Sip

A and I went to Sip last night for the first time - I had seen them listed in the current New Urban Eats promotion. I must say, I was quite impressed! I'd recommend this place for wine-lovers and people looking for good, inventive food in a lively setting.

The atmosphere was a little too loud for conversation initially, but it got quieter once the bar counter emptied out a bit. Our waitress was friendly (and keen to show off her wine knowledge - she was studying to be a sommelier).

The food was really delicious - quite creative and nicely presented too. One nice thing is that for New Urban Eats, you can actually choose from almost all items on the menu (so don't worry if the menu on the Urban Eats website doesn't appeal too much). There is only one vegetarian entree though - ravioli. I had "chip and dips" as an appetizer - pita bread wedges with hummus, tapenade, and malidzano (eggplant spread). A had a great salad with rhubarb and spicy pecans. For my main I had the scalops which are served with an Israeli couscous salad and curry-yoghurt sauce - excellent! A had the ravioli (filled with caramelized fennel, onions, and cheese, with a very good tomato sauce).
The desserts were incredible - very rich but worth it. I really liked the croissant bread pudding (almost like an almandine bread pudding) - probably best saved for a cold winter night though.

The wine selection is pretty decent: a lot of Californian and Washington wines, with some Spanish, Italian, French, German, Aussie, New Zealand, Chilean and Argentinean fleshing out the list. There seemed to be almost no South African wine by the bottle - just one Chardonnay and one Sauvignon Blanc. I'm not a huge fan of their wine list format: the wines are broken into broad groups according to weight/body, and then listen alphabetically by varietal within the group (mostly - Italian and French wines are listed by region/appelation)

I had a 1/2 glass of a New Zealand Pinot Noir (which was decent but not amazing), and a very rich, full-bodied Chianti (which was more like a Brunello di Montalcino).

Note: Wednesday night is 1/2 price wine night - bottles of wine under $100 are half price. Worth knowing if you are coming with a group of wine-lovers...