Restaurant Trip Reports and Recommendations

[bennymacca]

I thought this would be a good thread to start.

detail your restaurant trip reports, where is a good place to eat, where would you avoid?

give us details, not just "this place is good" tell us why

[Garth Kay]

Cork and Cleaver!!!!

So writing a trip report on this one.

Food is great, wine list is better and the service is fantastic!

[rcon]

Shiki in the Hyatt = zomfg AWESOME

Service and wine list exquisite, but its the food that is insane. You've seriously not eaten until you've been here, true gastro-porn. And the best bit is its teppanyaki style, with you sitting around the hotplate as they cook it, see photo.

I was never a fan of seafood until I ate here a few years ago, but morton bay bugs would now have to rate as my fav food

TR coming soon.

Here is where you sit.

shiki layout.jpg (18.13 KiB) Viewed 2279 times

[bennymacca]

Cliffnotes: Bombay Bicycle Club 8/10

On saturday night i went to the bombay bicycle club with my wife and her sister and partner. they had just got back from melbourne, and it turns out we were celebrating their engagement as well, but thats another story.

So anyway, first, we ordered a bottle of champagne and drank this in the front bar. I had never been there before, and i have to say, it was a great atmosphere. the decor was great, in a british colonial indian theme. they had a band playing acoustic guitar type songs, and they were really good too.

When we got seated, we had a quick look at the menu, which had a nice selection, but we were in a celebratory mood so we couldn't be bothered choosing and we just went for the banquet.

So we ordered the banquet, and some garlic naan on the side, to which the waiter looked at us a little weirdly, and said the he can't remember the last time anyone finished the banquet, but meh, i love naan so we ordered it anyway.

Within about 5 minutes, the entrees were out - samosas, spring rolls, and vegetable pakora's which were all excellent.

The table service was excellent as well. we had at least 3 different people come to our table and ask if everything was ok for drinks etc. it wasn't pushy and over the top, which can happen if you get too good a service though, it was great as they were really friendly.

about 5 minutes after our entrees were cleared, the mains arrived - once again excellent service.

there were 4 different curries for mains - beef vindaloo, butter chicken, lamb rogan josh and vegetable korma. nothing out of the ordinary by any means, in fact pretty standard fare you might think. but i can say that the quality was good, maybe not quite as good as some specialty indian places, of which i have been to a few, but up there.

it was very well presented as well - curries were in separate bowls in the centre obviously, and the plates came with a little pyramid of rice and a pappadum on them.

well i reckon we got about halfway through the curries and we were absolutely stuffed to the brim - then we remembered that there was desert as well! so when the waiter came back to clear our plates, we asked him to hold off on the desert for a while.

the atmosphere where we were dining was great - we were in a small room with only 1 other table, but could still hear the music from the bar.

the desert was a deep fried something covered in batter and cinnamon and sugar, kinda like a doughnut, with icecream - very tasty, and just the right size, as we were really full and it topped off the meal nicely.


So in general, i would really recommend the Bombay Bicycle club to anyone that likes indian food - definitely if you are catching up with friends and having a banquet.

The banquet was reasonably priced at $40 a head, but with the entertainment card, they gave $30 off per couple, which brings it down to an excellent $25 a head.

All in all, i would give the Bombay bicycle club an excellent 8/10

Food: 7/10
Value: 7/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Service: 10/10

Suitable for: birthdays, relaxed social dinners


edit: found the menu online, http://www.bombaybicycleclub.com.au/

Bombay Banana Leaf Banquet (min 4 ppl) $40 ea
Selection of Entrée’s
Beef Samosa
Onion Bahjee
Tandoori chicken skewer
Vegetable Pakora
Curry 4 Way’s
Chicken Makhani (Butter Chiken)
Lamb Rogan Josh
Beef Vindaloo
Vegetable Korma
Dessert
Apple and Cinnamon pakora and palm sugar syrup

[Garth Kay]

OMG - the ceasar salad at the Bombay is the best ever. BK can attest to my fondness for ceasar salads!

[wabbit999]

Last time iate there we ordered 2 serves of naan bread. What we thought was the first one arrived, I waited paitently for the second serve, refusing to take slice of His, only to discover that both serves were on the one plate. The rest of food was pretty nice though

[bennymacca]

Last time iate there we ordered 2 serves of naan bread. What we thought was the first one arrived, I waited paitently for the second serve, refusing to take slice of His, only to discover that both serves were on the one plate. The rest of food was pretty nice though

we also ordered 2 serves, and it game out on 1 plate. but the waiter clearly said it was 2 serves, and that was like 4 halves, so it was all good.

[666HARPS666]

Star hotel Rutherglen

hosts / Paul & Robyn Davies .
Well what can i say . This pub a country 1 has a chinese restaurant , been there for 12 years + .
The Chefs are chinese , Billy , Johnny & lisa . The food is pub grub & chinese .

I wasn't sure about the chinese so i went pub grub , Porterhouse steak in pepper sauce "well done" .
the steak was about 18cm long ,3cm thick & 7cm wide was served with home made chips & rabbit food ."I'm not 1 for rabbit food but found myself eatting most of the rabbit food .The whole meal was beautiful , & the plate was full for $20 was great value .

The next meal i had was chicken kiev . Every kiev i've had in the past 15 years has been "well CRAP " .
This was not the case here .It came out & was coated in thick crumbed coating golden brown & when i cut into it the garlic butter just flowed .It was the old style kiev . The type i'd been waiting 15 years to have .

To my surprise i was talking to the owners & found out the meals were all cooked in the chinese restaurant .
All the pub grub by Lisa .Who also makes all the dim sims , sping rolls ,etc.. by hand ,she's in the kitchen until 3:30 every morning pre-pairing every thing for the next day .

So had to give the chinese food a go .
Entre , beef satay skewers , Giz went home made dim sims ,which looked like they were factory made but when you tasted them you knew this was not the case "perfect"
Main , I had to go my favorite Sizzling Mongolian Beef , Giz went combination omlette she really like it "seafood in it so i not touch". The mongolian beef however was perfect . Brought out on the sizzling hot plate cooked the way i asked for it .

Now i know how a chinese restaurant has lasted so long in a country pub .The host are Great ,the chefs magnificent .
The meals are big & very good value , Its wine country so plenty of good wines ,beer & spirits too choose from .drink prices are cheap also . The chefs will cook things that are not on the menu "just ask & they will make it for you" .
On weekends there are 240 diners a day .

This is truly a great pub . /10

Cheers Harps

[Sinitster]

Star hotel Rutherglen

This is truly a great pub . /10

Cheers Harps

Most definately will stop in if i ever travel thru there

[gundog]

On a few occasions I have had a meal or 2 at the Waikerie Hotel, whilst the meals have been nothing statling.

Anyhow my staff treated my wife and I to a meal at the Hotel for my Birthday.

The meals we received were absolutly fantastic, Cheryle ordered the Seafood selection which was an array of delicious morsols with a whole lightly crumbed occy with chips and salad, me I went for the Mixed Grill, which was the standard array of meats. a chop, a couple of snags, Bacon and steak, with Chips, Salad and Fried Egg.
I've heaps of Mixed grills in my life but this was proberly the best ever everything was cooked perfectly the steak melted in your mouth like butter, and the snags top notch.

David Powdy and his crew were congratulated for a great meal.