Month: July 2014

Sydney Expat Americans had the biggest Fourth of July American Independence Day Party in the Southern Hemisphere at the Hard Rock Cafe Sydney on 4 July 2014.

Revellers, dressed as American as apple pie, started the festivities at 5pm when the Hard Rock Café Sydney opened. The neighbouring Cohibar opened its doors at 8pm to cater for the large number of RSVPs (1,300 to be exact). Revellers enjoyed: American meal specials, American whisky tastings, drinking games such as beer pong and flip cup, giveaways from the Jim Beam party crew, charity raffle and lucky door prizes worth $10,000 (with proceeds from the raffle going to support local community projects of United Way and one person winning the grand raffle prize of a return trip to Los Angeles or San Francisco courtesy of Air New Zealand) and DJs DLake and DJ ToeKnee T (GA) who were spinning American tunes all night.

The food and beverage menu was specifically created for this event. American whiskies included Jim Beam, Bakers Kentucky, Basil Hayden’s,Booker’s Bourbon, and Maker’s Mark. American beers served were Coors,Sam Adams Boston Lager, Blue Moon Belgian White Ale and Abita Beer. American Cocktails included titles such as American Beauty, Beam Dream, Sunset Boulevard, The Slurpeeee, Butterfingers, Cran Slam, Riders on the Storm, Purple Willy Mays Haze, Alabama Slammer and Long Island Ice Tea.

American food available for purchase included Fatboy burgers, chilli cheese dog platters, hickory smoked pulled pork sandwiches, hickory smoked bbq ribs, hickory smoked bbq combos, New York strip steaks, buffalo wings, tupelo chicken tenders, twisted mac and cheese, grilled shrimps, jalapeno poppers, chilli dogs, chilli cheese fries, potato skins and apple pie with ice-cream.

The sponsors that made the event possible included Air New Zealand, Jim Beam, Coors Banquet, ESPN, Outback Steakhouse, Bonza Bike Tours, Uber,Blue Moon Brewing Company, Jazz City Diner, Brooklyn Boy Bagels, Hungry Jack’s, Jelly Belly, Abita Brewery, Samuel Adams, United Way, Hard Rock Cafe Sydney, Democrats Abroad, Sydney Expat Americans and Network Canada. Beer sponsor Coors only recently started shipping to Australia.

I left at 7:30pm to attend another event. The venue was very crowded. As I walked out the door I was told that if I left, I would not be allowed back in. I looked outside to see a queue snaking its way down Harbourside Shopping Centre. I suppose those 1,300 plus RSVPs were real!

Sydney Expat Americans is a network of thousands of 22-37ish year old expats and locals in Sydney who get together every few weeks for events like Halloween, Superbowl, Cinco de Mayo, Thanksgiving picnic, kickball & touch football games, and lots more. — at Hard Rock Cafe Sydney

Recently opened Mordeo Sydney hosted a launch event for 200 people on 1 July 2014. Mordeo Bistro and Bar is located on the ground floor of Deutsche Bank Place at 126 Phillip Street Sydney. The area underwent an extensive refurbishment which included the installation of five super-sized lamps which architects MBMO designed as a key element of the bistro.

Owner and Executive Chef Nicholas Aspros worked alongside Head Chef Marc Gehret to curate and style a rich collection of produce driven canapés for the night, including: pork hock terrine with a fig chutney and pear salad; grilled quail with caramelised red onion salsa; pea risotto with sage and lberico Jamon; chicken Ballotine with pearl barley; spinach and a hazelnut salad; squid ink Gnocchi with truffle salumi; margherita mini pizza with basil; and whitebait croquetas with a cauliflower mayonnaise. Alongside the extensive selection of canapés was a buffet offering slow cooked octopus Carpaccio with split green beans and chorizo sausage, BBQ lamb ribs with Pedro Ximenez and two delicious desserts of catalana and loukoumadis.

In addition to all this food was five tasting stations that included: produce from artisan Spanish charcuteria La Boqueria by Nomad Distribution, wines from two suppliers Fox Wine and Broadway Liquor Distributors, and coffees from two tasting stations by suppliers Gabriel Coffee and Ona Coffee.

The food was perfectly matched with a range of beverages including: French, Spanish and Italian wines; Estrella de Galicia beers; and the venues own brew ‘White Wolf’ on tap. Three cocktails were served:
• Red Wolf – White Wolf cream ale with Campari, Antica formula red vermouth & a blood orange foam;
• Jamon & chargrilled pineapple Sazerac with a Jamon & sage crisp – Jamon and Pedro Ximenez butter washed Hennessey VSOP with a chargrilled pineapple shrub, pechauds bitters; and
• Cold Drip Spiced Rum Old Fashioned – Kraken spiced rum, cold drip single origin coffee, cold drip syrup, angostura bitters with a twist of orange.

Guests were entertained by the Spanish vocalist of Richard Valdez and Greek Bouzouki player Telly Benetatos.

Celebrity guests who attended included singer, and former Popstars contestant Arrnott Olssen, singer Brittany Cairns, actress Ursula Mills, actor Rae Johnston, MasterChef contestants Alvin Quah and Renae Smith, and Sydney’s very own Psy impersonator, Teddy Kim.

Mordeo Bistro & Bar’s has combined fine dining quality food and service in a casual setting to capture the day trade of busy office workers and the night trade of relaxed diners. If it maintains the standard of food provided at the event and delivers it consistently, I will not be surprised if makes it into the Good Food Guide and even scores a hat.  — at Mordeo Sydney