Elsja Down Under

Cafe Pacifico November 22, 2010

Since before I even moved to Australia, I’ve been hearing about Cafe Pacifico. For some reason I had never been there the entire 3 years I’ve lived in Sydney. That all changed on Wednesday when I headed there after work with all of my colleagues. I was very excited to discover that this place is only a 5 minute walk from my office, sweet! I was very curious- would it live up to the hype AND would it taste better than Baja Cantina? Let’s find out, shall we?

Decor/Setting: 8: It definitely fits the Mexican theme, that’s for sure. The place is decorated with old boxes of beer and tequila and I was just waiting for some short Mexican guys to come out of the woodwork with whistles and tequila shots and start flipping people upside down. It’s pretty loud as well so it’s definitely not the place for a romantic night out.

Value: 5: The value at any Mexican restaurant in Sydney is pretty crap, but this place seemed even more over priced than the others. A jug of Sangria was almost $30 bucks and didn’t seem that strong. I got a jug at Bungalow 8 last week for $15. Maybe it was bigger than it appeared but $30 just seemed like a lot. The quacamole that was ordered seemed tiny for the price as well. I know avocados are expensive, but seriously- I could make 6 times the amount at home for the same price they paid the other night. I shared fajitas with my boss because I wasn’t starving. They were expensive, as fajitas always are,  but they actually came with enough for us to each have two decent sized fajitas each. I was glad I didn’t get my own.

Service: 7 – It wasn’t anything stellar but it wasn’t horrible either. I’m rating it a bit lower because we struggled to get the server’s attention whenever we wanted more drinks.

Taste: 8- The guacamole was good… maybe not as good as mine, but good. Sangria was pretty good but again, not as good as mine. The Fajitas were great! I actually liked them better than Baja Cantina’s! They only downfall is that they didn’t come with cheese (BC’s do) and they only had pinto beans, not black beans. A co-worker got chicken quesadillas and they looked very appetizing so maybe I’d try those next time.

Overall I thought the food was really good. I can’t knock the cost because Mexican is just expensive here, period.  It’s a great atmosphere for parties or special occasions so I’m definitely looking forward to going back at some point and getting tipsy on some overpriced sangria!

Mad Pizza November 20, 2010

Since I started working in Darlinghurst I’ve had the chance to try a few new restaurants; therefore, I shall blog.

Mad Pizza

I went here with some girl friends last week after work. I can happily say “I’d go back” because I actually already did. A few days ago some colleagues were heading there for lunch and I tagged along. So my review is based on both of my visits.

Decor/Setting: 7: I think the place is definitely cute. Not ultra comfortable because they use little benches instead of chairs, but not bad either. I like that you can order at the bar and pay separately before your food comes so that you can just get up and go whenever you’re finished. I also like the paper tablecloths and crayons on each table. Drawing while you chat definitely kills the time while waiting for your food.

Value: 8: The first night I got a pasta which was comparably priced to most Italian places I go to, but the serving size seemed a little bigger than normal. We also ordered REALLY good parmesan bread and we got 4 huge pieces for 8 bucks. I definitely thought it was well worth it. You can order jugs of wine instead of whole bottles which is pretty cool. You don’t really get any sort of discount by doing so but for some reason I felt better ordering one jug rather than 3 glasses.   The second time I went I got an individual pizza and salad for 10 bucks. That was definitely good value considering I paid $9.90 for a crappy pre-made sandwich two days later.

Service: 7 – The first night service was pretty quick, but for lunch I feel like we had to wait forever for our food and then we had to rush to eat it. Both times everyone was pretty nice.

Taste: 8- My pasta was really good and my pizza was decent. I ordered a pasta with cream sauce but I asked for red sauce instead. Rather than replacing the cream sauce, they just added the red to make a pink sauce. Although I was bummed about the fat content, it very really delicious! The pizza was good- SUPER thin crust and not soggy at all, but the chicken on the pizza was VERY bland. The sauce and toppings were good but the bland chicken actually made the deliciousness factor go down. I’d probably get a vegetarian one next time.

So there’s one review for you. I’m sure I’ll have many more in the upcoming months. I feel like I’ve discovered a whole new world of food and bars by making the trek over the harbour for work each day. It’s pretty exciting!

It’s Official November 16, 2010

Yesterday I received some exciting things in the mail. I suppose they technically came last week… but Andrew had to get to the post office to pick them up for me since I can no longer do those types of things now that I’m a working girl. So what did I get in the mail you ask? I got two very official documents.

1. My permanent residency notification. I am now a full-fledged permanent resident of Australia!! This means I can get a full driver’s license (as opposed to the temporary one I had that has now expired… don’t worry, I can still legally drive on my US license) and in two years I can apply for citizenship.

2. My new social security card that reads “Elsja Hancock.” Nearly three months after our wedding, I have officially become Mrs. Hancock. Now I just need to get a new passport, change all my other official documents and practice my signature!

These were two great silver linings to a rainy Monday. Oh, and I also became an official member of the gym near my work. As much as I don’t want to pay to exercise, I really have no time in my day to work out unless I do it right before/after work or on my lunch break. Getting home at 7-8pm every night is not conducive to keeping up the motivation to exercise.

What a very official way to start the week!

Working Girl November 5, 2010

You may all think I’ve seriously slacked off in the blogging department lately but it’s quite the contrary. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever blogged as much in my life as I have in the last 2 weeks, I just haven’t been blogging for THIS site.

It turns out that a big part of my awesome new job is to write lots and lots of blog posts articles; so, Ive been typing away day in and day out so we have some fun contet for our client websites. The main bulk of the posts have been fashion, celebrity and beauty blogs geared towards teenagers and young women. I’ve also done a few for a medical site as well. Not only am I blogging, but I’m getting paid to manage facebook contests where I personally have been given the task to choose winners from a bunch of girls leaving comments about what their favourite outfit is. I’ve already been able to liase with some great clients and PR companies and I’m loving it. I’m pretty sure this job is perfect for me. Blogging, Facebook, website building… not to metion I work with some seriously cool people and one ferocious little dog! Tonight we pushed a new blog live for a client and it’s great to start to see some of my work from the last 2 weeks published for the world to see. 

Of course not all of my work will always be as fun (and the commute home is a nightmare) but that’s the nature of business I suppose. It’s definitely been a great start to my new adventure down under.