Located along Willoughby Street (i.e. main food street) in Crows Nest, Small Bar faces some intense competition in the food stakes. There is limited seating outside the main entrance and along the long aisle towards the courtyard around the back, however the courtyard space is big enough to accommodate 40+ people.
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| Outside of Restaurant |
Aunt T & Co. went all out on the event with the food and decor, even decorating the courtyard with balloons, banner and bunting. Also, Ivanhoe was recruited to apply her artistic skills to create the time capsule slips for guests to fill in.
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| Vine | Decor along the Bench |
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| (Fake) Pear Tree Branches | Pine Cone in a Tin Bucket |
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| Fairy Lights and Hanging Candle Holders | Flowers |
And onto the food...
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| Chips surrounded by glasses of Champagne and Orange Juice |
First to come out of the kitchen were plates of beer battered chips, which were cooked perfectly with crunchy exteriors and fluffy insides, and lightly tossed with salt and herbs. The chips were served with two sauces - tomato and mayonnaise. It was sad when some guests swapped out this plate of chips in front of the granny for a half-eaten plate of oysters, which she didn't eat.
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| Oysters |
There were also batches of fresh oysters - a bit on small side but served with slices (not wedges!?) of lemon and lime, and sweet chilli soy sauce. I found the oysters a bit hard to slurp out of the shell so it would be been better if there were some toothpicks or mini-utensils available to use.
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| Porcini Mushroom and Parmesan Cheese Arancinis; Pulled Pork and Slaw Sliders |
Then came the highlight of my dining experience - the arancini!! As you can see in the picture, they're actually a bit too big to consume in one bite (they were almost as big as the pulled pork sliders!). I spent some time trying to figure out the best way to eat it since both the top and bottom have sauce on it (oh well, ate from both ends). However, once you overcome the initial dilemma, the breaded exterior was golden-brown and crispy, the arancini was full of mushroom flavour, rice was cooked perfectly - cooked through and not too mushy/soft -, and there were traces of cheese melting between the rice. *drools*
As for the pulled pork sliders, I felt the ratio of meat+slaw to bun was a little short and therefore tasted a little bland in comparison to the arancini. The sliders could have done with more seasoning and/or more pulled pork and slaw inside the bun.
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| Pulled Pork Slider (nomnomnom...) |
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| Satay Chicken Skewers |
The chicken was smothered in a thick peanut satay sauce, topped with desiccated coconut and herbs, and lain on a bed of rocket. Unfortunately by the time I got to try the chicken skewers, they were cold so the chicken was harder than when in their optimum, warm state, but they still tasted good.
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| Chorizo & Prawn Mini Pizzas |
The chorizo and prawn pizza looked cute in miniature portions and were packed full of flavour from the spicy chorizo. The pizza base was not quite sturdy enough to withstand the weight of the prawn and chorizo so they were eaten rolled up like the soft tacos below.
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| Fried Prawn and Tangy Slaw Soft Taco; Smoked Salmon and Crème Fraîche on Blinis |
Out of these two dishes, I only tried the fried pawn soft taco, as by that time I was full after breakfast at Flower Child, Chatswood, and then followed by all this yummy food. The prawn in the soft taco was coated in a light tempura batter before being deep fried but the one I had wasn't that crispy and probably needed more seasoning.
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| Eating a Prawn Soft Taco (and subsequently lapsing into a food coma) |
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| Hoisin Duck with Fried Shallots on Soft Tacos |
Another item that I didn't get to sample were these duck soft tacos, which ran away before I could grab one but they got the tick of approval from Ivanhoe.
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| Epic Cupcake Tower |
Dessert was in the form of a tower of lychee and rosewater cupcakes made by @astrawberi, who sadly couldn't make it to the party but she still took the time to make them. Her cupcakes were well received, especially with the hidden lychee at the bottom of each cupcake.
As per my previous experiences, I can always count on getting a decent feed from here, and staff are friendly and efficient:
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| Bar Staff (very eager to pose) |
They made quick work of clearing out the courtyard because by the time we lingerers walked away, it was pretty much devoid of any evidence that we were there (except for the balloons).
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| Empty Courtyard after Party |
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