Danks Street Depot, Sydney ~ Nooschi

Just celebrated my first Anzac Day, Australia's equivalent to Remembrance day. A bunch of us got together for BBQ, ate excessive amounts of food, and then headed to the pubs to play two-up.
Two-up is a coin toss game that is traditionally played across Aussie pubs on Anzac day. The concept is dead simple, but the game itself is heaps of fun. Two coins are tossed, and you place your bet on either heads or tails. The cool part is that you have to find someone in the crowd to bet with. For example, if you want to place $20 on heads, you have to find someone in the crowd who is willing to place $20 on tails.

Everyone is screaming and yelling with anticipation, and you end up making friends with strangers in the process because of the interactive nature of the game. Like I said, heaps of fun. The pic below was taken just as the coin was tossed...as you can see, everyone is crowding around to see if they've made any money.

Playing Two-up on Anzac Day

The best way to recover from an eventful Anzac Day is to head out for a late brunch the day after. We decided to meet up at Danks Street Depot.

Started by Jared Ingersoll and Melanie Starr, Danks Street Depot is a place that truly places value on eating local, and supporting farmers who use sustainable farming practices. They have even implemented an "All Australian" policy across their menu.

Danks Street Depot recently started a composting process where they have harvested enough soil to grow cool herbs such as stevia and lilly pilly. Their goal is for it to grow large enough to support the restaurant one day.

As soon as we sat down, we all ordered coffee to give us a jolt.

As for lunch, my friend Rinaldo and I both ordered the Cock-a-Leekie. A warm, hearty dish of biodynamic Cornucopia beef and organic chicken poached in a chicken broth with leek and barley. The dish was finished with some cooked prunes on top.

I loved the addition of the prunes. My mother-in-law often cooks prune with meat, and it is something I have learned to love. I squished the prunes into my leek and barley sauce, and enjoyed the sweet/salty combo.

Cock-a-Leekie

CK ordered the hot beef sandwich: braised beef and caramelized onions on schiacatta (Italian flat bread) topped with jus and served with crispy salt & vinegar chat potatoes. His sandwich was very nice.

Hot Braised Beef Sandwich

JM ordered the Moroccan pie. This was a delicious stew of pure bred Suffolk roasted lamb, potatoes, chickpeas and raisins, topped with a super flaky butter puff pastry. This was delicious and was perfect for the occasion.

Moroccan Lamb Pie

I couldn't help but snap another picture once JM dug into it. We call her Monica Geller because she, like Monica, is an obsessive, neurotic clean freak. Of course, while I was taking this photo, JM kept saying that she would have eaten her pie in a much cleaner way had she known I was going to take a photo. Silly girl.