This was advertised to us as a European-blend restaurant that was reliably enjoyable, according to our friends D&J, who had visited 3 times prior to this dinner. We collectively agreed this meal did not leave up to their hype. Off the bat, the service was extremely slow for a Wednesday night. It took us 3.5 hours to eat this 5 course meal. The food was good – nothing spectacular.
Points to the restaurant, the budget is reasonable, especially for Northcote.
The 5 course set menu was $79 each. We all had one alcoholic beverage.
Points to the restaurant, the budget is reasonable, especially for Northcote.
The 5 course set menu was $79 each. We all had one alcoholic beverage.
Set Menu
We started with a smoked eggplant dip and croutons. Our friend requested for bread because he said it was one of the highlights from a previous visit. The bread served was still good but not as fantastic as he remembered.
The dip itself was very flavourful and smooth. They ended up bringing out another serving of bread because it took that long for the first entree dish to be served.
The dip itself was very flavourful and smooth. They ended up bringing out another serving of bread because it took that long for the first entree dish to be served.
Next were the arancini with tomato jam and grana. It was an enjoyable bite.
Next was a heirloom beetroot with nashi pear, Persian fetta, walnut and raspberry vinaigrette. This did the job in mimicking a “scallop” texture-wise, but it had no flavour profile to the dish. Just very bland and meh.
This was the dish our friend was hyping up and when he ate it, we felt his heart shatter. This was the pork belly, apple, ginger confit, cider and sherry gastric – a staple dish on all their set menus.
The biggest takeway from this dish was the chewiness of the pork belly. The choice of pork belly was a leaner cut, leaving no oompf from that fatty part we all expect, and the skin was not crispy at all. It was mushy.
The biggest takeway from this dish was the chewiness of the pork belly. The choice of pork belly was a leaner cut, leaving no oompf from that fatty part we all expect, and the skin was not crispy at all. It was mushy.
When this main Riverina Entrecote MB3-4, smoke onion soubise, bordelaise came out, I felt a collective disappointing sigh around the table. We waited 40 minutes for this. And it looked…. meh…?
It was fairly easy to cut into but took a bit for us to chew eerything. The temperature it was served at was borderline cool, although hard to fault the chef because Melbourne weather sucks. Overall an odd and non-memorable dish. We ate it for the protein.
It was fairly easy to cut into but took a bit for us to chew eerything. The temperature it was served at was borderline cool, although hard to fault the chef because Melbourne weather sucks. Overall an odd and non-memorable dish. We ate it for the protein.
Okay, redeemable because you can’t fuck up fries. This was chips, garlic, thyme and Parmesan with leaves, shallot and house dressing. It had a tangy taste.
I made a very loud comment asking if “service is normally this slow” so I’m not sure if they brought out this limoncello shot because they heard what I said (they did apologise for the slow service when handing these out) or if this was already part of the set menu to begin with. Overall, It was nice.
This basque cheesecake with chocolate sauce was dense and good. It was an interesting choice to end on such a heavy dessert.
Service
As mentioned earlier, the service was really slow. It really took 30 mins in between EVERY dish. It was a good thing we were catching up with our friends but by the 3rd or 4th dish, even we felt the slowness.
REview
We would not return. I do like the plants here.
Thanks for reading. Happy eating.
Thanks for reading. Happy eating.
