Pintxos at The Carrington Hotel, Surry Hills

16 April 2012, 02:03

You know what word I can’t pronounce? Pintxos. No matter how many times I hear it I just cannot for the life of me say it right! We were at The Carrington Hotel (565 Bourke Street, Surry Hills) where every Tuesday from 6-10pm there is a special pintxos menu at an incredible $3 each. In the end it didn’t matter how to pronounce pintxos (Helen: “it’s just PIN-chos!”) because we x ALL the y… ie, we ordered ALL the foods! Two of everything from the specials menu ($3 each) and 2 of everything from the normal pintxos menu (at normal price) and holy moly it was a lot of food.


Paella Ball with Calamari ($3). Tee hee so cute no? The deep fried tentacles waving about in the air? Just me? It was hard splitting the 2 balls (that sounds dirty but truly I’m not even trying) for 3 people and it was all a matter of who could finish chewing first to grab the left over piece. And oh how glorious it was, biting into the crumbed outer layer of the fried paella ball and into the rice innards.


The Chargrilled Skirt Steak Skewer ($3) was slightly on the chewy side but my jaws need a mastication workout every now and then. The meat was incredibly flavourful, bags of flavour indeed it was.


The Manchego and Rosemary Tortilla ($3) is loved by all, and c’mon what’s not to love? Who’s not friends with potato? Me and potato are BFF’s in whatever shape or form it wants! The tortilla was just so satisfying, flat slices of potato layered with buttery Manchego cheese ohhh baby why so delicious!


Smoked Eggplant & White Anchovy Tostada ($3). I kinda wished there were more anchovies on the tostada, cos I mean, look at that singular anchovy staring at me/you/us. It taunts us! Lying there all sexy looking. The eggplant was smoky as promised and I would’ve happily eaten it with a spoon. With anchovies to wash it all down :P


Classic Beef Cheek Slider ($3), Calamari Slider ($6), Meatball Slider ($6). Woah! That was one platter of awesome! With pillow soft buns my fav of the lot was the calamari slider packed full of crispy batter coated tentacles. The beef cheek slider was rich and filling and while I loved the sauce in the meatball slider there was a certain spice I had a bit of an issue with.. thyme? Is that you?


Kingfish Pastrami on Rye ($4). I um don’t seem to remember eating the kingfish but I do remember really liking the coleslaw uhhh doo di doo


Maybe I don’t remember the Kingfish because of what came next: the Chicken Liver Parfait & Pear Chutney ($4) is by far my favourite of the lot, the parfait is smooth and creamy and just unbelievably tasty. I’d totes come back and order 10 of them next time. And not share.


Tomato Bread and Iberico ($4.50) is the last of the pintxos onslaught and well, you can’t go wrong with Iberico ham mmm


Stuffed beyond belief we had to share a dessert between us, the Carrington Mess was our pick especially when we hear the magical key words of ‘brown sugar meringue’. Shards of crazy awesome meringue make friends with berry compote and jelly and topped with a tart passionfruit sorbet. Not too sweet and not too rich, it is the perfect dessert to end our epic eating.

1. Eat ALL the foods! Oh yes we did! And it was glorious… esp that paella ball!

   — Helen (grabyourfork)    Apr 16, 02:24 AM    #
   
   

2. looks like great value although some of them seem to be more than $3?

   — Simon Food Favourites    Apr 16, 03:44 AM    #
   
   

3. I love how everything’s so small and dainty hehe i especially love the paella ball and the mini burgers hehe YUM ~ Ohh only one dessert :P

   — Daisy@Nevertoosweet    Apr 16, 04:17 AM    #
   
   

4. So much awesome! Fried paella balls??? Epic!

   — Ramen Raff    Apr 16, 07:33 AM    #
   
   

5. Simon, perhaps the ones that are more than $3 came from the regular menu?
   I’ve gotta say a big YUMMO to all of them, even though a slider doesn’t quite fall into the pintxos category.

   — john@heneedsfood    Apr 16, 08:53 AM    #
   
   

6. seriously, $3? Man that’s dirt cheap. Those fried paella balls look a bit like jokers. Haha.

   — Tina @ bitemeshowme    Apr 16, 09:30 AM    #
   
   

7. Those are the cutest balls I’ve seen in a long time.

   — joey@FoodiePop    Apr 16, 10:48 AM    #
   
   

8. Lol @ pronouncing pintxos. Not even sure if I am pronouncing it right myself. The paella balls look so good!

   — Food is our religion    Apr 16, 11:31 AM    #
   
   

9. thx for coming!! looking forward to you coming back and trying my fried milk banana split x cheers j

   — jamie thomas    Apr 16, 11:31 AM    #
   
   

10. You seriously have the funniest descriptions! Love them, and love all these. Will definitely be trying out some pin-chos there soooon!

    — Madeleine    Apr 16, 11:37 AM    #
    
    

11. $3 is dirt cheap for awesome food; even the regular menu items are great value for money. Mmmmm balls….

    — Phuoc'n Delicious    Apr 16, 11:40 AM    #
    
    

12. Looks like a great place to chill with friends when you have the munchies! The food looks and sounds super … now when to make it there >_>

    ( lols do ppl even read the words u r writing )

    — Anonymous    Apr 16, 11:51 AM    #
    
    

13. oh my.. thats a LOT of food! i really liked their sliders here, will definitely have to go back – especially if they are $3!!! yum!

    — gastronomous anonymous    Apr 16, 12:14 PM    #
    
    

14. Been wanting to come here forever… Tuesdays just don’t seem to work for me… :/ The Paella Ball looks awesome!

    — Tina@foodboozeshoes    Apr 16, 12:16 PM    #
    
    

15. Lol, I’ve never heard that word aloud, so I highly doubt I could pronounce it either! The food looks so good though, I’ll have to check it out!

    — JasmyneTea    Apr 16, 12:42 PM    #
    
    

16. Ohhhh man, I want to eat a tray of that Manchego and Rosemary Tortilla when I’m off my DIEt!

    Their chicken liver parfait is amazing, but you can keep the anchovies to yourself! ;-)

    — Chanel    Apr 16, 01:47 PM    #
    
    

17. OMG this looks awesome. I cannot believe you could put away all this and still stay so tiny! :)

    — Anna @ The Littlest Anchovy    Apr 16, 01:50 PM    #
    
    

18. love the pinxtos at the carrington! the paella balls look awesome! hehe… ballz

    — Jacq    Apr 16, 03:29 PM    #
    
    

19. Love the first pic (so much food!) and the paella balls with what looks like little jester hats.

    — OohLookBel    Apr 16, 06:24 PM    #
    
    

20. I luuuuuurve a good chicken liver parfait. Hello Iberico! on nom nom!

    — food porn-er @ foodpornnation.com    Apr 16, 07:51 PM    #
    
    

21. Holy Moly! :D So much food!! ;D The sliders look awesome!

    — kiki @ simplykiki    Apr 16, 09:43 PM    #
    
    

22. I was wondering when this style of eating was going to end up in Sydney! the team at Naked for Satan seem to be doing a good job in Melb!

    — Jenny (minibites)    Apr 16, 09:57 PM    #
    
    

23. Dear Suze,

    The paella balls with calamari do look like funny jesters. Too bad for the third person, quick hands will eat!

    — ChopinandMysaucepan    Apr 17, 03:56 AM    #
    
    

24. Pintxos and alotta booze makes the perfect Friday night.

    LOL – brown sugar meringue

    — Adrian (Food Rehab and What the Heck is Filipino Food)    Apr 17, 01:48 PM    #
    
    

25. The paella balls with the calamari on top look so good! In fact all the food here does.

    — Anna @ the shady pine    Apr 17, 02:40 PM    #
    
    

26. oh wow, those beef cheek sliders look amazing! i think that will be my plan for next tuesday! thanks!

    — thehomefoodcook    Apr 17, 06:48 PM    #
    
    

27. Love, love, love pintxos! Always takes me back to Barcelona. These look really yum, especially the anchovy tostada and chicken liver parfait… drool!

    — jack    Apr 17, 08:23 PM    #
    
    

28. Great presentation and good lookin’ food! I want to try this place out soon.

    — Sophie @ teathyme    Apr 17, 09:48 PM    #
    
    

29. $3 on Tuesdays?? This is definitely going on my ‘to try’ list! The paella balls with calamari are cute!

    — Karen missklicious    Apr 17, 11:43 PM    #
    
    

30. Just came back from pintxos night and it was bloody brilliant! Thanks for the heads up!

    — Shannon    Apr 18, 01:27 AM    #
    
    

31. Hello chocolatesuze i went to the carrington last nite and was absolutley blown away by the incredible food. Didn’t manage to fit in dessert but that just means i have to go back again :P

    — Joe    Apr 18, 11:22 AM    #
    
    

32. how gorgeous are the paella balls with the calamari!

    — Sara @ Bellly Rumbles    Apr 18, 03:33 PM    #
    
    

33. you hair matches the walls, lounge, table, and scarf! hehe :) love the calamari crown on the paella ball! must come on cheap tuesdays ^^

    — Vivian - vxdollface    Apr 18, 06:40 PM    #
    
    

34. Bags of flavour, eheheheh!

    — Rita (mademoiselle délicieuse)    Apr 18, 08:44 PM    #
    
    

35. That food looks so incredibly good for those prices. What a great find. Love the restaurants in Surry Hills – always great value! xx

    — Hotly Spiced    Apr 18, 09:23 PM    #
    
    

36. I LOVED the Kingfish Pastrami here…I’m going back this weekend for some more. Love The Carrington – such a fun place,

    — Miss Piggy    Apr 19, 03:46 PM    #
    
    

37. I like the paella balls with calamari cos they look like jesters with those hats! super cute!

    — catty    Apr 19, 09:45 PM    #
    
    

38. Ha! I read your title and was thinking to myself ‘Pintxos, how on earth do you pronounce that’… glad I’m not the only one. ;)

    — Mary @ beyondjelly    Apr 20, 09:25 AM    #
    
    

39. Oh what, I was there over the weekend but only stayed for drinks! I missed out. I LOVE the paella ball with calamari, they look like little jester hats!

    — Alana    Apr 20, 07:43 PM    #
    
    

40. i am actually drooling over the paella ball at the moment! i’ve heard great things about the carrington and now i’ll def have to head over to try it on a tuesday

    — excusemewaiter    Apr 21, 12:39 AM    #
    
    

41. I’ve been meaning to get to the Carringto, after seeing this I think it may be time for a Tuesday date night!

    — JJ @ 84thand3rd    Apr 21, 05:38 PM    #
    
    

42. I love that you ordered everything! That food all looks so great… especially for those prices! I think the Carrington is on to something here.

    — SarahKate (Mi Casa-Su Casa)    Apr 22, 07:16 PM    #
    
    

43. Oh em gee!! Need to get myself there pronto. It all looks soooooo good.

    — 'chelle    Apr 24, 11:57 PM    #
    
    

44. Oh lordy that looks amazingly good. My stomach is growling, early lunch methinks haha!

    — Brenda    Apr 26, 12:36 PM    #
    
    

45. The Carrington is awesome isn’t it? The great thing is that they are also open at odd hours! Good food any time of the day!

    — ragingcravings    Apr 26, 03:55 PM    #