Thursday, 20 February 2014

Late nights and subsequent sleeping in works rather well as far as Hughesy's concerned. With the regular body clock suspended it was around nine when I surfaced, and recent indulgences meant there wasn't any urgent need for breakfast.

The schedule, as far as I was concerned, involved a lavish rise, shower, and brunch somewhere around the Darling Harbour-Chinatown axis, followed by a walk around the waterside area, with a visit to the Maritime Museum a strong possibility.

It was around eleven-thirty when we headed out, with the main purpose in the pre-brunch session being a general sniff-out of the possibilities around the rendezvous. Given the position adjacent to central and a short walk from the Sydney Entertainment Centre, the hotel is my preferred option if I'm looking at concerts at Allphones or the SEC, so it makes sense to have an idea of lunch and dinner venues and such.

Satang Thai is one possibility, Haymarket Hot Pot is another, and I had Lao City Thai and the Chinese noodle Restaurant from The Guardian's top ten value eateries in Sydney, so if I could add those locations to the memory bank that would definitely be useful.

With the Red Bottle pencilled in to provide something to drink, that might be about as much as Hughesy needs, but it's always nice to have additional options.

And we ended up with an additional option I the form of Mamak, at the bottom end of Goulburn Street, where the roti, satay and mee goreng went down a treat. Madam's taste buds don't handle hot, but she could handle the roti, which was helpful, and there are spicier options if Hughesy's after heat. 

The iced black coffee wasn't bad either.

We'd been scouting around before we arrived on the doorstep, and Mamak wasn't quite ready to open, so Madam headed out to do a bit more scouting. I wasn't inclined to explore too much because there wasn't much to explore.

I was standing outside the closed door when a black sedan pulled up, disgorging an elderly grey-suited figure who looked a lot like the former Prime Minister nicknamed The Silver Bodgie, but Madam wasn't around to confirm the sighting. By coincidence, we were just leaving when I noticed a black sedan parked where the grey-suited one had alighted.

Madam was about to head off, but given we were looking at a loading zone, I got her to hang on for long enough to see the passenger ushered into the vehicle and a confirmation that I was right.

From there,  we looped around Darling Harbour, eventually strolling into the Maritime Museum for a stroll around the Galleries. I f I'd been inclined that way I might have shelled out the extra for the BIg ticket that includes the chance to walk around the vessels anchored nearby, but I figured that was a bridge too far for Madam, and would make for an interesting way to while away a bit of time a little further down the track.

Roaming to Red Eye to Rendezvous

© Ian Hughes 2012