Hello dear Reader, it has been way too long! Have you missed me? Have you been craving another chapter in the seemingly endless book of the Sydney Bottomless Brunch Blog? Looking for a new place to bottomless brunch? I won’t bore you with the trivialities of life – a broken computer, work and suddenly Christmas and New Year! How did we get here? I find myself asking that very question on a semi regular basis. But without further ado we continue the search for the best bottomless brunch in Sydney…

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A few weeks before Christmas I found myself at a place I had only come to for happy hour (seriously who doesn’t want a Patrón margarita for $ 12.50 from 4 – 6pm 7 days a week?! Thanks for the tip Ash ❤️) I’d wanted to try the Patrón Weekend lunch for a while now but it was a bit on the pricey side at $ 99.00. After a not so great experience at the Shangri La for the same price I wondered if the package would be worth the price of admission. Believe me when I say it did not disappoint.

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Joined by past partners in crime Mal & Tempest who I’d convinced to come for the optional “roady” at Bar Patrón a few weeks earlier and ended up covered in glitter post Portside, Kirsty, Kat and Rob a friend of Kats heretofore known as”The Gentleman” who you may have heard me mention in a previous blog.

The deal was simple. A shared menu of Mexican delights with the bottomless options of four Patrón cocktails, wine or beer (as if we would do that!) for $ 99.00. We were ready to begin. We all ordered a round of classic margaritas to start and the food quickly arrived. Classic corn chips, salsa and guacamole pounded to order (you’ve got to love that!) A chunky tuna salad and a few more corn chips.

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Next out were the soft shell tacos. I adore it when a venue has Fried Market ish on their menu. It certainly made us laugh (it’s the little things isn’t it?;) I did find the raw tomato a bit difficult to remove. So if you, like I (or my friends Markus or Tim to name a few) have a problem with raw tomato I suggest you ask for it without. The other taco on offer was mushroom (not for you Jaycen or Colin #allergic) It was definitely not my favorite and out of everything we had it was the one thing I found it quite oily and a bit disappointing.

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I haven’t always liked tequila, in fact in my formative years I developed a bit of a tequila phobia. I had a bad experience as a “child” with it (yes I’m looking at you Stefan!) when I ate a mescal worm between 2 corn chips and it all gets a bit blurry. Needless to say I was not much of a fan of the shots or the slammer after that, however I didn’t mind it’s meeker cousin, the Tequila Sunrise. Fast forward several years and my friend Justin encourages me to try tequila again. Hideous! I almost vomited all over the bartender at Slide. A few more years pass by and my friend Ryan convinced me to try Cafe Patrón at The Beresford. He bought it and promised if I didn’t like it, he would drink it for me. Needless to say Ryan never got to drink that shot and this is where my love of Patrón was born.

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Next up were the mains. This time the market ish was marinated ~giggles with some grilled medium rare skirt steak (served separately). The ish was tender and succulent, the refried beans and rice a great accompaniment. The drinks continued to flow and I was determined to try all four. The things I do for you, dear Reader! Of course you can’t go past a classic margarita and combined with the skill of the bartenders and delicious Patrón tequila these will always be a winner for me. Next up was the Paloma, which ended up being my favourite, but of course I had to order several more just to make sure! The Strawberry Buck was also tasty but a little too sweet for my liking and finally the Patrón highball. A light classic served with tonic water.

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Did you know the Patrón Spirits Company chose the bee as their logo because of the well known attraction bees have to the Weber blue agave plant which is the primary plant Patrón tequila is made from. The logo is fantastic and the branding is beautifully used throughout Bar Patrón. A window decal here, a swizzle stick there, a debossed bee on a menu, a silver bee depressed into the bottom of the glass and while the bee is sometimes notably and sometimes subtly everywhere it is not over the top. It’s these little touches that pull the venue together and make it unique.

Desert was served! Out came a light as air tres leches cake. Tres leches literally means three milks. It is an ultra light sponge cake soaked in a sweet milk mixture and is popular in Mexico and Latin America. If you are there for lunch and thinking can I fit in dessert? Make sure you save room for this one. Of course at any Mexican restaurant you’ll find churros. Churros are predominately made from choux pastry which is fried until it becomes crunchy. These ones like most that I have seen were sprinkled with sugar and served with a warm chocolate dipping sauce. They were also called Polvorones on the menu and after looking that up I’m pretty sure it’s definitely a churro, but who am I to judge? It still tasted great.

Polvorones are traditional Spanish Christmas cookies flavored with almonds and crumbly in texture

The Spruce Eats

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Dessert is one of my favourite parts of any meal and while several of my friends have a savoury tooth and some strange ones have both sweet and savoury (no judgement), I have a sweet one. I will often look at the dessert menu first to make sure there is enough room in my dessert stomach at the end of the meal if there is something delicious on the menu. Once I even ordered dessert first to make sure I could fit it in! But I digress.

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It was that time of the day, as last drinks were called we ordered shots of Cafe Patrón and we all dug into our wallets for our cards. But alas! The eftpos machine was down. What we would do? None of us had cash! Where was the nearest ATM at Circular Quay? Would we go singly or as a group? We decided to leave Tempest as collateral and as we made our way grumbling towards the door Jordan declared that the machine was now working! Hurrah! Apologies offered and reparation made in the form of a margarita for the road (thank you guys 🙂 and then we accidentally espresso Martini’d, oops. We said our goodbyes to Mal and Tempest and Kirsty, The Gentleman and I made our way back to Kats place where she pulled together a spread to rival Maggie Beer just out of the odds and ends she had in her fridge! But that my friends is another story…

Tequila loves me

Even if you don’t

Kenny Chesney

📍 where – 2 Phillip St Circular Quay

🌏 www – http://www.barpatron.com.au/

🍸🍹 🍷🍺 bottomless – patrón cocktails (4 kinds) wine and beer

💵 how much – $99

🥩🌮🥗🍮 – Mexican share style set menu

⌚️ how long – 2 hours

🗓 when – Saturday and Sunday from 12 – 3 pm