Finding a place to have a midweek lunch in the city that will impress you and fill you up, but that won’t leave you feeling light in the pocket can be tricky in Sydney CBD. Mr Tipply’s is one of those place which seems to have found that balance.
I’ve never really put much emphasis on lunch in the past. I’ve generally seen it more as a functional meal – just to get me through to dinner. If my lunch happens to taste awesome, then that’s great. It’s a bonus.
On the other hand, a Vegemite sandwich will do me till I get home – and for an Englishman brought up with Marmite, that’s saying something!
However, if I could go to Mr Tipply’s on Kent Street for lunch every day, I’d definitely do that. They’d eventually have to install bigger doors after a while, I suppose, but that’s ok. The food they’ve got going on here is dangerously moreish.
Here are some of the things I’d happily exchange for my ropey old Vegemite sandwich in a flash:
The Tuna Three Ways is fresh, delicate and quite excellent.
One of the most popular dishes (and most expensive) is the 500g T-bone steak, ready-sliced and served with black bean butter sauce.
The Chicken Sang Choy Bao is fresh and juicy. We decided this would be an essential part of a light, share plate lunch.
The crispy salmon on betel leaves was full of punch and flavour.
My favourite main dish, these Char Sui short ribs were sticky, tender tributes to how slow-cooked ribs should taste. If I could, I’d pay this place rent to live closer to these ribs!
With the ribs, this red quinoa and cashew salad would make for a great lunch… but we ate a bit more than that!
I couldn’t stop eating these tempura rock shrimps served with a tasty peri peri mayo all in brown paper. They’re incredible!
These lamb cutlets were good, but not the best dish Mr Tipply’s offers.
This is the barramundi fillet – it’s tucked away inside that banana leaf parcel where it’s been steamed, then served with sambal and crispy shallots. It’s a good dish – especially if you don’t want anything as heavy as those ribs… though I can’t think of one reason for that!
The grilled miso eggplant is very good providing you like your eggplant gooey and a little charred… I certainly do, so I ate as much of this as I could grab before Mrs Romance started frowning at me!
I’d like to point out it wasn’t just Mrs Romance and me out for lunch with all this delicious food; we were dining with two awesome friends. Steph from LipstickAndCake.com and Cheri from MsCritique.com helped us munch our way through this lunchtime feast!
Of course, Mr Tipply’s has more to offer than just lunch. It’s open till late every night, has an interesting cocktail menu and a cool cocktail bar upstairs. It’s nicely decked out too. The kitsch eclectic décor gives this really quite big venue a unique, small-bar feel.
It’s clear a lot of attention has been given to the details of this place, and it really works.
Price wise, there are some good value options at Mr Tipply’s; their $18 bar menu has some real treats. On the other hand, it’s well worth paying a bit more for those short ribs. They’re bloody delicious!
Mr Tipply’s
Open: 10am-late daily (kitchens open at 12pm)
347 Kent Street
Sydney
T: 9299 4877
W: MrTipplys.com
Fb: @MrTipplys
Insta: @MrTipplys
What do you usually do for lunch? What would you ditch your Vegemite sarnie for? Tell us in the comments!
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[…] Here’s our review on Mr Tipply’s, their ribs and a lot of the other food you can devour. […]