Closing time called at Royal Oak Hotel at Parramatta
Last drinks have been called at the 200-year-old Royal Oak Hotel at Parramatta to make way for the new light rail, but a new watering hole will be born from the ashes.
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Last drinks have been called at the 200-year-old Royal Oak Hotel at Parramatta, but a new watering hole will be born from the ashes.
Locals have been lobbying for years to save the pub — a favourite of Eels fans — but it will soon be flattened to make way for the Parramatta Light Rail.
Owners Rebecca Walsh and brother Ben Kane said the last schooner will be poured in the coming weeks.
Mr Kane said while it will be a huge loss for the area, the family will open a new bar in a 40-unit development across the road.
“The locals were reasonably upset in the beginning but as we’ve moved forward and now there is another venue coming they’ve become more open,” he said. “The actual style inside is going to be a modern take on an older style bar — exposed brickwork, timber panelling, terrazzo floors, subway tiles, lot of brass.
“It’s not going to be white walls and concrete so hopefully it has that same familiar feel.”
The heritage-listed Cobb & Co stables at the back of the existing pub will retained.
A pub historian says the Royal Oak is not only one of the most historic hotels in Sydney, but all of Australia.
“It may have been established as early as 1813, but the pub was in place by 1823,” Gary Carter, author of The History of Pubs in Parramatta, said.
Back in the 1840s, it was one of 56 licensed pubs in Parramatta. Today, there are just seven.
“The Royal Oak’s been an important social hub of Parramatta … It is full of great memories of the ghosts of drinkers past,” Mr Carter said.
Fancy a seafood feast for brekkie?
It might not seem like the obvious choice to pair with your bacon and eggs but as the battle to stand out in Sydney’s saturated cafe scene rages, more unconventional ingredient pairings are being added to the menu.
Smoked salmon eggs Benedict has been a breakfast fixture on menus for years but as more diners seek a wider variety Sydney eateries are serving up crab, scallops, oysters, prawns — even lobster and abalone — for the most important meal of the day.
Many chefs are incorporating fish into their morning menus by giving familiar favourites, including smashed avocado, croissants and poached eggs, a seafood spin.
Chimichuri Cafe at Chatswood introduced a scrambled egg and scallop croissant with black caviar to their menu last year and it is now one of their bestsellers.
Manager Kam Chan said their menu is based on fusing different cuisines and styles.
“Nowadays brunch dishes will have many other ingredients now,” he said.
“If you check trends, not only our cafe but a lot of cafes, they take more and more different ingredients to stand out, but we also focus on a balance of taste and presentation as well.”
On weekends Chan said the cafe does not get properly busy until 10am as people enjoy a lazy start to the morning. He said this is another reason people don’t balk at seafood on the morning menu.
“During the week we have office workers who just have light toast for breakfast but on the weekend our busiest time is from 10am,” he said.
“At that time it is not that unusual to have scallops or another one of our breakfast dishes has crab.”
If you would like to test your palate with some breakfast seafood, there are plenty of dishes to try — the world is your oyster.
Chimichuri
Three Pearls – seared scallops, yuzu mayo, sauteed spinach, seaweed scrambled egg and black caviar on a house croissant
Cost: $24.50
Where: 1/6 Help St, Chatswood
Henry Lees
Prince of Brighton – toasted butter croissant filled with crab claw meat, avocado, coconut lime mayo, fresh mango and chilli, topped with a poached egg, togarashi and coriander
Cost: $20
Where: Hart St, Redfern
Copo Cafe, Drummoyne
House smoked trout with fried egg, potato hash, herbs and sourdough toast
Cost: $20
Where: 56 Formosa St, Drummoyne
The Boat Shed
Prawn bruschetta – prawn and mayonnaise mix on top of smashed avocado on sourdough topped with feta
Cost: $17
Where: Sunset Blvd, Soldiers Point
Rustic Pearl
Bosphorus Benedict – two organic poached eggs on toast with Bay Lobster, smashed avocado, house hollandaise, fresh shiso and chilli
Cost: $30
Where: 415 Crown St, Surry Hills
Altitude at Shangri-La
Breakfast buffet with Sydney rock oysters and poached prawns plus an al a carte blue swimmer crab omelette.
Buffet cost: $95 (includes bottomless mimosas or bellinis)
Where: Shangri-La Hotel, 176 Cumberland St, Sydney
Fika Swedish Kitchen
Toast Skagen – ‘famous’ prawn, dill and lemon mayonnaise mix stacked on sourdough toast
Cost: $20
Where: 5B Market Pl, Manly
Devon Cafe
Croissant St Denis – prawns, bisque beurre blanc, flying fish roe, fine herbs, French croissant
Cost: $25
Where: 19/200 Barangaroo Ave, Barangaroo
Sokyo
Soyko Seafood Bowl – Glacier 51 toothfish, salmon, octopus, flying fish roe, cucumber, pickled ginger, Hokkaido rice, onsen tamago
Cost: $38 (includes continental buffet and an a la carte dish with a tea or coffee)
Where: The Star/80 Pyrmont Street, Pyrmont NSW 2009
Wanted: Staff who work for perks, not pay
Outdoor cinema Mov’in Beds has been savaged online for advertising “volunteer” positions to work in their commercial business in return for popcorn and movie tickets.
Now in its fourth year, the outdoor cinema at The Entertainment Quarter, Sydney features beds instead of seats at a cost of $36.90.
A jobseeker ad posted to Facebook said the volunteers were expected to make beds, take tickets and serve food in return for food, drink and access to view the movie.
Some people said the business was “exploiting” backpackers and students.
“You charge customers $37 per bed and you have the audacity to exploit backpackers for slave labour? Have you lost absolutely every ounce of your humanity?” Edward Copperman said.
Elliot Hudson said: “Seems that with a set up like this you could afford to hire people rather than exploit them.”
A spokesman for Mov’in Bed, which has 25 paid employees, said they offered the volunteer positions to aspiring event organisers wanting experience in the industry. “Most of the people helping us do it as part of their degree … and are looking for of a first experience to put on their resume,” he said.
“This is really far away from what is happening in the food industry, where people have to do trials for free, are giving unpaid shifts in the hope of getting a paid job.”
Fair Work said they would not comment on individual cases, however directed Delicious to its Unpaid Work section of the website which stated that volunteering can occur to give a person experience in an industry, to provide training/skills, to test a person’s skills or when benefiting a not-for-profit.