Pontoon Bar

The site of one of several work Christmas parties. Pontoon bar is right by the boardwalk on Cockle Bay Wharf, and on any typical weekend, you will find young things partying and drinking ‘til the wee hours.

However, on this occasion, we had the whole bar to ourselves. A work party is usually pretty boring, and this party had no atmosphere as such. Well, I don’t think it’s Pontoon’s fault, as their BBQ is normally quite happening. On this occasion, we had an assortment of finger food, but not that much of it so we had to fight hard to get our hands on the:

• Tortilla Wrap with Smoked Chicken & Avocado, Roast Beef &
  Rocket or Roast Vegetable and Pesto - bad, fell apart easily
• Spring Rolls- fresh and hot
• Curry Puffs- pastry a bit too thick
• Spinach and Fetta Triangles - yummy
• Mixed Nori Rolls - anything not made by a Japanese restaurant is not a real nori roll
• Honey Mustard, Honey Soy or Spicy Chicken Drummettes - a bit dry but passable
• Sausage Rolls - was disgusting as the sauce had been polluted and it was kinda cold

Unfortunately, the free drinks were only limited to James Squire ale, which I found was at least quite nice.

They have blocked the entrances with a few chairs, but people still kept wondering into the private party. The bar itself looks like all the other bars along the harbour, and by that I mean silver and wood. The bar itself is extra long, so you won’t have much trouble getting a drinks. Not many seats though, mostly standing room with tables. I prefer something a bit more intimate and classy myself.

Info

Cockle Bay Wharf, Darling Park
The Promenade North
201 Sussex St
Sydney
NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9267 7099
Website

Bankstown Hotel

This is what happens when you go drinking with Slokky. While I had the vodka cranberry ($5), made with Skyy vodka and very nice, he had the banana smoothie ($5) – banana, honey, soy milk, and vanilla yoghurt. The barman did look at him a bit funny but he made a smashing smoothie, I would come back to here just for that.

That’s not the only thing going for it though. After our last visit here, the service has continued to be excellent, with all the staff engaging in friendly banter. They were also extremely flexible, allowing me to get $5 off my zen cocktail ($10) – zen green tea liquour, modori, pineapple and lemon juice - which was really great, their barman is truly excellent.

The hotel itself is pretty relaxing. You can go for drinks or a full meal or snacks, and even breakfast (yeah, the smoothies would be great then). There was poker on the Sunday we visited, although no one was playing yet. The whole place has been fully refurbished. You can relax on the very very comfy couches and watch sports on the plasma screen. And if you get bored, there’s always those sharks…

Info

102 City Town Plaza
Bankstown
NSW 2200
Phone (02) 9790 1142
Website

Uncle Tobys Plus - Wildberry

Taste

This is basically corn flakes with added fruit, and it was surprisingly tasty. The corn flakes tastes a little better than Kelloggs's but it was still pretty bland, but the wildberry really lifted the whole cereal to another level. The fruit were juicy and tangy. I would probably like a bit more of it pleasant.

Rating - 7.5

Look

I like the colour of the package, the purple matches the fruit. The flakes were less yellow than Kelloggs's. Like most other cereals, the plastic bag is not resealable.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

Around $5-6 for a big box.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 10

Ingredients

cereal grains (55%)(corn, whole wheat, brown rice), sugar, oats, sultanas, berry fruit pieces 97.5%) [fruits (strawberry (2%), blueberry (1%), raspberry juice, red elderberry juice), sucrose, dextrose, humectant, vegetable gum, rice flour, wheat fibre, citric acid, flavours, mineral salts], salt, mixed berry juice concentrate, emulsifier, malt extract, minerals

Available At

Supermarkets everywhere

Pria PowerBar

Taste

In the last 2 years or so, PowerBar has been the next big thing. Pria bars are aimed at women, and their flavours, Chocolate cookie,fruit & nut, and strawberry, certainly point that way. They don't taste like Powerbars I've had in the past, more like normal museli bar. Out of them all, chocolate cookie was the best, the others are way too sweet. Given the choice, I will def choose the real thing over protein bar, which I still don't see the value of for non-atheletes.

Rating - 4

Look

They all have a good looking women with a good body, and are coloured coded based on flavour. The foil wrapping keeps it fresh, pretty standard really.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

Do you think I would actually buy this stuff? I got them all free at Fitness First.

Rating - 0.5

Swiss Points - 6

Available At

Supermarket, health food store.

Uncle Tobys Fruit-full Apple bar

Taste

One word - SWEET. The very very sweet apple paste dominated the taste of the whole bar. I couldn't get the taste of the sweet apple out of my mouth, the flavours masking everything else. The pastry itself was soft and crumbly, the filling not too sticky, but they weren't given a chance to shine.

Rating - 4

Look

Very pretty packaging, an apple green. The foiled-wrapped bar meant it was easy to carry this around anywhere and eat it.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

The 33.4g bar was a perfect size for a snack.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 7.5

Available At

Supermarket everywhere.

Uncle Tobys Museli Bar

Taste

I haven't had one of these Uncle Tobys bars for ages, but from what I recall of them, they were too sweet and too hard. My piano student gave me a few to try recently, and I can say that they have improved. Museli bars are still not my favourite thing, these were still too sweet for my taste. I'm happy to report that they are softer, but a don't really enjoy the chewy texture. The apricot bar flaired better than the forest fruit, possibly because, well, besides it being a great onomatopoeia, what on earth are forest fruits?? Each bar combined chunks of coconut with oats and honey, and other goodies. There's quite a bit of fruit which is nice to see.

Rating - 5.5

Look

Well, they've updated the packaging, now it's in a shiny and new white foil wrapper. The old one did bring back some nostalgic value but the new one is much more visually appealing, especially to adults... lots like they're trying to capture the mums.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

Well, I got all 31.3 g of them for free and they bring back childhood memories, it's nice to see them still churning them out, even if I've moved on.

Rating - 0.5

Swiss Points - 7.5

Ingredients

rolled oats (32%), glucose, sugar, vegetable oil, antioxidants, whole wheat(6%), maize starch, red cherry fruit pieces (4.5%), fruit (cherry puree(2%), apple paste, pear paste), invert sugar, sugar, vegetable fat, blueberry puree(2%),almond, coconut, oat flour, rice flour, skim milk powder, honey, emulsifier, flavour, food acid, preservatives.

Available At

Supermarkets everywhere.

Be Natural Sesame Nut Split

Taste

I'm a fan of Be Natural, especially their cereals, but I'm also quite fond of their bars. This one has a mix of sesame seeds and peanuts, as well as puffed rice, with a generous layer of chocolate coating the bottom. Each bite meant a mouthful of these ingredients. I am usually not a fan of these bars 'cos they are really sweet, but this one wasn't too bad at all, crunchy and chewy, and the sesame seed added that extra kick. The ingredients were of a good quality.

Rating - 7.5

Look

Their packaging is quite snazzy with an emphasis on colour. Some part of the wrapping is clear so you can see what it looks like. The nuts and seeds were good quality.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

50 g for around $1.60, not as cheap as some, but I will always pay for quality.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 10

Ingredients

peanuts 29%,choc compound 25%, natural flavour, sesame seeds 19%, invert sugar, glucose, puffed rice, honey, humeclant, emulsifier, malt extract.

Available At

Coles
Website

Health food stores