Greetings and Salutations Dear Reader and welcome back! Sydney is finally out of lockdown. If you were living outside of Greater Sydney you may not know that we had been in lockdown for over 100 days. It felt like forever! (although it was not as long as Melbournes) Last week the fully vaccinated were set free. Restaurants and cafes could reopen again and Bottomless Brunch resumed. I didn’t think too much about it. I wasn’t going to rush out, but within a week I found myself having a couple of pub meals that almost made me cry they were so good. I headed off to the cinema twice and actually sat down in a restaurant post movie. Who would have thought these little things we had so long taken for granted would fill me with joy?

What better way to celebrate lockdown ending than attending a post lockdown Bottomless Brunch that first weekend. I gathered a few of my nearest and dearest and booked Tommy’s for our first brunch out of isolation. Bottomless margaritas for the win!

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Tommy’s opened just before lockdown in June at the old Son of Frank location on Victoria St. During lockdown they served take away feasts to the locals that included some of their delicious margaritas. The week before Sydney’s restaurants opened to the public Tommy’s were already booked out for that first Saturday so I decided to break one of my own rules and go to Bottomless on a Sunday! I wasn’t working on Monday so it hardly counted, right? It was basically a Saturday for me. Of course Ash arrived first. Still notoriously early she was proud to arrive only 10 minutes early to our 11am booking. It was great to see her and have a quick catch up before the restaurant opened.

We were quickly seated once the doors opened nice and close to the bar (you don’t want to wait too long for those free flowing margaritas!) We were at a high table with stools. Normally I’m not a huge fan of bar stools but the seats were comfortable and the backs supportive (something people of a certain age need to know.) We ordered a couple of spicy margaritas and just before they arrived, Liza did too so we quickly added another to our order. Shaken to order they were oh so good!

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The Bottomless includes 7 dishes of delicious Mexican food plus bottomless margaritas – spicy or classic, beer, wine, sparkling and rosé. I struggled to read the menu as the font was so tiny (or did it just prove that my eyes have gotten worse over lockdown?) I have enlarged it above for the ocularly challenged. We started with spice dusted corn chips, arbol chilli oil and guacmole with pepitas, sunflower and sesame seeds.

We settled in for a chat. It had been a while since we had all been together. I’d caught up with Liza and Ash seperately in our recent outdoor picnic stage. 3 weeks before we reached the magic 70% vaccination number up to 5 people fulled vaxxed people were allowed to head to the great outdooors for a picnic. Love ’em or hate ’em it was a great way to catch up with friends you hadn’t seen for months and I had about 3 a week scheduled! They were exhausting!

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Quickly following the guac and chips was this delicious chargrilled corn with manchego cheese, truffle oil and chipotle mayo. I don’t know about you but I love corn! The only problem I have with it is it’s messy and gets stuck in my teeth. Of course a conversation on this very topic ensued and we spoke about the KFC wooden corn holders of yesteryear and the ones I still have that belonged to my mum in the utensil drawer that have a little corn cob on each end.

Not long after a huge plate of potatoes came out. Potatoes are always a hit with me. So delicious and the perfect way to soak up free flowing booze. Roasted kipfler potatoes with spicy tomato sauce and aioli. Sadly we couldn’t finish them or the guacamole and chips and in an effort to make room on the table they were cleared except for a few chips we were told had to be kept for the ceviche, something that we did not regret.

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The margaritas continued to flow and Ash decided to switch to beer for a few rounds. The quesadilla and ceviche were up next. Smoked achiote chicken, with smoked buffalo mozzarella and sweet picked jalapeño, full of cheesy goodness.

The tuna ceviche with avocado mousse, ponzu dressing and guajilllo sour cream was also delicious and the added crunch from the corn chips we saved were delicious. We all loved it but felt the delicate flavour of the tuna was a bit overwhelmed by an over abundance of delicious avocado mousse.

The final savoury dish was a choice of 2 soft tacos each. There were 6 flavours. Chicken, beef, pork, fish, cauliflower and zucchini flower so we decided to get one of each. I can’t speak for the others but the chicken and beef and they were both spectacular. Ash had the fish and pork and Liza the cauliflower and zucchini flower. They both agreed they had chosen well. As you can imagine at this stage we were quite full, but there’s always room for dessert!

Some people love cheese and others prefer dessert when it comes to the end of the meal. There are also people who have no preference and love both equally #nojudgement 😂 I fall into the later camp and it’s dessert all the way for me baby! I’ve always love churros and these warm home made ones did not disappoint. Served with dulche de leche, they were the perfect ending to a great Bottomless Brunch.

The next round of brunchers eagerly awaited our exit. Kick on? Of course we did. A few cheeky cocktails around the corner at The Darlo Bar left us all very jolly. Ash left us and I gave Liza that one more for the road look as we made our way to The Colombian rooftop bar, but that my friends is another other story…

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One margarita, two margarita, three margarita, shot

Don’t worry ’bout tomorrow

Leave all your sorrow out here on the floatin’ dock

Luke Bryan

📍 where – 263 Victoria St Darlinghurst

🌏 www – https://www.tommysdarlinghurst.com.au/

🍸🌶🥂🍻🌹🍷Drinks – classic and spicy margaritas, beer, wine, sparkling and rosé included in cost

💵 how much – $99 for food and drink

🌮 food – 7 dish Mexican feast

⌚️ how long – 2 hours 

🗓 when – Friday, Saturday and Sunday – 3 sittings, 11am, 1pm and 3pm