PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIASurry Hills has yet another cool new digs. This one is a tapas bar with a difference. What’s different about it? According to the chef/owners, it’s more contemporary, higher quality, a Sydney-standard restaurant in a cuisine field that hasn’t fulfilled its potential. The philosophy of the place is clear in the design – the restaurant is built around an open kitchen, and a bright mural of the restaurant’s signature bull proclaims in Spanish: “Full belly, content heart.” The music is loud, the crowd young, the meals social. The chefs insist that Latin cuisine is more suited to the Australian climate than the French cuisine the restaurant public is so fond of. It’s lighter and fresher, they say, especially when they use the best Australian ingredients they can find.
Bodega offers Spanish and South American inspired dishes with a Mod Oz twist, for instance, you will find morcilla (a South American blood sausage) with apple and radish salad, alongside miso-cured ocean trout with gazpacho and fennel. The plates range from $6 to $26, with most people needing about three plates to fill up. The wine is another area in which this tapas bar stands out. All the wines are Spanish or South American and chosen to complement the food. Wine specials change daily, including by-the-glass options.
Sarah Theeboom, December 2006
