Morena — Restaurant in Sydney

I’m still trying to process the ridiculously amazing dining experience at Morena, tucked away in the historic GPO Building in Martin Place - I mean, who needs reality when you can dine in a place dreamed up by Peruvian Head Chef Alejandro Saravia?

Massive thanks to my bestie for introducing me to this gem, where we celebrated my early birthday in style, bonding over our shared love of Peruvian cuisine - and Nikkei and Callao, of course. She managed to score a table for two under the breathtaking glass roof of Sydney’s original GPO, setting the tone for an evening that was nothing short of unforgettable - kind of like that one time I won the lottery in my dreams.

Of course, I had to kick things off with one of their signature cocktails, which was basically a party in my mouth, minus the noise complaints, featuring guava and Latin American spirits. Then, we dove into the entree: Snapper, Fremantle octopus ceviche, citrus tiger’s milk, sweet potato. Next up was the Marlin aguachile tostada, which was basically a flavor bomb that left me speechless. For mains, we both opted for the braised ox-tongue skewer, Peruvian dried chillies, and the Slow grilled lamb neck, adobo sauce, braised leek, which was basically perfection on a plate.

And just when I thought things couldn’t get any better, we wrapped things up with their traditional Peruvian dessert, Sweet Butternut pumpkin flan, candied pepita seeds, dark caramel - it was sublime, to say the least. The cherry on top was when the two friendly waitresses broke into a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’, complete with a candle on the dessert, because, why not?

Massive props to the team for their exceptional hospitality, particularly Laura, our waitress. We’re already planning our next visit and have officially crowned Morena one of my top three Peruvian restaurants in Sydney. I mean, I went from a disappointing restaurant experience the day before to an unforgettable, amazing experience at Morena - it was basically a culinary...

Well, I think Alejandro has done it again. Even tough there's amazing efforts in Sydney to sample Peruvian inspired cuisine (Warike, Callao, Moche and the classic Hacienda) I would always refer to Melbourne's Pastuso as the place to taste the best Peruvian food in Oz.

The experience at Morena could possibly change that. From the a la carte dinner menu we tasted

Tuna Scallops Ox tongue Eye fillet Potato chips Coconut sponge Guava slice Drinks: Morena Sour, El Capitan, Cabernet

Very difficult to pick the hero dish because they were all sensational: the umami in the tuna, the creaminess of the scallops, the marinade and tenderness of the anticucho, the level of vinagerness (?) and cooking perfection of the lomo. Goodness was evenly spread across the choices

Left it to them to choose the red, well educated selection; The morena sour was super and El Capitan as strong and medicinal as I wanted it :)

Quite a bit of time since fine dining was accompanied by fine service/attention. There was a great sense of care and friendliness in addition to the staff professionalism that took it to the next level. Hope this does not change.

Perfect venue, the main dining area takes you to a classy European brasserie; I guess the GPO architecture helps a lot. Outside loved the comfy double seats looking out

What else to love? Perfect music volume, and appreciate the terrace speaker Serving tempo and appropriate change of dinnerware

If I am picky, would love: Blankets on the terrace during the colder months The red came a few minutes later than expected but no dramas; didn't have to ask for it twice. Again on the red, one teamster mentioned it was argentinian and Pablo set me straight (it's chilean :) Just a little more manjarblanco on the oblea for Pablo to understand that there's only one Pisco and it comes from Peru :))

Will surely come back soon. It's dangerously close...

We disliked our experience in this restaurant very much. Arrogant manager and aweful food. There's a big difference between confident and professional service, and rude arrogance. This can really change your entire experience of a venue. The food was very un-appealing. We left without finishing our plates. The menu reads like a normal main, but what you get is a tiny serving, no accompaniments and flavours that do not go. My boyfriend ordered the $48 chicken as per picture, and they literally give you half a chicken on a bare plate with all the rib bones. You might as well go to Charcoal Charlie's. They said the food is designed for "sharing" which actually means we give you tiny portions and pretend it's "fine dining" so you have to order more food and spend more $. This may fool some people because the venue is beautiful, but there is nothing fine dining here. The pumpkin main was the worst main. dish It was 5 thin slices of pumpkin, sitting in a sour pure with mushrooms. An awful combination, with terrible presentation. When we asked the manager "is that really classified as a main" he looked and said yes absolutely. It was clear he did not even give it any thought and just defended the plate that really should have been an appetiser. We were quite put off. We left the restaurant swiftly to recover our night elsewhere. There are other reviews here which provide similar experiences to ours so if are reading this, we would recommend going to Menzies Bar, Felix, Quay, Cafe Sydney or Grana (my fav) over this place. I hope tourists dont go here and think this is Sydney dining because it's not. If you want to go here for the venue and if that's all you want then a glass of wine would be OK here but honestly I would never want to be served by the French Arrogant...