The short road to Sydney – out and about in Surry Hills and Bowral

Continuing the series of posts about places we've visited and reviewed on Google Maps, but which have never been posted to this blog, my next post is about Sydney and the Southern Highlands. Given Canberra is increasingly moving closer to Sydney – it used to take four and a half hours to drive to Sydney and it’s now down to three hours, door to door, we have developed a habit of recent decades of driving to Sydney for wild times (more recently, mild times), followed by a wind down in the Southern Highlands on the way home. This means that posts about both places often sit well together, even of the visits are always at the same time.

Franquette Creperie, Bowral June 2025
Franquette Creperie is a gem of a place in the main street of Bowral. It describes itself as a contemporary creperie and it is. On a cold winter night we had a quiet corner. It worked well for our party of two, but it is obviously also a huge hit with family groups – and you can see why.

Pulled pork with cheese, potatoes and onions in a mustard sauce

We had two galettes - the duck breast with orange and the pulled pork with cheese, potatoes and onions in a mustard sauce (I won't try to capture the French letters on this keyboard). Wednesday night was a special, so we followed with crepe suzette (more orange, but can there ever be too much orange?).

Moss Manor – on a rise above Moss Vale

Continuing the series of posts about places we've visited and reviewed on Google Maps, but which have never been posted to this blog, my next post is about a relatively new place to stay in Moss Vale. Moss Manor was a newly-discovered place for us, even though we have been visiting Moss Vale for years. It only opened the year before we visited. It was very impressive and a great addition to the Southern Highlands. We had a fantastic time utilising a special offer on a three day break from daily life. Even though, now they are established, the special offer seems to have ceased and we can't afford to go back, it's extremely high quality and highly recommended.

Moss Manor was luxurious, well renovated, top quality and very comfortable. Heated bathroom floors were a bonus. The renovated function rooms/dining rooms and lounge at the rear were a very effective addition to a heritage house (and double glazed, which is good, because one of the other great attractions of Moss Vale is its trains and they passed behind very close).

The front door to Moss Manor in the former Council Chambers.

Nearby activities
Just down a short hill are all the attractions of Moss Vale – more excellent furniture, design and homeware shops than you can count and Mosaic Wine Bar, so good it should be my local.

Short note: wine bars, wineries and restaurants I have known...

Over the years I have posted many short reviews to Google Maps, to the point where now I have had over 30,000 views of my reviews and over 460,000 views of the accompanying photos – and they keep on growing. I realised that many of these have never been posted to this blog, which is my main outlet for news about food, drink, produce and places to visit.

Short note: Wine Room Braddon Sep 2023
I discovered the little bar and restaurant, the Wine Room, almost by accident, well by word of mouth, which is the best accident of all. Someone told me about it and I've already told other people about it and so on it goes. Tucked away in a lane you could easily miss, behind coffee shop Gather – which has a good reputation of its own, though I've not tried it yet - this is a serious addition to the Braddon vibe. I've eaten there – and been very impressed. I've drunk wine there – most recently half an hour before I wrote these words – and enjoyed it immensely. 

They have a good focus on local winemakers but also a taste for the unusual and the interesting beyond this region. I had a rosé which was very different to any rosé I have had before and my companion had a sauvignon blanc which stood out from the usual generica that passes as sauvignon blanc. Whether you make a night of it or, as we just did, have a quick drink on the way through, this is a place with a beautifully designed fitout that's worth spending time and dollars in. The world needs more places like this.

View across the vines from Margan Winery, Hunter Valley.

Short note: Birch Sep 2022
We went here for a quiet birthday dinner and were extremely impressed. Moss Vale really has become the place over the years. Sometimes you feel that the food in restaurants like this can be merging into similar territory but I didn’t find that at all.