No, I haven’t been to Porteño. I know I’m missing out. Trust me, the carnivore in me is yearning to satisfy its red meat desires. I want to go so bad it almost hurts. But I can’t. Yet. Because being the utterly considerate social citizen that I am, I’m waiting to go with friends who can’t make it until December, so for now, I’ll read everyone else’s posts and… yearn.

But! I have been to Gardel’s Bar upstairs! 😀

So, because I can’t actually go to  Porteño, I kind of pretended to go anyway, even if it meant I was diverted two steps into the restaurant up the stairs into Gardel’s Bar. That’s not such a bad thing. Gardel’s Bar is really super cool, with 50’s style moustached barmen serving up the funkiest of cocktails.

I wanted to take a photo of the bar and barmen. And then I saw the bar menu and totally forgot.

Gardel’s Bar has an awesome bar menu. It’s not huge, but what’s on it is worth its weight in culinary gold, with tapas style sharing plates and individual sliders and mini chilli dogs. So. Brilliant.

smoked kingfish tartare with crispy tortilla

mini chilli dogs with crispy onions

grilled pork belly skewers with roast garlic and jalapenos

We each had a slider and chilli dog, and shared the kingfish tartare and pork belly skewers. Everything was hands down perfect but if I haaaad to pick a favourite? It would be the pork belly skewers. Or the sliders. No, the pork belly skewers.

GAH I DON’T KNOW.

There was only one dessert on the bar menu (liquorice ice cream) so we asked to order from the main restaurant dessert menu. This is allowed, but honestly, I wouldn’t do it again. The desserts were too rich, too overpowering and I didn’t really like either of them.

chocolate pudding with coffee and fernet sabayon served with mandarin ice cream

South American style pavlova

After dinner, I ordered a couple of extra sliders to bring by my Argentinian friend’s house. I also totally grilled him on why South American pavlovas were so gross (basically bottom up: bread, peanut butter, fruit, bread, cream, meringue EWWW) and he was like “wtf man, who orders a South American style pavlova? We don’t make pavlovas, you fool.”

Ok, I get it. Next time I’m skipping dessert and filling up on more sliders and pork belly.

Gardel’s Bar (upstairs at Porteño)
358 Cleveland Street
Surry Hills, NSW, 2010
(02) 8399 1440
website

Gardel's Bar at Porteño on Urbanspoon

16 Thoughts on “pulled pork sliders @ Gardel’s Bar, upstairs at Porteño

  1. Well Potenos is freaking awesome – just saying LOL. Those hotdogs look great. At my local pool as a kid the canteen would serve hotdogs with crispy onion – I still remember that 30 years later (my first foodie love affair I guess).

  2. lol shame about the dessert, from the sound of it, it looks like a deconstructed “Chaja” (a Uruguayan dessert). The proper ones I’ve had are awesome; sponge, cream, DLD and meringue. But yes to more sliders and pork belly… I still haven’t been to Porteno

  3. I’ve been to Porteno but it sounds like the upstairs bar is worth a visit too. I mean who could say no to pork belly skewers or sliders?

  4. Miss Piggy: i KNOW I KNOW I KNOW… hopefully it’s not long til I can get my teeth into that meat! The hotdogs with crispy onions were amazing. I could have just eaten the crispy onions!

    Phuoc: Oh you haven’t? I don’t feel so bad 😉 You and I still need to have that Newtown date on a Friday. Stay tuned…

    Lorraine: Yes, it’s definitely worth a visit. Seems like a totally different vibe to downstairs and a VERY different menu.

  5. HAHAHA but the pav looks so purdy! lol ok ill stick to the skewers

  6. Kingfish tartare – come to mama!!

  7. chocolatesuze: I thought it was hella purdy too then I kinda bit into it. bread and peanut butter and slices of mango was a WEIRD combo. You’d totally have an issue with it, weird textures and all 😉

    Nic: I think you need to go to it!

  8. Pork belly skewers??? I’d love to go there!

  9. Sad about the dessert, but to be honest with you, even if the Argentine pav was some kind of crazy fusion dish, it makes no sense, an peanut butter is pretty rare in Argentina.

  10. Hotly spiced: YES! so good!

    Lau: Well someone above commented that it may be a version of a Uruguayan dessert but either way, it’s nothing like what we know a pavlova should be!

  11. I haven’t been to Porteno either haha! Chatted to a friend the other day who claimed she didn’t like it coz there was “too much meat”! *facepalm*

    But along with the novelty of giant foods is also the cuteness of mini ones. I love miniature food – equals more variety, right?

  12. .sabo skirt. on November 22, 2011 at 12:12 am said:

    These looks delicious! Mouth-watering!:)

    Much love from the SABO SKIRT girls!
    SHOP: http://www.saboskirt.com
    BLOG: http://www.saboskirt.blogspot.com

  13. Dear lord – looks amaze-balls. Great to see new great places in my old ‘hood. Just round the corner from my old flat 🙂

    Those belly skewers ticked my fancy. Out of interest whats the fried / crunchy thing perched on top – is it crackling or a battered jalapeno?

  14. Ooooooh yum!

  15. Rita: too much meat WHAT? what does that even mean?? and yes, little foods are the best 😀

    sabo skirt: Very mouth watering 🙂

    Nick: That’s a piece of crackling! The jalapenos, if I remember correctly, was mushed up into the roasted garlic sauce. You can definitely feel the kick though!

    jenny: 😀

  16. Pork belly skewers, hands down. Plus they’re served with garlic which is always a plus in my book!! 😀
    AHHHHH must visit you next year! Fingers crossed.

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