Paddy Maguires, Haymarket

Time is relative. Your perception of time expands and contracts depending on how much fun you're having. Or how much pain you're in.

We've had lunch at Paddy Maguires a number of times, but this was the first time we'd dined in a large group. Seven of us had headed over for a celebratory lunch, and after ordering and paying for our meals at the bar, we nursed drinks as we all anxiously stared at our meal buzzers in a game of lunchtime bingo.


Classic chicken schnitzel $16.50
Crumbed tender chicken breast fried,
served with chips and salad or creamy mash and seasonal vegetables

The chicken schnitzel was the first to arrive. 28 minutes according to the image file properties (boy, I love digital cameras!). Its happy recipient was beside himself with glee, chomping on chips and hoeing hungrily into his schnitzel, an appealing shade of deep golden brown.


Chicken scallopini $16.00
Grilled chicken breast in a creamy sauce with spinach and semi-dried tomatoes served with creamy mash and seasonal vegetables

Chicken scallopini was buzzed a minute after. Sliced chicken breast in a creamy tomato sauce was garnished with semi-dried tomatoes, zucchini, carrot and broccoli.

The beef-and-Guinness-pie orderers licked their lips in anticipation. Lunch was near. Satiation was nigh.

The minutes ticked by. Drinks were finished. Stomachs started to rumble. Mr Schnitzel was polishing off the last of his chips as the pie people started to feel faint from overwhelming hunger.

This was torture. We were in pain. We could've starting collecting monies for a Forty Hour Famine!

We made enquiries. We made some more. Assured that they were "just waiting on more chips" we anxiously waited on the edge of our seats.

Finally, finally, our buzzer jolted a nervous dance on the table. Oh my god. Food. Food. Food glorious food!


Beef and Guinness pie $16.00
Paddy Maguires own special recipe with tender chunks of beef
slowly cooked in Guinness with carrots, potatoes and onions.
Served with chips, salad and a crusty bread roll

For the perceived eon of elapsed time, our beef and Guinness pies was alas, disappointing. The beef cubes were tough and chewy, and the gravy was more akin to a watery beef soup. There was as much potato as there was beef--we counted six giant chunks of potato in one pie alone.

The chips looked tasty, but they were verging on stone cold which particularly perplexed us. The pastry was lovely and flaky and it did make for a pretty picture, no?

My fellow lunchers still remain scarred by the hunger pang experience. The funny thing? I've just checked the files and our pies were ready 35 minutes after we first ordered. That's eight minutes after the schnitzel arrived.

Time is relative. Those eight minutes felt like a lifetime.



Paddy Maguires
Corner George and Hay Streets, Haymarket, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9212 2111

Monday - Thursday 9.30am - 1am
Friday - Saturday 9.30am - 3am
Sunday - 9.30am - 12midnight

Previous GrabYourFork posts:
Paddy Maguires, Feb 06