Review: Jazz City Diner, Surry Hills

For our next outing, V, our appointed queen of dining was craving for some Soul food after watching the New York episode of Masterchef and suggested we try this cozy little diner in Surry Hills. 

The gang was split up all over Sydney - most of us were at the head office in the city but V was in Concord. So for most of the day, the email discussions were spent analysing the items on their menu, with M starting a countdown as 6pm neared.. It would be his first time going to a Diner since moving here from Canada last year, and his growing excitement was becoming infectious - we could wait to have the rootbeer float.

We were hoping that the weather would clear up, but alas no, it was horrible raining for the third day in a row. Getting a taxi on a Thursday shopping night in the city was proving to be difficult, at the rate we were going we had a better chance at getting a last minute table at Tetsuyas than stopping a cab on George St. We ended up walking all the way to Hyde park before finally flagging one down.

 Wet and hungry. and famished too!

 The Menu had a good choice of good ol' southern cuisine

 The uniforms and the setup remind me of Johnny Rockets in the US

 We indulged on sweet potato chilli cheese fries while poor V was stuck in traffic

 our second round of Vanilla thickshakes and Dr Pepper floats (they ran out of rootbeer)

 Cute little mexican softdrinks. The only difference between the three on the ingredients list was the type of food colouring. Sickeningly sweet.

 Backyard BBQ beef burger with onion rings

 Chicken & Waffles, served with Maple Syrup

 The Ultimate Texas Chilli Cheeseburger with tortilla chips

 Fried green tomato salad

 Top left: Southern Fried Chicken burger

and for dessert...

 White chocolate bread pudding with white chocolate ganache

Banana cream pie with caramel drizzle 

Pecan pie with butter pecan ice cream

The venue is small but cozy and the waitresses are friendly and attentive. We love the attention to detail in with their uniforms down to the converse sneakers (which made it a bit slippery for them against the white tiled floors). They definitely got the decor right, and we noticed they put small plaques on the wall of their most frequent diners - apparently dining 10x with a group could get your name on the wall. Want want want!

From a food perspective the highlights of the night were the chilli fries, Dr Pepper floats, Pecan pie and Banana cream pie. The burgers were tasty and fresh but wouldn't go as far to say they were one of the best in Sydney. 

Another fantastic night though, and I don't think I have been this full in a very long time. Two thumbs up! 

Jazz City Diner

238 Crown St, Surry Hills, Sydney

Tel: +61 (02) 9332 2903

Opening hours:

Lunch Tue-Fri 12pm to 2.30pm

Dinner Wed-Sat 6pm to 10pm

Brunch Sat 10am to 2pm

Closed Sun & Mon

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