Onyx Lounge, Newtown

Nestled right above Newtown station and just around the corner from Cuckoo Callay is Onyx Lounge, a relatively new bar/restaurant with an impressive drinks and food menu. The front entrance doesn’t reveal much other than just a door next to a concealed window behind some curtains, but once you head upstairs you’ll find a spacious dining area that is certainly unexpected from the entrance.

Fairyfloss – $16.90

To kickstart the night, Yvn opts for the pretty Fairyfloss cocktail which of course, has a whimsical tuft of sugary, fluffy fairyfloss adorning the vodka and strawberry coulis concoction. It goes down a treat!

Garlic Prawns – $16

We also get a bunch of share plates to eat so that we can try more dishes. First up are the garlic prawns which are succulent and cooked well, however I find that the garlic flavour here isn’t particularly strong compared to the usual garlic hit I’m used to.

Salt’n’Pepper Calamari – $16

Next is the calamari served with two small dollops of aioli and chipotle chilli sauce. Here the aioli is very fragrant with strong garlic flavours (tick!). Additionally the chipotle chilli sauce is very spicy, so much that I only need to dip a little bit. The calamari is crispy and not overly oily, going great with the two sauces and is a winner in my books.

Italian Meatballs – $16

The other share plate we get are the meatballs which are served sitting in a rich passata sauce (tomato puree) topped with shaved parmesan. The meat is tender and soft and the sauce is rich, with a spicy kick as well. I loved the sauce so much that ended up dipping the bread from the garlic prawn dish in this sauce to eat it all up.

Pork Belly – $28

The pork belly came highly recommended for a main dish, so there was no way we couldn’t order this. It’s not the most visually appealing as it looks quite dry making the crackling skin look deceptively difficult to cut through, when it is in fact quite easy if you find the weaker points in the crackling. The crackling is very crunchy and tasty, breaking easily when you bit into it. Underneath that is succulent pork that is paired amazingly with a tomato chilli jam. If that isn’t enough, there’s a bed of sauteed potatoes which get a nice salty flavour due to scattered bacon bits.

Warm chocolate brownie & salted caramel ice cream – $9

A meal isn’t complete without a sweet ending and we easily decide on the shared dessert item. Unfortunately it didn’t live up to expectations – I found the brownie too doughy for my liking and it just lacked the firmness and richness of other brownies. The salted caramel ice cream was decent though, but overall the brownie failed to be the hero of this dish.

Overall Onyx is a venue worth checking out. It’s still pretty new, having only opened this year and it looks like they’re still finding their feet, but they do have some pretty tasty share plates and cocktails.

Excuse Me Waiter dined as guests of Onyx Lounge

Onyx Lounge
Level 1/324A King Street, Newtown NSW 2042
Ph: 0451 541 712

Onyx Lounge on Urbanspoon

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