7 ways to taste Sydney before you walk out the door
Become a locavore and sample some of Sydney’s best local flavours and culinary treasures – from pastries to beer – without even leaving your bed.
When we travel, we want to be fully immersed in a destination to really get a feel for a place, to experience it as a local would, to see it through their eyes. Or indeed their appetite, as we gleefully eat and drink our way from one local delicacy to the next.
Inspired by this desire, we’ve brought the flavours of Sydney into the design and experience of our hotel, centred on curated culinary moments and menu items, many sourced directly from our local neighbourhood.
So you can stay and get a taste for Sydney – literally – before you even set foot outside the hotel.
Here are some of our favourite flavours so far:
#1. Aromatic Wayfarer’s coffee blended in Sydney
We may be biased, but we REALLY know how to make a great coffee here in Sydney. You’ll be hard pressed to find a bad brew around town, as the demand for coffee excellence among locals is very high indeed. We know this only too well, so we put a lot of time into researching, taste testing and making our own delicious blend of beans. Produced locally, our Wayfarer’s Bar & Cafe coffee is 100% high grown Arabica from Central America and Africa. It delivers a sweet, caramel taste with liquorice undertones and a lingering sweet finish. You can savour it in a frothy cappuccino over breakfast, an expertly-made takeaway espresso, a latte topped up with your favourite plant-based milk, or sweeten it up with caramel or hazelnut syrup. The choice is yours!
#2. Crusty fresh bread from the Breville loaf maker
There’s something very alluring about the smell of fresh bread first thing in the morning. Here we treat you to a waft of freshly baked fruit loaf or sourdough straight from the kitchen, courtesy of our Breville Custom Loaf Pro. And you can’t get much more localised, given the building our hotel occupies used to be the office headquarters for Breville, a renowned Australian small appliance maker. We serve up our house-baked bread with a daily selection of jams each morning as a fitting tribute.
#3. Curatif cocktails on tap
What better way to get a taste for a destination than through cocktails oft-sipped by locals? We had a lot of fun researching some of the most popular cocktails in town at the moment, and putting our own spin on them. We collaborated with local drinks mixers Curatif – experts of crafty concoctions and locally-distilled spirits, syrups and ingredients. You can find the Tequila Tromba Tommy’s Margarita from Curatif on our drinks menu. Smooth, reliable, delicious, this one is the ultimate companion for your night out. Or your night in, if you’re spending the night with us. There’s also the world’s most awarded Archie Rose Espresso Martini, giving you an exceptional cocktail experience like no other.
#4. Wonderful wines from around NSW
There’s not much space to grow grapes in Sydney, so we’ve cast our net a little further to compile our wine list. But not much further, given NSW is chock-a-block full of award-winning wine regions with stunning wineries producing excellent drops. Our personal favourites are on the list, like Molly’s Cradle NV Premium Brut from Tumbarumba, and The Aunts Meerea Park Cab Sav from the Hunter Valley. In fact, our entire wine list is made up of wines from around Australia, from Bendigo in Victoria to Margaret River in the west. (All except one sparkling from France, that is.)
#5. Delicious candles by @EmmmCook
Ok so this one isn’t actually for the eating, but local candlemaker Em Cook makes cylinders of wax that smell good enough to eat, so we’ve snuck in a mention. We’re talking flavours like cherries and cream, mango and pineapple, and birthday cake transformed into scents which fill the room. We stock a few from her handmade range in our retail store, while our hotel signature scent is a specially formulated fragrance we created in collaboration with her: called Bloom Always, it’s inspired by the floral spring scents of Sydney’s The Royal Botanic Garden, with a flourish of native lilies and lilacs, combined with fragrant lavender and peonies.
Source: Staves Brewery / Instagram
#6. Craft beer from our neighbours at Staves
Sydneysiders are spoilt for choice when it comes to which local craft beer to sample, with dozens of microbreweries dotted around town. One of the closest to us is just in the next suburb over, Staves Brewery in Glebe. Set up in a former metal workshop, Staves brews an excellent range of core beers and seasonal specials, and we’ve sourced four of these to stock in our bar so you can enjoy cold either in Wayfarer’s or in your room at your leisure. We have also sourced beer from other great inner city Sydney brewers including 4 Pines in Brookvale, Batch in Marrickville, and Nort in Mona Vale.
Source: Juiced Life / Instagram
#7. Cold pressed juice from Juiced Life
Locals love getting out and about for breakfast or brunch, and they also can’t get enough of the juice bar and juice cleanse trend. Cold pressed juice is the cold beverage of choice for many locals, and we’ve brought a selection to the table at Wayfarer’s, sourced from Sydney-born Juiced Life. Sip a icy cold, 100% natural juice packed with nutrients and vitamins, and no added sugar or preservatives, choosing from a range of fruity combos like pear, ginger and lemon, or pineapple, orange and apple.
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Is there something you love about the flavours of Sydney which you’d love to see in our hotel? Get in touch and let us know!