• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

My Kitchen Stories

GET NEW RECIPES AND STORIES DIRECTLY TO YOUR EMAIL HERE

  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Recipes A-to-Z
    • Recipe Index
    • Post Gallery
    • Stacks of Cakes
  • Travel
  • Stories
    • Chefs at Work
    • How To:
    • Reviews
    • Interesting Ingredients
    • Videos
  • About / Policies
    • ABOUT/DISCLOSURES/POLICIES
    • SERVICES
    • Awards
    • Partners
    • CONTACT

Jones the Grocer, Sydney

April 9, 2014 by Tania 12 Comments

Sharing is caring!

0 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet
Jones the Grocer cheese cabinet

Jones the Grocer cheese cabinet

It’s a long time  since I have been to Jones the Grocer. It’s a place where we all used to buy cheese and pastries and salads to take to parties. That’s when it was in Woollahra.  It’s back, in a rather large corner of Westfield CBD right in the place that Justin North or Becasse Restaurant and store used to occupy. It’s probably a handier place to be.

The front of the store. Coffee and Pastry section

The front of the store. Coffee and Pastry section

It’s Wednesday night around 6pm and the shopping centre and food courts are empty, but there is a nice glow coming from the Jones the Grocer store. There are about 20 diners and a group of about 10 people chatting down in the back section of the restaurant.  A large cheese display is at one end of the bar and a charcuterie display at the other end. Here you can buy cheese to take away as you always could, but you can also sit at the bar with a drink and cheese plate $18 for three cheeses and accompaniments or a charcuterie plate, $19 with house made bread, after a hard day in the city.  The retail store can offer you some great pantry staples – a bag of carnaroli rice, maple vinegar, raspberry jam or Jones made cordial.

The dining area

The dining area

There’s the option to drop in for breakfast 7 days a week. It’s a pretty cool meeting place in a frantic shopping centre.  We are told the menu is designed to share by Masey, the Manager and so we think this is a great idea and order 2 entrees and 2 mains

Salt and pepper squid

Salt and pepper squid

The first plate is Salt and Pepper Calamari $18, Thai herb salad with tamarind chilli and lime. A very large plate of  tender calamari that had a wonderfully spice crusted exterior and a chilli spiked , citrusy salad full of herbs and fresh crunchy ingredients.

Prawn salad

Prawn salad

Then “King Prawns, avocado, orange, fennel, gem lettuce, almonds and fire roasted chilli dressing” $23.00. This salad was also generously proportioned and contained fine shreds of fennel, but no avocado or dressing of any kind . The 4 prawns were sweet and very fresh but there seemed to be no taste to the fennel and all of the elements on the plate seemed at odds with each other, without a dressing of some kind to bind them . Perhaps they just forgot to put it on.

Lamb cutlets with chickpeas and eggplant

Lamb cutlets with chickpeas and eggplant

Grilled herbed Lamb cutlets with chickpea currant and parsley salad, eggplant relish $28. The tender little cutlets were cooked beautifully and were generously portioned at about 5. There were no herbs on the cutlets themselves. The salad turned into an eggplant relish cooked down with currants resulting in a sweet sticky base that I would have preferred as the promised parsley and currant salad. Still the ingredients are good and  the dish is value for money

Pork belly

Pork belly

Twice cooked Pork Belly, caramel apple, prune puree, pickle fennel and walnut salad. $25. The pork belly has the ultimate crunchy skin and soft interior, the fennel pickle is quite acidic but the walnuts crunchy adding texture. Caramel apple is a gorgeously roasted flavoursome piece of fruit that works so well with the pork and the prune puree adds a needed bit of “sauce”. I am so very full now but I am sure I can squeeze in just one light dessert.  There is nothing too challenging in this department with a sticky date pudding, chocolate cake and creme brulee amongst the cast.

Lemon Verbena pannacotta

Lemon Verbena pannacotta

Lemon Verbena Panna cotta with granita, strawberries and almonds $10 for all desserts. Lemon Verbena is a strong flavour, but a refreshing one with strawberries and crunchy almonds. Now completely full we take a look around the restaurant. Burgers are popular and come out in towering freshly baked buns on a board with melting cheese and thick fries. $17 and there’s the comfort of a large steak with the choice of sauces $25.

It’s always hard producing food for a diverse crowd with breakfast, lunch , dinner and snacks included. Bread and all kinds of pastries are made in house.  Not everything is perfect but it’s well priced and generous. There is a wine and spirit list with very competitive pricing. Wines by the glass start well under $10

The people down the back of the restaurant have been attending a Masterclass. These are held in the private dining room area, that also boasts a demonstration kitchen.

Masterclasses

Masterclasses

Afterwards they are treated to coffee and Dessert in a rather spectacular way by the pastry chef. Here’s what they have. The drip filter coffee is prepared while the pastry chef dishes up.

Drip filter coffee

Drip filter coffee

dessert time

dessert time

The table is splashed with berry sauce, salted caramel, chocolate sauce, chocolate bits, praline, freeze dried raspberry dust and truffles along with an individual piece of chocolate cake with salted caramel.  I would be willing to lick this table. This is happening at my house soon.

Dessert table cloth

Dessert table cloth

This is the program for the Masterclasses.

Jones The Grocer Masterclasses

Jones The Grocer Masterclasses

Jones The Grocer, Sydney

Sydney CBD
Shop 5018, Level 5 Westfield
Cnr Market & Castlereagh St, Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: +61 2 8072 7755
e-mail: westfieldsydney@jonesthegrocer.com

My Kitchen Stories dined as a guest of Jones the Grocer, however all opinions are uninfluenced and strictly my own.

signiture

Jones the Grocer on Urbanspoon

 

Sharing is caring!

0 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet

Filed Under: reviews Tagged With: Jones cheese store, Masterclass at Jones the Grocer, Review of Jones the Grocer, Sydney, Westfield restaurants

Previous Post: « Chocolate Refrigerator Cake
Next Post: Zucchini, Barley, Chorizo Salad made on the BBQ »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sarah

    June 1, 2016 at 3:45 pm

    Great setup and would be amazing to host a lunch here! I had enjoyed a delicious breakfast here- Great spot and it was all very reasonably priced for Sydney. Loved the atmosphere and decore – dark and inviting and warm – a table was quickly found.

    A definite return to this place!

    Reply
  2. InTolerant Chef

    April 22, 2014 at 3:24 pm

    That calamari and pork look perfect indeed please! I will also be stealing that dessert idea from now on- they should patent it! Xox

    Reply
  3. ChgoJohn

    April 14, 2014 at 8:53 am

    Oh, how I’d enjoy a place like this — if you could tear me way from that cheese display! The plates you were served all look tasty and that dessert table is nothing short of spectacular. What a fun way to serve dessert at a dinner party! Of course, cats and dogs would not be on the guest lists. 🙂

    Reply
  4. celia

    April 12, 2014 at 7:53 am

    You know, if I worked in the city, I’d like to pop in after work and eat a cheese platter with housemade bread for $18. The thought almost makes me wish I was still wearing a suit and working in the city. Almost. 🙂

    Reply
  5. Krista

    April 11, 2014 at 10:47 am

    What a fantastic place! I would love to have a spot like this close to me. 🙂

    Reply
  6. Kari @ bite-sized thoughts

    April 11, 2014 at 10:35 am

    This sounds like a reinvented Sydney institution – which I rather like, because I find it sad when old places just disappear. They have an interesting mix of foods too!

    Reply
  7. nancy@jamjnr

    April 10, 2014 at 9:01 pm

    I just spied today that Jones the Grocer is opening up near me in Shanghai I couldn’t believe it. I hope the prices aren’t hiked up here though like every other ‘name’ that comes here. Although that dessert table looks fantastic I have to say.

    Reply
  8. Maureen | Orgasmic Chef

    April 10, 2014 at 8:16 pm

    If anyone wasted all that goodness to make an art project, I’d be outraged. 🙂 I’d want all that scraped on my plate.

    You’re nicer than I am. If a menu said dressing and I didn’t get any, I’d complain. I know some Aussie places serve salad with no dressing but this yank needs it on a salad.

    Reply
  9. Pamela Hayward

    April 10, 2014 at 2:43 pm

    Just love the idea of the dessert table…..great idea for a party! Such fun xx

    Reply
  10. Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella

    April 10, 2014 at 1:31 pm

    I’ve heard mixed opinions about it but the squid, lamb and pork do look good I must say! 🙂

    Reply
  11. Helen | Grab Your Fork

    April 10, 2014 at 12:52 pm

    Looks like a fun night – especially dessert. Very Alinea-like!

    Reply
  12. Francesca

    April 10, 2014 at 8:24 am

    That table looks like a Pro Hart carpet add. The prawn dish looks fairly ordinary for the price, but the other offerings look reasonable.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Search

About Me

Tania Cusack Hi, I'm Tania and this is My Kitchen Stories. I share all kinds of recipes here. Most recipes are quick and easy, just perfect for families. BUT, you could also find vegan, cakes and desserts too. Come and have a look around Read More
facebookTwitterPinterestInstagram
One Pot Cooking Desserts

Footer

GET NEW RECIPES AND STORIES DIRECTLY TO YOUR EMAIL HERE

Copyright © 2023 My Kitchen Stories on the Foodie Pro Theme

0 shares