Azafran Tapas (Surry Hills, NSW)

For my one week of "winter" break, I went down to Sydney to eat, drink and be merry! Well, sort of.  I did lots of the first and was much of the latter, until I realized I had to come back to Brisbane for school in a week.  The trip was filled with fooding, as well as going up to the Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves for a light walk.  I have lots of photos to sort through! ...but for now, here was what I had the first night at Azafran Tapas in Surry Hills.

The place itself is a dimly lit, Spanish tapas restaurant with a romantic ambience and a small store front that could be easily missed.  When we arrived for dinner, we were quite hungry, and were lucky enough to sit down at the last empty table, as it only seats about twenty.  [I would recommend making a reservation for a larger party]  Being a lover of Spanish [tapas] food, I wanted to order everything! Calamari, churros, pork belly, mmmm!  But, I must contain myself, and my endless stomach, in fear of emptying my wallet...

I went with a friend that doesn't particularly like seafood, so we got two meat tapas dishes, which were both flavor explosions! The first that we had was the pan roasted chicken breast with manchego cheese and sage stuffing with a cauliflower puree.  The chicken itself was tender and roasted to perfection, with capsicum at the center.  There was also manchego cheese and sage stuffing in the middle, which gave the chicken a surprising, but incredibly delicious taste!  I apologize for my fuzzy low-res pictures ahead of time, since I didn't bring my camera around and used the one on my iPhone.

The second dish we had was the Grilled Black Angus sirloin served with warm potato and snow peas, which was almost just as amazing, except the beef was a bit difficult to chew because it was so raw.  I love medium|rare, but this was just a bit of a battle.  The dressing/sauce for the beef was very tasty and went perfectly well with the beef.  The potatoes also tasted amazing with the dash of green onions.

The flavors in both plates were interesting and tasty and had me wanting more.  Though I only tried two different things that night, the ambience, presentation, and creativeness of the chef would definitely be reason to return!

Price: 20-30 AUD pp (without wine) | $$-$$$
Rating: 4.5/5 (but expensive)