El Bulli

501 Elizabeth Street

Surry Hills NSW 2010

Ph: 9319 5199

This is just one of the many restaurants in Surry Hills that i want to try. I've been to Jazushi, El Bulli, & i want to try monkey magic (review done by Adam enticed me)

I had organised a girl's dinner @ El Bulli. What started out to be 11 girls, turned into 8, then 5, then 7, then back to 5, then down to 4, then a 'should we postpone it?' & 'i'm kind of broke anyways' to a me going 'no! lets do this i've been organizing this for over a month!'

'But it would be more intimate with the four of us, & we can get to know each other better' Says Ann, and so we agreed to meet after work at Surry hills :)

After telling Ann to meet me at the wrong place (i'm hopeless when it comes to directions in the city), we ended up meeting at the restaurant. Was greeted by Mark (the guy who had been taking me bookings, and many changed in numbers of bookings!!)

The restaurant was very narrow, we were taken straight to the back where we had quite a large table for the four of us (partly because  i told them there were 5 of us, JUST INCASE some one was able to make it). The place was full of pretty waitresses, who asked us straight away if we wanted drinks, and proceeded in telling us about the 'white sangria' they were serving specially tonight. We agreed on a jug of strawberry & lime sangria, this came out immediately and without even noticing - the waitress had poured drinks into our glasses already!

Warm staff, candle-lit tables, & a darkly lit interior gave an authentic feel to the restaurant, although the back room that we were in had 3 other large 6+ groups, so it did get abit noisy as the night progressed. In the middle of the restaurant, the cooridor between the back room and the front, had single tables for two - this immediately made me think of Rick, and that we could come here together next time just the two of us :)

The sangria - was so refreshing & Sweet! I will NEVER drink red sangria again this was just beautiful i loved it. The jug looked so pretty with its mint leaves, & generous pieces of strawberries :]

Shirley & Anita

Ann & Me (don't you just love the background?)

After alot of ooh-ing & aah-ing at the menu, grumbling tummys & sangria drinking we decided on ordering the potatoes el bulli, olive oil & tomato bruscetta, mussel stew, garlic tomato prawns & one serving of paella.

The potatoes - were to DIE for they were unbelievably full of flavour, i think they were deep fried, then smothered in this tangy, creamy sauce, topped with coriander - i am definately coming back for this dish, and there was another one on the tapas meanu - i'll take that one too!! All the girls LOVED this dish the most.

We wanted some dipping bread so ordered this tomato olive oil bruscetta. We also had some complimentary bread with aoli sauce, which we asked for some more (gotta love aoli sauce with ANYTHING). This bread though was DRENCHED in olive oil, it pretty much dripped as soon as we bit into them, not a good thing if you're wearing make up. Shirley gave up her piece so i ended up having it (anyway, olive oil, is GOOD oil!!)

Mussel stew, the mussels were so soft, tender, not chewy, & came with a yummy semi-thick soup for us to dip our breads into (and to slurp noisily hehe)

I was amazed at the ease of chewing these, i'm so used to the chewy type ones you get at other places. "thats because they were cooked for a while in the soup" says SHirley. This girl knows her seafood :)

Anita was raving on about this prawn dish (she had previously had garlic prawns somewhere, and fell in love). These prawns, totally came from the freezer, they weren't very meaty, but the sauce half made up for the lack of fresh. Again, another good bread dipping dish.

This paella for one was shared between the three girls (was chicken laced through it, i could not have any). After picking out all the mussels, crab & lemon pieces onto another plate, the girls dug into the rice. Shirls is a big fan of paella i know it from just watching her devour a few servings haha. This was about $28, so i'd say good value for money. I've had paella for $85 (serves 4-5 people), @ Captain Torres close to Chinatown, Near the 3 wise monkeys, now THAT paella was delicious (i want to go back, and do a food review!!)

All in all, i had a great time with the girls, the food & service was nice, the sangria was superb (by the way, we ordered a 2nd jug half way through our meals, the peachy sangria, which was nicer because it was sweeter). I would definitely come back here with Rick and have those yummy chat potatoes again.