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Overview
Eyes twinkle and glasses tinkle at The Balmain Bug whilst deals are forged, hearts gel and families unite in this comfortably sophisticated and stylish venue. Location wise ‘The Bug’ is blessed to be situated at the quiet end of Darling St, East Balmain where parking is free and easy. If you’re lucky you’ll score one of three rockstar parking spots right out front.
Greeted and seated by intelligent, relaxed and warm hearted staff you’ll soon feel at home in the intimate atmosphere which is forged, by a mix of location, food, wine, style and, in part, by The Bugs alliance with Fine Art Australia.
Displayed upon two juicy pink feature walls are aboriginal artworks conceived by the gifted Walangari Karntawarra providing a striking contrast with the textures of the sandstone walls. Also on display for purchase are an eclectic collection of paintings and etchings all of historic and social importance by Elizabeth Durack and Norman Lindsay.
Your chef Paul Cookson and his team cook rustic fine food with European and Asian inspirations which will satisfy you and your guests. Together they create a clever and contemporary new menu seasonally to entice you with a delightful balance and harmonic blend of dishes incorporating the best of the seasons’ produce.
Thirst wise you’ll be well catered for. The selection of Australian and New Zealand boutique wines has been thoughtfully and sensitively selected to delight.
If it all sounds too good to chose just one or two dishes, treat yourself to the culinary experience that is the tasting menu. Nine courses of the chefs choosing intelligently paired off with The Bugs boutique Australian and New Zealand wines portioned to your contentment.
After dinner take a leisurely stroll down to The East Balmain wharf and watch the harbour lights of this glorious city wink and twinkle at you.
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User Reviews on The Balmain Bug
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 19 comments
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| Overall |
  
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Average |
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Food 4 |
Ambience 4 |
Service 6 |
Value 6 |
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My husband and I had been a few times last year and had great experiences there so we decided to celebrate my birthday on a friday night. Unfortunately, that was a regrettable decision.
We walked in and there were no other people there so we thought it was because we arrived early. However, only 3 other tables filled up so there would have been a maximum of 8-10 people at most at one time dining. We were looking forward to the ravioli which we had last year however the quality was drastically different and the mains took a long time to come out.
The Balmain Bug has lost its magic and will not be returning there. However, in all fairness, the waiter was attentive and never allowed our glasses to remain empty.
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cc's -
See my reviews 2 , 14 July 2008
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
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| Overall |
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Below Average |
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Food 5 |
Ambience 5 |
Service 2 |
Value 5 |
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My partner and I ate here on Saturday night. It was supposed to be a special birthday dinner. We had been looking forward to the evening for quite some time and had read the comments on this page and thought we’d give the restaurant a go anyway.
The best compliment I can pay this restaurant is that the food was not awful. Everything else was! I am very particular in choosing restaurants and ensure that I review their on-line menu. When we arrived at this restaurant many of the dishes on their website were not on the menu. We had no choice but to select the only seafood dish on the entrée and main menu.
After waiting 1 hour for our entrée to arrive, we noted that the lady at the table beside us was served a dish for her main that we could have ordered, but was not on the menu. Perhaps this was a special we weren’t informed of? Whilst waiting 1 hour for our entrée, we were served an appetiser. We are still not sure what the appetiser was as there was no explanation for it when it was served, and when we asked what it was as it was being cleared, the wait person shouted something inaudible over his shoulder as he was walking away.
Whilst on the wait staff, they were pleasant, but terribly overworked and not particularly professional. They ran all over the restaurant and were often sweating profusely whilst serving. The main arrived and wasn’t too bad. We were contemplating dessert but decided against it when overheard the table beside us cancel their dessert order (they had been waiting for over an hour) which caused profanity in the kitchen (yes, your restaurant can hear when you scream profanities at the top of your lungs in a small enclosed space).
Finally, although the wait staff were running all over the restaurant, they rarely paused to fill our wine or water glasses. Thankfully we were seated by the communal wine/water holder and were able to fill our own. I am not sure how the other diners survived…..
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f080050 -
See my reviews 2, 10 June 2008
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
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| Overall |
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Below Average |
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Food 2 |
Ambience 5 |
Service 5 |
Value 1 |
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Average. The place was empty and we now know why. The food was dreadful, for the price you are paying I expected something spectacular but was sadly very underwhelmed.
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kimbo2112 -
See my reviews 1, 09 June 2008
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| Overall |
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Below Average |
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Food 7 |
Ambience 2 |
Service 1 |
Value 3 |
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Good food but horrible service. They had no record of our booking, 25 minutes after being seated we were finally asked if would like something to drink, so we ordered a bottle of wine and our meals in case we had to wait another 25 minutes. To cap it off, they competely forgot our desserts.
We enquired regarding our desserts and shrugged shoulders was the reply from one of two overworked and sweaty waiters. So we got the bill and left. Take a tip guys, employee a female waitress, slow down and it might make dining there a nice experience. In the meantime, we won't be going back.
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Harry1111 -
See my reviews 10, 09 June 2008
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
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| Overall |
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Highly Recommended |
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Food 10 |
Ambience 8 |
Service 10 |
Value 9 |
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Perfect! Attended one of my closests friend's weddings recently and the night was a complete success! The Balmain Bug provided an intimate and relaxed dining experience for the wedding and the food was outstanding! The service was beautiful and staff were lovely. I had a wonderful evening, thank you!
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LouiseO -
See my reviews 2, 13 May 2008
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| Overall |
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Below Average |
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Food 4 |
Ambience 4 |
Service 3 |
Value 3 |
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I last dined at the Bug in 2000 and was expecting another enjoyable night when I finally went again last weekend. Unfortunately, that wasn't to be. The service was ok, if a little inattentive in a half full restaurant and the food was fairly ho-hum.
We started with the mixed entree platter because all of the entrees looked so tasty on the menu. Unfortunately not even one of the 4 or 5 items delivered on the promising start, except perhaps the goats cheese which was nice.
The slow roasted lamb for a main was acceptable as was the salmon but neither were something I would go back to eat again. We were both quite full, so skipped straight to coffees which were actually pretty good.
Including tip and a decent bottle of wine it set us back $150, which was ok but there are a lot of restaurants in Sydney where that amount of money will get you a terrific meal.
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Efresh -
See my reviews 1, 12 May 2008
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| Overall |
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Recommended |
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Food 7 |
Ambience 6 |
Service 7 |
Value 8 |
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After reading the comments that people have posted on this website, we went to dine at The Balmain Bugs with very low/no expectation. We both love dining out at different restaurants. The reason why we chose this place is because it was in the Entertainment Book.
Before we made our orders, we asked one of the staff whether we can use the card for the tasting menu. After they have advised us that they do accept the card, we went ahead and ordered the tasting menu. To our surprise, they have a very generous serving size for the price that you pay for the tasting menu. Out of the tasting menu, we’d definitely recommend the scallops, pork loin and the indulgence platter.
Throughout the meal, the staffs at the Balmain Bug were courteous and friendly. I remembered that when we were having one of our entrees, we have discovered that the table has lost it balance. The manager came over immediately and fixed the problem without us asking. Very Impressive!! And they didn’t even discriminate us even though that we will be using our Entertainment Card.
The only recommendation that we’d like to give is that the staff can probably introduce each course of the tasting menu in a bit more detail. The other thing is the sorbet that they serve between the entrees and the mains, the mango sorbet was lovely but we found that it’s a bit too sweet if the purpose was to cleanse the pallet before the main.
We’d prefer flavours like lemon, blood orange, lime, passionfruit or green apple. If the mango sorbet was served as part of the dessert, then it’ll be a great. On the whole, we’d recommend our friends and relative to this restaurant.
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Dining twins -
See my reviews 1, 11 May 2008
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| Overall |
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Highly Recommended |
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Food 9 |
Ambience 9 |
Service 10 |
Value 10 |
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I have been a regular at The Bug for some time, both under the new and old management, and though I have seen the style change, it is an exceptional restaurant. More laid back and informal than it use to be. No price increases in a couple of years, (other restaurants in the area seem to increase theirs monthly) bigger portions, and friendly service.
I dine at the Bug about twice a month, and it outstands me the amount of people who kick up a fuss about no BYO, and claim to be regulars, I am a regular, and know that this restaurant has been licensed and not allowed BYO on a friday or saturday night for over 18 months now, and have seen quite a few people complained about nothing things after being told, sorry it's not BYO on a weekend.
I was on the next table last Saturday evening, the lady was very loud, and I heard her complained, as did most of the other diners in the restaurant, I find it comical that a person would complain about their salad being kept in the fridge, that is where I keep my salad ingredients at home, I like it to be crisp and fresh, maybe they should have offered to put it in the microwave for her. When he returned her next comment was even more comical, she complained that it was not buoyant, what did she pop down to the harbour to check its buoyancy? or did she check it in the toilet.
Anyway, let me tell you about my night on Friday, I had a great time, I went out knowing that I would have a great night, was welcomed by friendly service. I had the confit duck ravioli special as an entree, that was bursting with flavour, and generous in size, followed by a grain fed sirloin steak, cooked to perfection, and topped with 2 juicy garlic prawns, awesome, and thier new dessert a crispy pastry and nut basket filled with 3 ice creams, sensational, and I had no problem selecting a wine with my meals, because a wine recomendation is on the menu next to each dish, each one perfectly paired.
The great service and meal made up for the whing'ers on the next table. I hope the restaurant industry realises there are still serious diners who go out with the intention of enjoying themself still around.
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Foodieboy -
See my reviews 1, 22 April 2008
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
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| Overall |
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Below Average |
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Food 4 |
Ambience 6 |
Service 2 |
Value 3 |
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We dined recently at the Balmain Bug and we were pretty disappointed - actually it became a bit of a joke evening.
Firstly we turned up and we were disappointed they had changed to No BYO on Sat night. No problems we ordered some sparkling off the menu. Even though I booked a couple of weeks previous we were placed on an awful table towards the back where my husband was nearly knocked each time the waiting staff walked past. Also we constantly heard as the head waiter checked with the others if they had, got tables, bread, filled their glasses, taken their orders. He loudly checked all these details with the team talking over our heads. We did not really want to hear.
We ordered our starters and mains and asked our waiter to recommend a bottle of wine. He said "Depends on what you want". We said we wanted his recommendation based on his knowledge of the food and the items we had selected and did not mind if it was red or white. No suggestion was forthcoming; we then asked the other waiter for his suggestion and also seemed a bit flummoxed. Pretty pathetic.
The food was average. My scallops and prosciutto were luke warm. My husband quite enjoyed the Goats Cheese. The mains of Pork and Salmon were ok. We had expected much better. We also ordered a Greek salad which was very poor, ice cold premade out of the fridge. The tomatoes watery and tasteless and so we sent this back. At the time the waiter did offer to add a new tomato or retoss the salad, was really bad so not interested in trying another. It amazes me the arrogance that is also evidenced in the venues response below about customers always having to tell them something is wrong, a venue of this type should be getting things right the first time.
Once we sent the item back we were then pretty much ignored for the rest of the evening. Topping up our own wine and water and then having to flag someone down to ask for the dessert menus. Nothing took our fancy so we asked for a cup of peppermint tea, assuming this would be available as it listed a selection of Twinings tea (hardly an interesting proposition for a "nice" restaurant). We were told they had just run out. Then I asked if they had any other sort of fruit tea as these selections normally do and was offered Green Tea? We just asked for the bill.
The waiter then came and told us that the kitchen staff had insisted that the item we had sent back be included on the bill but that the waiter said he was willing to take the money out of his own pocket to avoid an unpleasant situation. We insisted that this was ridiculous; he should not have to pay out of his pocket and asked to speak to this kitchen staff. Obviously customer relations are not important to him as he failed to materialise.
All in all a bit of a joke evening, average food and bad service especially from the kitchen staff who did not even have the decency to come and talk to us and insisted that a bad item of $7 was left on the bill. Anyway had a lovely cab driver on the way home who showed us that good customer service does still exist.
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pandjeat -
See my reviews 1, 20 April 2008
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
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