monk on king

i've been everywhere man...

stop sticky fingers

[a nervous mother's mantra]

secret hangover fix

meet the italian bowl: our trusty neighbourhood restorative all day/night lunch spot for times where delicious low-frill carbohydrates need to be delivered fast unto one's plate before the wrath of the night before threatens to explode all over an empty table. BYO berocca.

this is my number one comfort culinary crash pad. a mediterranean mcdonalds but where the food actually tastes good & you can tell where it once came from [probably not a brazilian rain forest]. funnily enough there is a supersize option but i've never needed to go there.

the penne arrabiata [$10.00] is a stock favourite & the prawns with garlic, chilli & wine in linguine [$14.00] are sublime yet simple. this unassuming hole in the wall also does a bunch of other dishes apart from pasta but i've never managed to go beyond the risotto. the risotto was good but i'm 100% addicted to the instant carbs on demand.

newtown offers a plethora of fast friendly food joints but our second home "the pasta bowl" as we call it, is a high rotation spot where feeding two hungry but picky locals & leaving us full, content and glowing like content cheshires for under 25 bucks total is a tough call even in this neck of the woods.

the wonderful staff banter is all the dessert one usually needs but the tiramisu is worth an exploratory foray if you've got the stomach of a delicate ox.

the italian bowl

255 king st, newtown

tel: +61 [02] 9516 0857

karma... karma... kammadhenu

boy george wasn't in sight on arrival at this newtown cultural club despite the fact that after his earlier prison stint this year he has been reported to be living off primarily organic asian based foods in an assault on former cocaine & other scintillating addictions. local rent boys have been much happier as a result.

however on leaving the hub of king st on saturday avo into this indo-aryan mecca, no staff were visible either which resulted in an ad hoc DIY approach which ended up working relatively well.

kammadhenu is not exactly fine dining but oozes no-frills authenticity. ky & i aren't terribly shy especially when famished. the magic "licensed" sign & spiced aromas had lured us in. noveaux mohammeds, we went directly to the mountain, grabbed menus & a sample of the extensive fine german beer selection in the fridge & proceeded to drink whilst perusing the menu.

the restaurant is a fusion of multiple asian cuisines: indian, sri lankan & malaysian. bee-lining to the curries we ordered dhal, mixed vegetable, steamed rice with an order of tandoori prawns which proved to be the beginning of what will undoubtedly be a long & illustrious love affair.

the prawns are definitely on the highly-vied-for list of best prawns in town across the cuisine style board. at 8.00AUD per entree, um, they have to be easily the best value. we're not in the CBD now dorothy. we immediately ordered more and once again delicately cut the odd remaining orange crustacean in half, each of us savouring the last possible morsel, a memory of the flavour dancing on our collective tongues. this is a dish that leaves all old maids for dead.

the curries were small but delicious & we're definitely coming back for more. there's dosai & roti to add to the experience base. already my stomach screams in withdrawal symptoms with a new found coveting love for tandoori prawns served on metal accompanied with bubbling bier drunk from a small metal cup. this addiction must be sated earlier rather than later. it might just be today.

i have to return some videotapes

,

with an appetite for fresh film fodder, a late night excursion is made to king st, newtown. like new york, this humble 4th cousin once removed, almost never sleeps. it's the 2nd runner-up to sydney's chinatown & king's cross for late night fixes, food or otherwise.

in a culture of state imposed alcohol lock-outs hitting profile bars from 02:00 - 05:00 in an effort to "control crime": it's a sorry state of affairs for sydney, a cosmopolitan city of international note, that bars shut down & restrict alcohol access [even once inside], as early as they do. curfews outside of war-time, not during prohibition, not on TV, but here, now.

there are no late night bodegas selling liquor downunder. for a nation of alleged free & easy alcoholics, our alcohol restrictions are actually rather immense.

boasting the latest legit opening bottle store in NSW [WOOT!]: the townie in newtown is open for off license to 23:45, 7 days a week [bar HC public holidays] which is well exploited by the locals who form a comfortably colorful & chill textured mix of goth, dyke, rockabilly, artist, muso & intellectual derelict. unforced street chic.

a perfect vibe without the dullness of overt shiny self-awareness: although almost everyone looks good enough to eat... patterns & rainbow hues mishmash into a wonderful kaleidescope. several peeps run amok with heads which would look good on a stick.

a redroom DVD store dispenses the movie of your choice with a quick convenient credit card swipe, no matter what the hour. the ATM-like dispensing pod stands opposite another iconic bar, the marlborough [the marly].

a local institution, i once was asked to remove my beret by the over-zealous bulldog bouncers & which i refused without intentional disrespect to the queen. they didn't appreciate "bad hair day" as an excuse. beefcake doormen are not hired for their charm, logic, fashion sense or conversational abilities. that seems to be a universal phenomena. luckily, in case of wardrobe malfunctions, there are loads of other bars...

better still there's an asian laundromat up the road + easily the best coffee in town [campos] where the aroma lures people off the street & they pack the tiny space patiently waiting for what must be pure burnt umber gold in a cup to go.

patrick bateman would love it here. he'd just have to modify his style... a bold-striped shirt does NOT call for a solid-colored or discreetly patterned suit and tie. in newtown absolutely anything goes with hush puppies.