Mixing business with potato scallops

My lovely PR friend Shae invited me to join her for dinner last night at Penny’s Hotel in Kings Cross.

It was a great opportunity to catch up while also sampling the menu and sipping a cocktail for Drinks Digest purposes.

I love mixing business with fun!

The venue was previously called Hampton Court Hotel and has relaunched following an extensive renovation by Watering Hole Hotels hospitality group. It apparently had a bit of a medieval vibe to it before the reno, but is now decked out in handmade pink and green Spanish tiles, Fibonacci stone bar tables and plush velvet seating.

The story behind its name is an interesting one.

The Potts Point district was Sydney’s bohemian heartland in the early decades of the 20th century.

The area was home to writers, poets and journalists such as Kenneth Slessor, Christopher Brennan, Hal Porter, George Sprod and Dame Mary Gilmore, entrepreneur Mayfield B. Anthony, actors including Peter Finch and Chips Rafferty, and painters Sir William Dobell and Rosaleen Norton.

Another person who called the suburb home was Penny, who was forced into prostitution by homelessness. Penny plied her trade on the curb of what is now known as Penny’s Lane.

Penny used the money she made to help those in need, especially the homeless who lived in Bourke Street Park.

Fast forward to 2024 and the team at Penny’s, led by Licensee and General Manager Peter Tate, are absolutely lovely. They were so welcoming and kind to me.

After giving me a tour of the pub, they brought out “Mini Guinnesses”, which scared me slightly because I am not a dark beer person. But they turned out to be Kahlua and something else that I’ve forgotten, might have been Baileys. Down the hatch!

I always like to photograph a cocktail when I’m out for my Drinks Digest Instagram stories, so I had a Paloma after that … Paloma time at Penny’s … perfect caption for Insta.

In the kitchen is head chef Adam Finlay (ex-Merivale), who has created an elevated yet affordable menu.

The former Establishment chef has also introduced a range of share plates, including absolutely delicious twice-cooked pork belly bites and my guilty favourite treat – potato scallops.

The latter are done two ways, with chicken or vinegar salt, and are hand-sliced to exactly the right thickness to ensure they’ll cook to perfection in Finlay’s own beer-batter recipe in just five minutes.

Loved them – they brought back so many memories of being a cadet journalist earning $120 a week and sustaining myself on them from the fish and chippery around the corner for 20 cents a piece.