Good News: Managed to score 4 Quantas bus class reward tix to bring my family to Oz from CLE during winter break.

OK News: We arrive bright and early on Dec 25. Might as well make the best of it: any suggestions for a real nice hotel with a real nice view for Christmas dinner, with a couple of almost barely adolescents?

(Sorry if this has been asked & answered elsewhere before... I tried multiple searches, but they kept timing out)

Perhaps a moderator could move this thread to the brand spankin' new FlyerTalk Dining Forum?

The Hyatt is fabulous but REALLLLLLLLLLY expensive.
Most restaurants are costly on Xmas day.Its a really long way from anywhere and I suggest that you sleep and have a lovely Boxing day lunch at the Hyatt or the ANA as we have the Sydney to Hobart yacht race starts at 11am or is it 1pm on Sydney Harbour and EVERYONE is out that day and its REALLY Xmas day on 26th for U!!!They are still taking bookings here now so you should be OK.


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Hyatt Diamond/Hilton Diamond/Starwood Platinum/UA1K-Ansett-WHITE/Qantas-WHITE

Please check out:

http://www.flyertalk.com/dining/ftdi...e=5&LastLogin=

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[This message has been edited by doc (edited 07-13-2001).]

The Quay is VERY nice. My wife and I had dinner there in April '99 during the big hailstorm and it was incredible (both food and views). The Park Hyatt's restaurant is also good, and its a great hotel. Bel Mondo is also very, very good, and Rockpool. Tetsuya's is supposed to be wonderful, but I haven't been able to get reservations there on my trips down under.
Sailor's Thai is quite nice, and a bit less formal than the others.
The only restaurant I've been disappointed by in Sydney was 42, in the Chifley Tower. The food was good, but the service was phenomenally bad. Maybe we just caught them on an off night, but I would never pay for another meal there.

Bob

One of my favorite harbour-view restaurants is Bathers Pavilion in Balmoral.

I just recently had dinner at the Four Points near Darling Harbour. They have a wonderful Seafood buffet. I would also recommend the Summit. It is pretty expensive, but you can not get better views.

"Two Chefs on Stanley". It's, imagine this, TWO CHEFS with complimenting styles for an amazing menu. Lots of Aussie flavor. It's located on, are you ready....STANLEY street, perhaps a half mile from Hyde Park. It's moderate-to-expensive, but for US dollars, I'd still consider it CHEAP. It was, by far, the BEST meal in my two weeks there.

There's a fabulous gourmet pizza restaurant across the street from the ferry terminal in Manly -- a short and scenic trip across Sydney Harbour from Circular Quay.

Personally I keep going back to the Westin in the old GPO (post office) building. It's only a few years old, has great views from the Club, and the rooms are way cool. I'm usually there around March so the prices are not bad either. It's convenient to everything.

I love the Renaissance in Sydney - great views. For dinner, I agree with the Quay, also I love Salt at the Kirkton hotel - very unique!

I have had the pleasure of dining once at Tetsuya's, and it was the most magical culinary experience of my life... four hours and 13 courses of sheer bliss (for a bargain $US65 with the pacific peso and all).

Definitely a highlight if you can get a booking! (it's usually fully booked out for 6-8 weeks, but if you're lucky, someone may have cancelled just before you called...).

The Sheraton on the Park also does a fantastic seafood buffet for around $US30 per head, or for a bit of decadence, check out the Wine Banc near the beautifully restored Westin Hotel.

For a nice summer's evening in Sydney (as it will be for xmas), you can also try out Nick's at the Cockle Bay wharf - nice food, good service, great views overlooking Darling Harbour - a very relaxed out outdoor eating experience.



[This message has been edited by 4me2no (edited 07-19-2001).]

I second 4me2no's recommendation on Tetsuya!!! I have been three times. Twice in their old location and once at the new location in the city. The new location is bigger and nicer and I actually thought the food was better. The food is a little different everytime and truly amazing! The prices are reasonable for that type of dining.

You can BYOB or select from their excellent wine list. We always BYOB and get through about a bottle a person because of the length of the dinner but you would not even notice the time past by.

It used to be that reservations open up 2 months in advance and I set an alarm to call exactly at that time. The last time I went last year they changed their policy to one month in advance. I would recommend calling them (you can find the phone number on the web site) and see what the reservation policy is.

[This message has been edited by bagold (edited 07-19-2001).]

Got to put a plug in for that qunitissential Aussie gastronomic landmark: Harry's Caf� de Wheels. Located just next to the new W Hotel down on Cowper Warf Road in Woolloomooloo, you can't miss it. Serves up that staple of the working man [and woman] the meat pie, drowned in gravey with a side of soggy peas! Yummm. You'll find Harry's open around the clock and always attracting a crowd comprised mainly of taxi drivers, police officers and others of similar manly character and charm. In all seriousness, it is a stop to be added to any trip to Sydney. Don't know how old your kids are, but they'll find it a pleasant change from McDs!

My sister stayed in a suite at the Grand Mercure overlooking Sydney Harbour for A$300/night and loved it. She was there one month ago. My husband and I stayed at the Sydney Hilton two years ago, and we loved it because of its great downtown location and because we are Gold HHonors members and were upgraded to a suite. We were only paying US$110/night, and the room was going for over $1,000. We had a view of three sides of the city including the AMP tower. I wish I could score two business class upgrades on Qantas for MEl - LAX for next MArch. I'm not looking forward to cattle class.
One thing to keep in mind is that there is a holiday surcharge on take away and eat in meals on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.