The Victoria Room

The restaurant area looking into the bar area

There’s one thing about The Victoria Room that you may have already noticed – day or night, it’s very dark, dimly lit and yellow. It’s like a 70s acid trip and not conducive to good food photography so many apologies in advance. On a plus side, I did get a handful of decent enough photos, which I recently decided to feature as my new blog banner (see above). Blog banner changed! Change is good...

But once your eyes have adjusted and become accustomed to the aged 70s lighting, you will also notice the décor of the room; antique looking Victorian furniture and framed paintings, wallpaper, green palms, dark brown leather booths and caged screens. Under natural light, it might’ve looked a little too much like a vintage junk yard, but with this ambient lighting, it exudes a shabby chic atmosphere of a bygone British-India era.

A bit of British-India shabby chic

But Mr S. and I aren’t here to admire the interior furnishings of The Victoria Room. We’re here to satiate our twilight cravings for supper. The Victoria Room is open for supper and dessert 11pm to 2am on Friday and Saturday nights and because of this, it remains a favourite for post-midnight dessert pangs or for a bit of post-event light eating. Obviously a kick-ass bar that churns out mean cocktails certainly doesn’t hurt and proves a perfect way to round off the night.

On weekends there will be a queue to get in. If it’s early in the night, it will most probably be for dinner (they only accept bookings for groups over 10). If it’s later, it would be for the bar area. You won’t usually have to wait long for a table for supper but I like to play it safe and will always book.

We’re skipping the alcohol for tonight but that doesn’t mean we miss out on spine-tingling beverages. The Victoria Room caters for designated drivers and the non-drinkers with a mouthwatering list of virgin cocktails. Definitely beats settling for a soda or water any day!

Spring water

And they cater for the whims of Mr S and I with drinks that will raise the hair on the back of our necks with a seductive array of flavours. For the man, he is pleasured by a mocktail of sugar cane juice, lime and coconut with a fresh sugar cane stick to stir. For myself, I will never go past the dream pairing of rose and lychees. A tinge of lime juice in this English Rose cocktail made this a very heavenly ménage a trios. The addition of mint was just the cherry on top.

Sugar cane juice, lime and coconut mocktail garnished with a fresh sugar cane

Is there anything better than rose and lychee?

Feeling a bit peckish, we ordered a Tasting Plate of Mediterranean-styled morsels. Again I apologise for the sub-par photography, but when a girl is hungry at midnight, photos are the last thing on her mind!

Spicy Chicken Skewers

Persian Fetta

Ceviche of Sea Bream

Some of the nibblies up for tasting are a Vegetable and Goats Cheese Roulard, Persian Fetta, Grilled Chorizo, Spicy Chicken Skewers with a Labneh and Fresh Prosciutto (definitely not enough of it on the platter). Finally a Ceviche of Sea Bream rounds things off with the tang of the lemon cure marrying well with the soft flesh of the bream. If that’s not enough, a plate of Turkish Flat Bread should give you all the carbohydrate sustenance you need. The menu also listed a Frittata but it was notably absent and seemingly replaced with a Roast Capsicum and Grilled Artichoke Rosette.

Roast capsicum and grilled artichoke rosettes

Vegetable and goats cheese roulard

But the desserts are the stars at The Victoria Room. Tonight we try two that we have never tried before. A Lemon and Passionfruit Tart and a Rose Pannacotta.

The tart, as expected, was delightfully sour, with the slightly sweet pate sucree and rich double cream cutting through the tartness leaving only the afterglow of sweet citrus on your tongue. Lemon, passionfruit and strawberry - yet another threesome I don't mind getting down to!

Bad bad photo. But a divine tart.

But the Rose Pannacotta? Oh. My. God. There aren’t enough superlatives in the English Vocabulary to aptly describe the rose petal strewn creamy bliss on the plate, all topped off with a layer of vanilla bean specks. Much decorum was needed to refrain from saying 'to hell with the tart' and snatching the rose panna cotta from under the boy's nose.

The rose panna cotta had the seductive wiggle that all good pannacottas should have and each creamy spoonful simply melted in your mouth. I thought Jonah’s infamous ‘wobbly boob’ pannacotta was good. This was just sublime. The flavour of rose was gentle but powerful enough to send me into the skies. So far, favourite pannacotta in Sydney. Ever.

There she is. THE panna cotta!

If you’re curious, their Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse, Vanilla Crème Brulee and Apple Tarte Tatin are all equally pleasurable and deserving of such praise.

Finishing off with the obligatory tea and coffee, we leave The Victoria Room in a daze of sugar calmness. It made the stress of Saturday night driving and lack of parking around Darlinghurst (and the resulting in-car lovers’ spat) almost worth it.



The Victoria Room

Level 1, 235 Victoria Street
Darlinghurst, NSW 2010

Phone: 02 9357 4488
Email: info@thevictoriaroom.com

Opening Hours
Mon: closed
Tues-Thurs: 6pm - 12am
Fri: 6pm - 2am
Sat: 12pm - 2am
Sun: 1pm - 12am

Supper is available Friday and Saturday nights 11pm-2am. Bookings can be made online at least 3 days in advance. Dinner bookings are only available for tables over 10.