu was: Grilled lamb rack, eggplant provencal, broccolini, white bean aioli, thyme jus. There were actually two other choices on the menu given to us, the others being jewfish and a vegetarian option of gnocchi. But how could I turn down the lamb! Yum! Taking our orders, the waiter noted that the lamb is served pink in the middle – a caution to fussy eaters. DOUBLE YUM, even better!

Let’s look at a close up…woohoo!

Looking at it again makes me hungry. Yum. The lamb was delicious and juicy. The eggplant provencal was delicious with its tomato topping. And the white bean aioli had a sweet and nutty taste and texture that went well with the familiar garlic flavour.

We had a choice of either a Brown Brothers Chardonnay, or Brown Brothers Cabernet Merlot. We were also given a choice of either sourdough or soy and linseed bread:

Sorry I couldn’t help taking a bite before I took the photo

After the meal we were served our complimentary coffee and petit four (a baby lemon friand). A nice way to round off a lovely lunch!

“Let’s Do Lunch” is part of the Sydney International Food Festival and runs on weekdays through the month of October

Bistro CBD
Level 1
52 King St (or 1/75 Kent St)
Sydney 2000 NSW

Ph: (02) 8297 7010
Open Monday-Friday: Lunch and Dinner.