Sydney: Make mine a mojito

I was lucky enough to have one of the most extraordinary food and drink experiences of my life, recently - on a guided tour of Sydney's best eateries and cocktail bars by two of the most influential people in the Australian hospitality industry.
I was staying at the Australian Hotel, a great pub at the Rocks that has accommodation above. It's a top spot for a beer and pizza in the sun.
Night one and I was on a tour of the city's best watering holes. Sydney is riding a new wave of enthusiasm for cocktails and the bars that supply them. They may be a few years behind the much more established cocktail scene in Melbourne, but what it lacks in history, it is making up for in style and substance.
Australian Bartender of the Year, Jason Williams, was my host for the night, giving me a tour of some of the city's best and most sophisticated bars. Jason has been making his own brand of world-class drinks since he landed a job on the floor of a Brisbane nightclub at just 17.
Ten years on, he has collected numerous awards, run some of the country's top cocktail lounges and is now cocktail manager for the Keystone Group, a company which owns some of Sydney's top bars and restaurants.
We kick off at the stunning waterfront venue, The Loft, where Jason has been overhauling the drinks list to include shared pitchers, punches and soda siphons - The Loft's own range of carbonated drinks, which are used as a base for some great cocktails. It's here I sample Jason's favourite drink, the Mark Twain, a simple and sophisticated tipple made from rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, don benedictine and bitters.
From here we head to one of Sydney's top bars, Neil Perry's Rockpool Bar and Grill. Situated in one of the city's few Art Deco buildings, it boasts a magnificent restaurant and one of the best bars in the CBD. Dangling precariously above the bar are 2582 Riedel wine glasses, polished to within an inch of their life. It is an old school venue, oozing class - and an attractive, successful clientele. A Scorched Almond Side Car is made from almond-washed cognac, orgeat (an almond and orange blossom syrup which is one of Jason's favourite ingredients).
We also sample some of the restaurant's excellent tapas-style bar food.
From the luxury of Rock Pool we head to the nearby laneway bar, Grasshopper, a small, loud bar with exposed wiring and kooky wallpaper, situated in the ironically named Temperance Lane.
It's only a Wednesday night but the bar is packed, Sydney hipsters crushed into the mismatched furniture.
There are no names for the cocktails here, I opt for a number 15 with mint, Peruvian brandy and lime juice, but am pretty taken by number 14, which has my favourite childhood drink, Fanta, mixed with blackberry liqueur and vanilla vodka.
Our last stop of the night is the top bar in Sydney, Eau de Vie. With waistcoated bartenders, subdued music and drinks served in antique crystal, this bar is all class.
To not order a cocktail here would be sacrilege. I am served its signature Yuzu Mule in a chilled copper mug. It's a cocktail bar exactly as they should be, with dim lighting, jazz, and entertaining bartenders sharing good stories and jokes.
"Eau de Vie really honours the art of making a great cocktail.
Its bartenders are second to none and everything they do is about a total commitment to making beautiful drinks," says Jason.
They claim there is nothing you can throw at them that they won't know how to make. And I believe them.
The next night I starve myself in preparation for a food tour of Surry Hills, a suburb on the outskirts of the CBD which has a name for great food, as well as underground gambling dens and brothels.
My tour guide is Myffy Rigby, the food and drink editor for Time Out magazine.
We start at new eatery Bar H, owned by Hamish Ingham, the previous head chef at Kylie Kwong's restaurant Billy Kwong. We start with a Sashimi of Palmers Island Mulloway, one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted in my life.
Less to my liking was the sourdough rubbed with tomato and garlic and topped with lardo, the fat from pork belly, though the flavours were amazing.
"Bar H walks a line between being casual but with very high-end food, and their real strength is the emphasis they place on seasonality and freshness," says Rigby.
Eating and running is the name of our game, so we leave for Surry Hills tapas institution Bodega. If you don't get here before 7pm you have no chance of getting a table. Run by the stunning Rachel Doyle and Jake "the pirate" Smythe, it is full of great looking people and great looking food. It is one of Rigby's regular haunts and the fish fingers topped with hiramasa kingfish and cuttlefish ceviche was out of this world, as were the chipotle-braised pork slices served with horseradish mayonnaise in a steamed Chinese-style bun.
We end the night back at Eau de Vie for another of its famous drinks, my belly and mind full.
Sydney - previously my spiritual shopping home - is now my gastronomic paradise, too.

Belinda Henley flew to Sydney courtesy of Air New Zealand.

Bar H's sashimi of snapper with beetroot pickle, extra virgin olive oil & soy dressing
Ingredients
250g  snapper  skinned and  deboned  (sashimi  grade)
1  medium beetroot, peeled and sliced on a mandolin
20g  ginger, peeled and sliced
1  lemon
1 tbsp sea salt
2 tbsp white sugar
Ground white pepper

Soy & Olive Oil Dressing
50ml soy
100ml extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp white sugar
1 orange zest and juice
1/4  tsp ground roasted chilli flakes
1/4 tsp ground roasted fennel seeds
1/2  bunch of chopped chives

Method
Slice the snapper fillet into 24 even slices or six slices per person, set aside. For the beetroot pickle combine sliced beetroot, ginger, salt and sugar, mix well and let sit for 30 minutes.  Add lemon juice and ground white pepper to taste and set aside. When ready to serve drain the juice from the pickle. For the dressing, combine all ingredients and let sit for 30 minutes so  all the flavours intermingle.
To serve, lie six slices of fish on each of your four entree-sized plates, dividing beetroot pickle evenly over the fish,  then pour the dressing evenly over the dish.  Garnish with the chopped chives and serve immediately.