Porteño

Often mentioned in the same sentence as some of the top and probably most expensive restaurants in Sydney, such as Bilson's, Bécasse and Tetsuya's, Porteño certainly holds its own on the food and service front and the good new is, it wont break your bank to dine here. Opened a little over a year ago, this Argentinean grill house was recently award best new restaurant and given a two-hat status at the SMH Good Food Guide 2012 Awards.

The whole place was already buzzing when we arrived at 7pm on Monday night, when the lovely Maitre d' informed us that they were full, that's right, packed at 7pm on a Monday night, we decided to head upstairs to Gardel's Bar for a drink while we waited for our table. The one and half hour wait for the table was a bit long, but I didn't mind it at all as I was with good company, plus having eaten at Porteño early in the year, I knew the food would be well worth the wait. Once we placed our order the dishes were served up quickly.

To start, we had the Pan de Casa House baked bread with olive oil & pork pate, if you like pate, this one is not to be missed, it was soft, rich and spread easily onto the perfectly baked bread; Tiradito peruano con Aji Amarillo Citrus marinated seafood with cucumber, grapefruit and yellow chilli paste was our next dish and it was fresh, the the hint of chilli was not overpowering but just right. My favourite dish of the night.

Chanchito a la Cruz 8 hour woodfried pig

Our two mains were the Chorizo Porteño Housemade pork sausage and Chanchito a la Cruz 8 hour woodfried pig, one of the must try dishes. The meat was soft and succulent, the crackling golden brown and crunchy. Our waiter suggested that we add a salad to our meal as the food is quite rich, so we went with his suggestion of Ensalada de Hinojo Shaved fennel salad with apricot, black olives and amontillado dressing. It was sweet, salty and zesty, all the flavours of the dish balanced out the rather heavy and rich meaty dishes perfectly.

All the dishes are designed to be shared and come in pretty big servings. We probably should have ordered 1 or 2 dishes less and saved some room for dessert because I simply adored the Postre Chaja South American Style Pavlova on my last visit and would have loved to try the Leche Quemada Burnt milk custard with orange jam & chocolate ice cream. I suppose it'll have to wait till next time.

If you want to avoid waiting for a table, make sure you get there early (they open for dinner at 6pm) or have 5 or more in your party so you can make a reservation. But with a great bar upstairs to pass the time by, your table will be ready before you know it. Oh and what I absolutely LOVE about this place, besides the food, is the well dressed gentleman who opens the door for all the guests. How's that for a treat!

Porteño: 358 Cleveland Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010