Olive Bar & Grill

One of the joys of returning to Sydney is that of discovering new places to eat near where one is staying. Last night I tried this place out and was more than pleasantly surprised from the affable service to the beautifully cooked scotch fillet steak sitting atop creamy mashed potato and delicious fresh mushroom sauce. It was all beautifully prepared and not over priced. Dessert was a mini pavlova that was to die for with gentle doll ups of cream and fresh mango and passion fruit. The perfect end to a perfect meal near the Westfield shopping center in Hornsby north of Sydney’s center. Recommended.

Mr9 wanted pizza for his bday dinner and so we headed out to the local pizza shop. Must say that first impressions of Olive were fairly average. The table wasn’t particularly clean, and in general it felt like a bit of energy had been lost since the place opened, including menus that have long since seen better days… but the staff were friendly and attentive so we gave it a go.
The range of pizzas is quite extensive, and for the kind of price that you’d expect, but not overly expensive. As they allow half & half pizza’s the boys went for a meat lovers and Hawaiian.
When it came out, it looked fresh and delicious. Sure the crust was a little on the oily side, but it was crisp, and the boys both happily dug in. With the generous toppings, their really is little to complain about.
As for the «adults» Pizza, we went for half Rome (beef, hot salami, spicy italian sausage, bocconcini, artichokes, black kalamata olives & sprinkled with nely chopped parsley) and half Devine Lamb (marinated lamb with rosemary and lemon, boccocini cheese, roasted red onion, kalamata olives and topped with baby spinach, drizzled with tzatziki sauce).
No complaints from either side. All fresh ingredients, well flavoured and well cooked. Again the base was a bit on the oily side, but it was very crisp.
So when it comes to eating pizza out in Hornsby, this place seems to be a pretty decent option.