The Lemon Tree (Sydney CBD)

The Lemon Tree is conveniently located right under Australia Square, smack in the city centre. As a matter of fact it is walking distance from Wynyard station and I had the opportunity to check it out over two visits.

I like the look of the little restaurant, it had an alfresco feel to it and certainly reminded me of the southern part of Italy. Which is exactly what was intended. The cuisine is intended to reflect the southern part of Italy and the decor of white chairs, tables and an open air atmosphere certainly does add to the vibe.

On my first visit it was lunch time and we arrived just after noon and managed to grab a table at the bar side, i.e. high chairs with a high table. The menu is quite limited and kept deliberately simple.

There is the Bar section with dishes such as Rock Oysters, and Sicilian Olives. Primi Plati which is pasta dishes, Contorni (side dishes) such as salads and fries. And obviously there is Dolci for desserts.

For lunch we had:

Spaghetti E Vongole - this was my dish and I liked the light touch of olive oil, parsley, and fresh chilli to the al dente pasta. The Vongole was nicely cooked but the meat from the clams was a little small for my liking.

Lasagne Di Carne - this was a tasty dish, it reminded me of a home cooked lasagne. It was not overly robust but definitely tasty.

For dessert we couldn't resist the Lemon Tart. It was sublimely rich in the lemon flavour, tangy yet sweet and super smooth. Delicious! Sorry about the quality of the photo, it got cloudy and I wasn't lucky with my timing of the photo.

My second visit was at dinner time and the bar on the other side of the restaurant was full to the brim with drinkers and after hours workers socialising. As a result it was rather noisy and difficult to hear each other.

We decided to have a few small plates to share to save room for dessert.

Salame - this was quite thickly cut and served with a side of rocket leaves. I would have liked it to be more thinly sliced but that is a personal preference.

Tuscan Lamb Cutlet - each cut was $7 each and we ordered a total of 4 cutlets. I enjoyed the flavours and found them to be perfectly cooked, a nice of touch of pink in the middle.

Calamari with chilli, garlic and parsley - my favourite dish of the night. The calamari was tender, lightly battered and with the zing of lemon juice was rather tasty. We couldn't stop eating it.

And for dessert, we had two to share.

Ilaria's Ricotta Cake - the ricotta cake itself was delicious. It was light, creamy and had bits of raisin to make the ricotta interesting. However there were lashings of a honey based sauce over the cake that made it overly sweet and I would have preferred the cake without the sauce. I do wish the sauce was served on the side.

Maria's Tiramisu - we were surprised at how light the tiramisu was. Typically tiramisus are known to be rich and creamy. This version was light, creamy and bang full of flavour. It was delightful and one I will return for in the future.

One general comment about the 2 meals I had was the length of time it took for the wait team to take our orders, refill our glasses of water and actually serve our dishes. It was a lot longer than I would have expected and it is clear they appear to be under staffed. The Lemon Tree has turned out to be a very popular Italian restaurant but they need to find the right balance of staff/cooks to diners. The staff who work there were friendly and helpful but it was clear they were struggling to keep up with the numbers.

I hope this will improve over time. But other than that, nice food, good location and nice ambience are plusses for this charming Italian!


The Lemon Tree
Australia Square Piazza
278 George Street
Sydney
NSW 2000
Facebook: The Lemon Tree Sydney

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