Sydney is one of those cities you've been through before, but did not realize how great it is. It's been more than a decade for me. However, first, to even board a flight to Australia, you need to have a VISA. You can do this online at "Australia Visa." Fortunately enough for me, there was a process for me to get one during the Singapore check-in process. You might not be so lucky.
Various indigenous tribes have been on this continent for nearly 50,000 years, but the Dutch in 1606 became the first European predator to land. However, the Eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770, and settled by prisoners. In time they took over this largest of islands. All six colonies federated in 1901 and there has been a continual liberal democratic political system with constitutional monarchy since then.
Australia is the 6th largest country and per capita income with a population of 23 million. It ranks #2 on the UN Human Development Index, next to Norway. The USA is #4. Oceania (above) is a great place to live, for:
| The Economist Intelligence Unit's Global Liveability Report[2] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| City | Country | Rating | |
| 1 | Melbourne |  Australia | 97.5 |
| 2 | Vienna |  Austria | 97.4 |
| 3 | Vancouver |  Canada | 97.3 |
| 4 | Toronto | Canada | 97.2 |
| 5 | Calgary | Canada | 96.6 |
| 6 | Sydney | Australia | 96.1 |
| 7 | Helsinki |  Finland | 96.0 |
| 8 | Perth | Australia | 95.9 |
| Adelaide | Australia | 95.9 | |
| 10 | Auckland |  New Zealand | 95.7 |
There is also the Mercer Quality of Living Survey:
| Mercer 2011 Quality of Living Survey[6] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| City | Country | 2010 | |
| 1 | Vienna | Austria | (01) |
| 2 | Zurich |  Switzerland | (02) |
| 3 | Auckland | New Zealand | (04) |
| 4 | Munich |  Germany | (07) |
| 5 | Düsseldorf | Germany | (06) |
| Vancouver | Canada | (04) | |
| 7 | Frankfurt | Germany | (07) |
| 8 | Geneva | Switzerland | (03) |
| 9 | Bern | Switzerland | (09) |
| Copenhagen |  Denmark | ||
No Sydney, but my next city, Auckland, is #3. Heck, might as well also show the Monocle Most Livable Cities Index:
| Monocle's Most Livable Cities Index 2012 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| City | Country | 2011 | |
| 1 | Zurich | Switzerland | (02) |
| 2 | Helsinki | Finland | (01) |
| 3 | Copenhagen | Denmark | (03) |
| 4 | Vienna | Austria | (06) |
| 5 | Munich | Germany | (04) |
| 6 | Melbourne | Australia | (05) |
| 7 | Tokyo |  Japan | (09) |
| 8 | Sydney | Australia | (07) |
| 9 | Auckland | New Zealand | (13) |
| 10 | Stockholm |  Sweden | (11) |
Sydney is #8 and Auckland #9. Note that no U.S. city is anywhere in sight in any of them.
So why is Sydney a great city? Well, there is CNN giving 50 reasons.
Water is expensive here. The W Bali had 7 water bottles at all times. All free, of course. The St Regis Singapore had four. The Sydney Sheraton has two, at $9 each! So I went to a convenience store, and bought the smallest and cheapest one for $2.50, something that in a case would cost 25 cents at Costco. Ironically, it has mostly rained during my stay here.
Australia has not yet been visited by Michelin, but four restaurants are in the S. Pellegrino top 100 world eateries. Australia has a hat system, and the two places I dined in were rated at the max three hats (there are nine in the country). One was the best restaurant in 2011 and the other best in 2012. I might add, first, that I'm now down to one meal a day: lunch. I have a small fruit at my free breakfast and some nuts with my free drinks at the end of the day.
My initial lunch was at Marque, named tops in Sydney last year. From a beginning only three years ago, it already is #67 among the Pellegrino world's eating establishment, sort of like Andre in Singapore, only 21 months old and #68 on that list. Remember San Francisco has only one Pellagrino finalist, Coi. The three are very similar in decor and cuisine. French, but fused with Asiatic themes. The chef at Marque is Mark Best (left), already acclaimed as the "best" in Australia.
To quote Wikipedia, degustation is a restaurant term meaning "a careful, appreciative tasting of various foods and focusing on the gustatory system, the senses, high culinary art and good company." All my great meals on this trip qualify for this term. I had a five course with wine degustation menu at Marque.
The event started with a pre-appetizer and sherry:
It was a crispy sandwich of something interesting. The true first course was a cool and very cold salad:
Temperature is a parameter of importance here. The wine was a 2009 Loimer, Gruner Veltliner from Austria. Sorry about the 90 degree rotation. Then, perhaps the showcase course, a Dutch cream potato with bone marrow, sea urchin and coffee. Yes, coffee:
Incredibly good. The wine was a 2009 Heymann Lowenstein "Schieferterrassen"
Riesling from Mosel, Germany.
I found the Murray cod to be lukewarm and tasteless. It is accompanied by a lei of shallots, fish milk (fish milk?), pomelo (a giant grapefruit) and roe. I could have asked for Tabasco, but I would have been booted:
The wine was a 2010 Mac Forbes Gruyere Chardonnay from Victoria. Very dry. The next looks terrible, but had delectable tastes:
The largest black dot is venison, while the others were a combination of beetroot, licorice, blackcurrent and nameko (a type of mushroom). Came with a 2009 Friends of Punch Shiraz from Victoria, which tasted funny. Not funny funny, but improper.
The following course was a surprise cheese dish:
Plus another white wine that was unexplained. I thought these were part of the five courses, but I was again confused, for when they said do you want cheese, I did not realize I was ordering a 6th course for $29. Be careful about these add-ons if you are on a budget.
Then came two desserts with expresso:
That bottom left circle is a sauternes custard inside the egg shell with top chopped off. Outstanding. The expresso was all of a tablespoon in volume.
This coffee was also additional, as was the water for a mandatory $5. Something to do with not using bottled water but filtering and adding carbon dioxide in-house as a conservation measure. Everything above came to $200, including taxes and service charges. All in all an okay meal. While this lunch sounds extravagant, keep in mind that the average hotel room cost per night on this trip is almost double that amount. I could stay at a hostel, but even the Four Points (the cheap Starwood brand) Sydney starts at close to $300/night.
My second lunch was at Sepia, where chef Martin Benn was named the top chef in Sydney last year, and restaurant of the year in 2012. This will be continued tomorrow.
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