Finger Wharf

Finger Wharf at Woolloomoolloo, the largest timber-piled building in the world, was built in 1915. It has variously been a wool warehouse, a staging post for soldiers in transit to World Wars I and II, and an arrival point for new migrants to Australia. Incredibly, the wharf was slated for demolition in 1991, but this was halted after a public outcry and in 1999 it was converted to hold 8 restaurants, numerous private apartments (one of them occupied by Russell Crowe) and the BLUE Hotel. I was there for dinner at China Doll, one of the restaurants lining the west side of the wharf, with a prime view of the city. After dinner, which was excellent – modern Asian loaded with clean fresh flavours – I wandered into the cavernous centre of the wharf to find the Water Bar, which is part of the BLUE hotel. It's a challenge to create atmosphere in such a vast space catering for so many people (on a Friday night, all the restaurants were packed), but they've done their best with the creative use of lighting, lacy screens, vintage features, a massive bar, and neon-lit lifts. Shown below: the lobby at the BLUE hotel; vases from China Doll; views from the wharf; and the interior.

Little Queen

Little Queen is a newly opened café at 30 Queen Street, Chippendale. Big windows open out onto the street, giving a deceptive sense of space. It's decorated with quirky details: a waving little queen in the window, a wall entirely covered in Weetbix cards, a union jack used as a cushion cover. The owner, Rob, serves up an interesting range of salads and tasty sandwiches on outstandingly good bread by Brasserie Bread: below, poached chicken breast with herb mayo, walnuts and baby spinach on schachaata; and tuna, lemon mayo, spanish onion, parsley, horseradish and rocket on wholemeal sourdough. There's a daily muffin special (today: carrot cake with white chocolate topping). Apparently the coffee is excellent. A nice little addition to the neighbourhood.

Garden Life

On a beautiful, sunny day, one of those days when you feel happy to be alive, I cycled past Garden Life, at 357 Cleveland Street, Surry Hills, and stopped, drawn by the sight of people sitting at tables outside what was clearly a café. Sadly, they were just closing up and what's more, I'd forgotten my wallet, so I couldn't even buy a cup of tea let alone sample the delicious sounding menu at Café Twig, a newly-opened venture at the back of the shop. Inside Garden Life, a wonderful variety of plants in large pots are displayed in sculptural arrangements; a little garden bathed in bright sunshine leads off the café. It felt like going round to someone's house for tea and discovering they have a perfect little garden.