As
a Darlinghurst schnitzel institution for over 30 years, Una's
Continental Restaurant kept
Sydney's inner east well-fed for a couple
of generations there. Packed out night after night,
somehow it was always possible to still find a seat, even if it was
necessary to have a beer
or cocktail upstairs in their bar first. After that, the pleasure was
all yours - massive schnitzels to feed
man or bear, beefy cabbage rolls, classic old-fashioned deepfried camembert
entree, goulash,
sauerkraut, spatzle, herring salad, crumbed mushrooms, Viennese paprika
chicken and of course their
delicious homestyle potato rosti just in case everything else wasn't
quite filling you up!
Having
moved from the inner east into Chippendale a couple of years ago, I
had quietly missed
the many nights at Una's which I'd shared with friends. So when I discovered
that Una's had opened a
new outlet on Broadway (that part of Parramatta Rd which briefly takes
this name before it grows up), I was
intrigued. It's one thing replicating their trademark Austrian/European
cuisine, but it's quite another
regenerating the same historic atmosphere of festive indulgence. A couple
of immediate forays into
Una's Broadway when they opened in the middle of 2005 revealed
a fairly quiet evening was initially
the norm: two or three tables of diners spoke of humble beginnings ...
but when word of mouth
travels, it can travel fast!
By
the months preceding Christmas '05, it was occasionally becoming slightly
difficult to simply
rock up and secure a table (which is all part of the Una's protocol,
as they don't take bookings!). Not that
you'd wait long, but suddenly weeknights were looking pretty full, and
turning up early one night
when the sun was still up, it was bizarre seeing how many people were
getting in early,
between 6-7pm, and eating with the same gusto diners normally express
much later in the night.
Increasing
the recent surge of Una's trademark celebratory vibe in their Broadway
incarnation was the
emergence of a very spacious upstairs bar /
function area - much larger than the quaint
Darlinghurst version, and it's also a bar space which you can enjoy
without having to dine - truly a "bar" in its
own right. If you want to hire this upstairs space for a personal function,
it can comfortably fit 70 people
- and the bar hints at an additional and very welcome dimension that
has emerged as
a distinctly Broadway feature: the opportunity to really get to know
some very sexy SCHNAPPS!
While
the schnapps are still part of Una's Darlinghurst and now also Double
Bay locations, in
the
capable and enthusiastic hands of Una's Broadway manager Rico Bibrack and his
merry staff,
the schnapps take on an aura of religious initiation. Contemporary Germanic festivity isn't just
about
Oktoberfest - it seems there's a little more involved when you meet a German with a
manic grin and
twinkle in his eye.
- Review & photos by Stewart Dawes.
www.unas.com.au
 
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