The wine bar with the insanely good food (don’t get me wrong, the wine is good too!)

When we went to Poly one Sunday evening, I was expecting a few nice glasses of wine with friends, accompanied by some light bar snacks to end the weekend. Maybe a selection of cheeses, some cured meats and house-baked bread. I was not expecting, however, to be in constant fits of “oh yummm,” “yep, that butter, mmHHMM,” and “shall we order another one?!” Don’t get me wrong, the drinks we had were delicious (especially my Yuzu Shu I had with dessert) but the food really stood out – each dish with unusual flavour and charm. I don’t think the term “wine bar” really suits Poly; it’s almost rude to not give the food some more attention.

Here’s what we ate (and loved):

The entrance to Poly and our first impressive dish – sourdough rolls with whipped sesame ($5 each). These bread rolls were so springy and had a layer of crunchy garlic on the top; the dip was creamy and went perfectly well with the bread. We almost yelped when our server tried to clear our dishes before we’d mopped up every remnants.

These soft, tender slices of prosciutto were served with crispy gnocco fritto and butter. When bundled together, they were made for a crispy and salty mouthful. Compared to the gnoco fritto we had at Templo in Hobart, the addition of the butter was just right and complemented the dryness of the pastry well.

Anchovy & Tuna Toast – $10 each - This dish was a super flavourful, salty mouthful!

And then arrived the pièce de résistance! Fried potato and egg yolk – a high class McDonald’s hash brown with a crunchy outside and layers of decadent oily potato on the inside, topped with gooey salted egg yolk and shavings.

We loved this dish so much that we ordered it a second time!

Ugly flash photo so you can see all the crispy details

Savoury dishes: eggplant and lamb ribs

This photo is so ugly but this part of our meal was a real high! Of course, in the back, is the second serving of the previously mentioned fried potato and salted egg yolk. Next to it is the Smoked Milk Ice Cream & Whipped Honey – this dish was unlike any other dessert I’ve had: soft, warm, whipped consistency on the top and smokey cold ice-cream at the bottom. And at the foreground we’ve got a cake with a decadent cream on top (I think! The poly menu has already changed so I couldn’t look up the name of this dish).

Already looking forward to our next visit to poly!

poly
Paramount House Hotel
74-76 Commonwealth Street
Surry Hills
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