That was ah-mazing

It took me more than an hour and a half to get to a restaurant launch last night, but wow, what an amazing place.

I was invited to aambra, which officially opened yesterday in the former Rose Bay Uniting Church.

My lovely friend Shae is doing the PR for the venue and I was thrilled to join the party.

You would think the Eastern Suburbs would be a skip and a jump away, but not in Sydney traffic at peak hour.

And, me being hopeless me, I totally screwed up the commute.

Everything was going so well until I got to Bondi Junction Station and accidentally jumped on a 333 bus. It zoomed me off to Bondi Beach, which was nowhere near aambra.

I won’t bore you with the details of the blind panic that ensued, but I was stressed and very late by the time I finally arrived.

I soothed myself with a lovely cocktail that was a twist on a French 75 …

Then we headed inside the restaurant to discover an open-plan bar and kitchen running along the entire length of the space, which gives guests located at both the free-standing marble tables and booth seating a front row seat to their dishes being made over the open-flame grill.

This was the pretty sunset view from my table …

Owner Cristian Gorgees centuries-old family recipes from his Iraqi heritage and those from other Levantine regions like Lebanon, Jordan, Cyprus and Egypt are all on show at aambra.

Our pick of the menu was the Macaron Laban pasta with spanner crab.

And I was very excited to try the Moreton Bay Bug boreks (pictured main).

Other small plates we sampled included a play on kibbeh nayeh made with tuna rather than lamb and tongue shawarma skewers.

Tongue has popped up a few times in my recent foodie travels – tasty, but I can’t hack the texture. I also have to blank out its origins as I chew.

For mains we enjoyed the blue grouper masgouf served whole with tamarind and a luscious tomato sauce, the dry-aged carob duck and a fabulous merguez-stuffed lamb saddle.

Aambra’s drinks list is just as immersive, with sommelier Sasa Savic curating a cellar of more than 130 different wines, as well as signature cocktails like a watermelon martini, arak elderflower spritz and jaffa margarita, all of which can be enjoyed on their own or alongside a meal is the alfresco area.

After finishing our welcome cocktails we sipped a delicious Chablis from the menu.

All too soon it was time to head home. I treated myself to an Uber to avoid getting lost again.

And I’m backing up tonight for another opening.

Crazy talk.

Song of the day: Alex Lloyd “Amazing”