Located on the foreshore of the beautiful Sydney Harbour and surrounded by parklands, Nielson Park Cafe & Restaurant has a pretty ideal location. This heritage listed property sits right in the middle of a very popular beach and is surrounded by stunning trees that have grown to form a leafy archway across the pathway to the beach.
It was raining again today. It just hasn’t stopped raining for the past week, which I’m told is good since there hasn’t been a lot of rain this past summer. The good thing about the rain is that it meant that this spot which is usually jam packed with sunbathers and beachbums on a Sunday afternoon was empty and peaceful. It also meant that we managed to walk in and get a table for four inside the restaurant.
The restaurants is a light and airy space with colourful stained glass windows and wild flowers on all the tables. Several tables next to us had been reserved by a large group of women, all beautiful and well dressed, throwing a baby shower for one of their friends. This spot is often used for weddings and it isn’t hard to see why. It is both fancy while still having that laid back cool feel that Sydney does so well.
We ordered our hot chocolates before lunch to help us dry off from the horizontal rain outside. Our friend Bradley was smart – being the local he knew to ask for a hot chocolate in a mug. I had completely forgotten that around here if you ask for a hot chocolate they almost always bring it to you in a water glass, which as I have mentioned many times before, makes no sense to me. So his arrived in a nice big red mug while mine came in a small sad looking water glass. But despite this it was a nice hot chocolate which I thoroughly enjoyed. Nothing overly fancy but good quality, dark chocolate.
The food, as very often is the case in Australia, was beautiful. I had baked Portuguese style fish of the day in a cast iron pot which I highly recommend. The bowl of yam chips with rosemary salt and lemon yoghurt dip looked fantastic as well.
Verdict: Great spot on a rainy Sunday afternoon…great spot anyday really. And then there is that view of the harbor… Nielsen Park, Greycliffe avenue, Sydney, Australia
