Daily Jab:

It’s so hard to believe that we fly out tomorrow morning. Unless there is magic free internet at Brisbane airport, this will most likely be me signing off for the next few days. I’ll be having a 36 hour long New Years Eve…how lucky am I?!

Last night’s dinner was a yummy treat – roasted veggie salad.

Loaded with feta, roasted sweet potato and pumpkin, roasted zucchini, avocados, and macadamia nuts, this main-course salad is quickly becoming one of my favorite meals.

It’s been a wild day of packing and getting everything together, so food was a bit all over the place. It ran the gammut from steamed vegetables to whipped cream, and it was lovely, but not exactly organized.

The workout, however, was fantastic!

Workout of the Day:

• 20 minutes hill walking (9% incline, 4.0mph)
• 15 minutes elliptical (level 5)
• This fantastic workout from Khushboo’s blog:
• 30 jumping jacks
• 5 push-ups
• 25 high knees
• 7 burpees
• 10 crunches
• 7 squats (10 kg total weights)
• 5 push-ups
• 10 crunches
• 5 push-ups
• 7 squats (12 kg total weights)
• 30 jumping jacks
• 1 minute wall sit
• 5 push-ups
• 25 high knees
• 5 minutes elliptical (level 5)
• 15 minutes stationary bike (with Ant’s sister.)

Restaurant Review: The Summit

Sometimes, a girl just needs to get high.

For part two of our Sydney recap, we went to dinner at the Summit, an elegant revolving restaurant on the 47th floor of an office building centrally located in Sydney’s business center.

The Summit is much like many of the girls who went to my high school. Very popular, very pretty, and boy, did they know it. From the moment we stepped out of the red-carpeted elevators into the sleek interior, everything dripped of elegance and “class.”

The Summit has a two course menu for $93.50, including tax and (as for all of Australia) tip. The menu was filled with delicious sounding options, from crudo of line caught fish with green horseradish, pomegranate, shaved celery hearts & mandarin orange, to seared grass fed beef fillet with pickled chillies, confit tomatoes, horseradish, black garlic & mustard.

For our entrees, I ordered the “campuchana” salmon toro, which was served with crab, scallops, pacific oyster, with a shot-glass of tomato ceviche and sea salt. Served in a goldfish martini glass, it was an elegant presentation, though it felt a bit dated.

Fish in a fish-bowl

Anthony ordered the organic chicken & ricotta “boudin blanc” with toasted quinoa dressing, garnished with hazelnut and peach, endive salad. This dish was absolutely delicious – the chicken and ricotta were compressed into a pseudo-sausage that was superb, and the endive and hazelnuts complemented the meat in a robust way.

Chicken and ricotta boudin blanc

For our mains, we ordered the roasted kingfish with arugula salad, and the duck with sticky sweet potatoes and onions. Both dishes were lackluster and devoid of much sparkle, and the duck was slightly overcooked. The kingfish itself was buttery and perfectly cooked, but the “salad” that came with it was a two bite garnish. A more generous serving of lettuce would have been nice to accompany a $45 dollar piece of fish.

Roasted king fish for me...

Roasted duck for Anthony

The restaurant was quite nice, but was missing a certain level of service and style that is required if you’re going to drop a huge amount of cash on a meal. After we were seated, we were presented with fresh bread rolls. I asked on the off-chance that they had gluten-free bread, and was told that they did not, but we could have olives instead. We said sure, and felt quite satisfied. Little did we know that they would charge us $12.50 extra for a small bowl of (notably warm and delicious) olives. Generally, in New York, when you are offered an alternative because of an allergy and intolerance, they don’t charge you extra for that alternative without telling you so. They also charged an additional 10% Holiday working fee (apparently, in Australia, two days after Christmas is still a holiday(??) It was details like this that turned what could have been a spectacular evening into one that was fine, but definitely overpriced and not worth a return visit.

After being so lucky as to experience a number of wonderful dining experiences in New York (like Frankie’s, Gramercy Tavern and Tribeca Grill) we were both disappointed that The Summit didn’t take better care of their guests. Instead, we felt taken advantage of, with with a slightly bitter taste in our mouths. That being said, it was a wonderful way to drink in the stunning views of Sydney, and appreciate the city for all the beauty it has to offer. While I’d certainly recommend it for a glass of wine or a cocktail, for a fine dining experience, the Summit unfortunately did not live up to the high hopes we’d had.

Summit Restaurant

P: (02) 9247 9777

Level 47, Australia Square, 264 George Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000