Rather than wandering around Darling Harbour hoping for a table on a Saturday night, how about the casino? There's a restaurant (one of many) in the complex that is open from lunch until 6am so they are unlikely to kick us out! It's an Asian restaurant called Fat Noodle. There's bound to be a lounge or bar from which we can watch the fireworks somewhere in the casino, and then we can make our way to the restaurant. I've not been there but the reviews on urbanspoon are ok - generally good, some not so good. It has a 74% rating which isn't too bad. Even sensational restaurants do well to get 90% in this sometimes pretentious city!

http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/70/1534636/restaurant/Pyrmont/Fat-Noodle-Sydney

Apparently it's on the gaming floor, but no one has complained about the noise. Or it that doesn't suit, there are other places in the complex. I'm presuming everyone in the group is 18+, but if not, we may have to look elsewhere.

Sounds like a plan but we need to cater for my parents who will only eat kosher or fish. Plenty of restaurants to choose from so whereabouts in the casino shall we all meet?

Ok, have just rung the Fat Noodle. They have fish and vegetarian dishes as well as beef, chicken etc. The special of the day, today, is snapper, rice, veges for $25. They also have a snapper dish regularly on the menu for $26 but I gather that has some different sauces or accompaniments. There are other fish dishes too, or so they tell me. There's another restaurant called Century which has fish on the menu, but judging by the fact that the prices aren't online, and from the pictures of the restaurant, it's a bit pricier.

http://www.star.com.au/sydney-restaurants/signature-fine-dining/Pages/the-century.aspx

Fat Noodle is a walk in restaurant so we can arrive at will and leave whenever.

I also spoke to a very nice young man who suggested the Cherry Bar would be the place to watch the fireworks from. Then we could go to dinner!

http://www.star.com.au/sydney-nightlife/Pages/cherry.aspx

Can we keep the restaurant option open and see if there is anything on the menu that they might eat. Worth taking a look but just saying that there might not be anything on the menu for them.

Are we ok to meet still at the casino, if so...where? I have Greg's and George's number to call.

The Cherry Bar (as above) to meet in? It's the place in the casino to watch the fireworks from apparently. If you want to ring the casino to ask about dining options, their phone number is 9777 9000.

I'll be there, sans silly hat.

Note that the invitation is open to all-comers. Drop one of us a note, and we will let you know the details (when we eventually work them out!)

I'll have five on the zero-three.

Have fun, you all...and please make sure you take photos and post them for some of us folks out here Would be nice to attach faces to some of the names I've known for so many years now!

Enjoy!!

Hope your festivities went well, y'all!

Well????

It was a nice night. We all met up at the casino, but it was very noisy and crowded, so we went exploring along Harbourside at Darling Harbour. We found a nice seafood restaurant with an empty table for nine (VERY lucky), and settled in for a meal and some great conversation.

At 9pm, there was a fireworks display (apparently it is on every weekend, but none of the Sydneysiders that were there knew that!). After dinner, it was decided that we should find somewhere to watch an important soccer match, and that the best place to do that would be, of course, the Sports Bar at the casino.

By that time, it was almost 1am, and everyone headed for home.

A quite enjoyable night!

The company was excellent and a big thank you to George, Greg and Helen for being such gracious hosts.