dan_h

8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  7      Value  8     

I had heard mixed reviews from people who had eaten in the restaurant, but decided to eat a Friday lunch in the lounge given me had a child in tow.

We had a great experience, helped by the beautiful sunshine. The lounge is decorated in scandinavian retro chic, a bit cold for some tastes, but we liked it. The fire could have been cranked up a notch though, as the quite bare room exacerbates the cold even with the fire. An outside table would have been great, but only a few get afternoon sun and they were all taken.

Service was good from the manager, although training of some staff was underway and it was obvious. Still, they need to train on someone! The only real problem we had was that the food came out all at once so by the time we got to eat our mains, they were getting cold.

The lounge menu is good value, and we found the overall quality very high. We tried the anchovy filo fingers and pea/mint/persian fetta entrees, both were good. We then had the duck pancakes and pork belly with burnt orange. The pancakes had gone cold and suffered as a result, and the flavours weren't amazing. The pork belly, however, was incredible, beautiful tacky sweet sauce and fresh burnt orange a great accompaniment to the generous portions of tender pork.

We tried some beer and wines by the glass, prices for drinks were reasonable given the generous glass sizes. Coffee was great also.

Bill for 2 for a tasty lunch and a couple of drinks each was $100, which we thought was very reasonable given the setting and standard.

May 22, 2012

7.5 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  7     

We ate here on a very quiet sunday night, and found it to be very much what we were expecting. Good food and a nicely decorated above-average cafe.

We tried the pork pot pie and the lamb lasagne, I thought the pie was great, my partner really enjoyed the lasagne, although I thought it was less impressive than the pie which was quite rich and creamy with a lovely pastry topping. Accompaniments were good, and service was friendly and attentive.

Prices were about $29 for a main, which for the area is quite good value and fair enough given the standard of food.

May 22, 2012

6.8 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  6      Service  7      Value  7     

We ate here on a busy Friday night, and had an enjoyable but not outstanding meal. It didn't particularly differentiate itself from a number of other reasonable meals at Marrickville's numerous Vietnamese joints.

We started with the vietnamese omelette, which once you added the herbs and sauce was pretty good, if a touch on the oily side. Like most omelettes, it could have done with some more substantial contents other than the 70% made up of bean sprouts.

We then had the sliced beef pho, and a honey chilli stir fry with pork and eggplant. The pho was reasonable and tasted fresh without having much depth of flavour, while the stir fry was good, the eggplant had a lovely soft texture and the flavours were solid with the right amount of chilli kick.

Depending on your choice of dish you could end up spending $30 per head pretty easily, our modest choices came out at just over $20 per head, so the value was fair enough without being spectacular.

Service was prompt and polite, only downside was getting all 3 of our dishes at the same time. We'll be back at some stage, as it's a solid option.

Apr 30, 2012

6.5 Recommended

Food  6      Ambience  6      Service  8      Value  6     

We ate in the restaurant part of the club on saturday night, and were left disappointed.

The location would put a few people off, being down a dark side alley and practically on the railway, but the little restaurant room actually had quite a nice vibe. The service was warm and friendly all night, and dishes were served promptly.

We think we, perhaps, chose poorly, but by and large the food was disappointing. We shared the garlic bread and garlic prawns for entree. The garlic prawns were ok but a bit underwhelming, the bread was fine.

For mains we tried the bacalhau and the pork cubes with clams. The clams had a lovely flavour, but the pork dish was a bit stodgy with variable quality pork. The biggest let down was the bacalhau, which was so tough and stringy it was almost inedible. We ate about half, after spending 5 minutes removing the bones, then had to floss on the return home to remove the strings from our teeth! I know salting fish can change the texture, but this had changed it for the worse.

Others in the restaurant were eating the meat skewers which looked on relfection a better choice.

We then shared a choc mousse, but sadly it was served in the pre-packaged plastic container they had brought it in. It was reasonable, but we were hoping for something home made.

Bill for 2 with 2 beers and a half bottle of drinkable portuguese white was almost $100, so we weren't that impressed with the value given our gripes with the food.

We may try it once more with a group and try some of the other dishes to give them another chance.

Apr 16, 2012

5.8 Average

Food  5      Ambience  6      Service  7      Value  5     

We got take away from Pumin based solely on the good eatability reviews. We were left puzzled, unsure if we got them on a bad night, or if their food simply doesn't translate well to home delivery.

We tried a good selection of dishes, including the mixed entree, salt and pepper calamari, broc the pork, basil prawns and son in law eggs. They were almost universally disappointing.

The entrees were soggy, oily and dull (spring rolls, curry puff, fish cake), the chicken satay undistinguished, the calamari was soggy too.

Our large rice did not even fill one normal sized take away container, and the basil prawns was literally 8 prawns with some cooked basil leaves, nothing else. It took up about 30% of the container volume. The pork was quite fatty, the fat had not rendered off during the cooking, and it wasn't tender.

The only decent points were the sauce on the eggs, although the eggs were well over-cooked, and the flavour of the prawn dish was reasonable.

This was a real let down. I am almost tempted to try and eat in as I find it hard to believe the food we got is typical of them given the reviews, but they didn't do themselves any favours. This was without doubt the worst of the local thai places we've tried.

Apr 12, 2012

8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  7      Value  8     

I had heard mixed reviews from people who had eaten in the restaurant, but decided to eat a Friday lunch in the lounge given me had a child in tow.

We had a great experience, helped by the beautiful sunshine. The lounge is decorated in scandinavian retro chic, a bit cold for some tastes, but we liked it. The fire could have been cranked up a notch though, as the quite bare room exacerbates the cold even with the fire. An outside table would have been great, but only a few get afternoon sun and they were all taken.

Service was good from the manager, although training of some staff was underway and it was obvious. Still, they need to train on someone! The only real problem we had was that the food came out all at once so by the time we got to eat our mains, they were getting cold.

The lounge menu is good value, and we found the overall quality very high. We tried the anchovy filo fingers and pea/mint/persian fetta entrees, both were good. We then had the duck pancakes and pork belly with burnt orange. The pancakes had gone cold and suffered as a result, and the flavours weren't amazing. The pork belly, however, was incredible, beautiful tacky sweet sauce and fresh burnt orange a great accompaniment to the generous portions of tender pork.

We tried some beer and wines by the glass, prices for drinks were reasonable given the generous glass sizes. Coffee was great also.

Bill for 2 for a tasty lunch and a couple of drinks each was $100, which we thought was very reasonable given the setting and standard.

May 22, 2012

7.5 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  7     

We ate here on a very quiet sunday night, and found it to be very much what we were expecting. Good food and a nicely decorated above-average cafe.

We tried the pork pot pie and the lamb lasagne, I thought the pie was great, my partner really enjoyed the lasagne, although I thought it was less impressive than the pie which was quite rich and creamy with a lovely pastry topping. Accompaniments were good, and service was friendly and attentive.

Prices were about $29 for a main, which for the area is quite good value and fair enough given the standard of food.

May 22, 2012

6.8 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  6      Service  7      Value  7     

We ate here on a busy Friday night, and had an enjoyable but not outstanding meal. It didn't particularly differentiate itself from a number of other reasonable meals at Marrickville's numerous Vietnamese joints.

We started with the vietnamese omelette, which once you added the herbs and sauce was pretty good, if a touch on the oily side. Like most omelettes, it could have done with some more substantial contents other than the 70% made up of bean sprouts.

We then had the sliced beef pho, and a honey chilli stir fry with pork and eggplant. The pho was reasonable and tasted fresh without having much depth of flavour, while the stir fry was good, the eggplant had a lovely soft texture and the flavours were solid with the right amount of chilli kick.

Depending on your choice of dish you could end up spending $30 per head pretty easily, our modest choices came out at just over $20 per head, so the value was fair enough without being spectacular.

Service was prompt and polite, only downside was getting all 3 of our dishes at the same time. We'll be back at some stage, as it's a solid option.

Apr 30, 2012

6.5 Recommended

Food  6      Ambience  6      Service  8      Value  6     

We ate in the restaurant part of the club on saturday night, and were left disappointed.

The location would put a few people off, being down a dark side alley and practically on the railway, but the little restaurant room actually had quite a nice vibe. The service was warm and friendly all night, and dishes were served promptly.

We think we, perhaps, chose poorly, but by and large the food was disappointing. We shared the garlic bread and garlic prawns for entree. The garlic prawns were ok but a bit underwhelming, the bread was fine.

For mains we tried the bacalhau and the pork cubes with clams. The clams had a lovely flavour, but the pork dish was a bit stodgy with variable quality pork. The biggest let down was the bacalhau, which was so tough and stringy it was almost inedible. We ate about half, after spending 5 minutes removing the bones, then had to floss on the return home to remove the strings from our teeth! I know salting fish can change the texture, but this had changed it for the worse.

Others in the restaurant were eating the meat skewers which looked on relfection a better choice.

We then shared a choc mousse, but sadly it was served in the pre-packaged plastic container they had brought it in. It was reasonable, but we were hoping for something home made.

Bill for 2 with 2 beers and a half bottle of drinkable portuguese white was almost $100, so we weren't that impressed with the value given our gripes with the food.

We may try it once more with a group and try some of the other dishes to give them another chance.

Apr 16, 2012

5.8 Average

Food  5      Ambience  6      Service  7      Value  5     

We got take away from Pumin based solely on the good eatability reviews. We were left puzzled, unsure if we got them on a bad night, or if their food simply doesn't translate well to home delivery.

We tried a good selection of dishes, including the mixed entree, salt and pepper calamari, broc the pork, basil prawns and son in law eggs. They were almost universally disappointing.

The entrees were soggy, oily and dull (spring rolls, curry puff, fish cake), the chicken satay undistinguished, the calamari was soggy too.

Our large rice did not even fill one normal sized take away container, and the basil prawns was literally 8 prawns with some cooked basil leaves, nothing else. It took up about 30% of the container volume. The pork was quite fatty, the fat had not rendered off during the cooking, and it wasn't tender.

The only decent points were the sauce on the eggs, although the eggs were well over-cooked, and the flavour of the prawn dish was reasonable.

This was a real let down. I am almost tempted to try and eat in as I find it hard to believe the food we got is typical of them given the reviews, but they didn't do themselves any favours. This was without doubt the worst of the local thai places we've tried.

Apr 12, 2012

6.8 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  6      Service  7      Value  7     

This is an interesting little place with a unique menu and some intricate dishes, but there were a few misses in with the hits.

We had the edamame with garlic and chilli which were great, then the mixed sashimi which was very fresh, and the veg gyoza which had a unique pastry and were nice enough.

For mains we shared the miso duck breast, the duck tortellini, the salmon with squid ink, and a dish with scallops and popping bacon bits in it.

We all thought the salmon was lovely, a nice balance of the rich ink sauce and the tart roe. The scallop dish was also interesting and tasty, but the duck breast was a little bland. The duck and porcini tortellini dish was, unfortunately, forgotten by the kitchen, but made it out in the end. It lacked any noticeable flavour of duck or porcini, so we were a bit disappointed.

To make up for the forgotten dish, we were told we'd get dessert on the house, but then a single dessert (fondant) was brought out with 4 spoons! Too bad if we wanted to have more dessert! In the end we ordered another dessert which was quite tasty, as was the fondant.

Service was polite and attentive. Ice buckets would be a nice addition. Not much can be done about the elevator trip 3 floors down to the basement toilet, but it does detract slightly from the experience.

This is clearly an inventive and skillful kitchen, and an interesting place to dine. There is, perhaps, a bit of finetuning needed to ensure each dish hits the heights the kitchen is capable of.

Apr 12, 2012

7.5 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  7      Value  7     

We ate here for a special occassion on a busy saturday night, and thought it was a very solid, high quality but unspectacular meal.

The interior is very atmospheric and sophisticated, and the service was welcoming and professional. The food was served in good time.

The food was uniformly good, without hitting any amazing heights. We shared the sage/butter ravioli to start, it was lovely and rich and creamy. I then ate the beef steak while my wife had the leather jacket. We both thought the flavours on her plate were better, the white bean puree gave the dish a beautiful richness. The beef was good, not as tender as I'd hoped, but tasty. We then had both the semifreddo desserts, one nougat and honey with almond, and one chocolate and honeycomb. Both were beautiful and more-ish, they could perhaps increase the sizes marginally.

The only let down was the sommelier's wine recommendation. We asked for a recommendation under $100, and as hapens all too often he recommended a single wine for $115. We thought we'd give it a go, but found it too young and sharp (it was a 2009 Barbera). It's hard not to feel you've been directed to the first bottle over $100 he could think of when that happens.

Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable meal and I'd recommend the venue. Bill came to about $280 for 2, but nearly $160 of that was alcohol. Not the best meal I've ever had for that kind of money, but a good option.

Apr 02, 2012

6.3 Average

Food  7      Ambience  5      Service  6      Value  7     

Bloody good take-away yeeros, well sized, packed full of good quality lamb, very tasty. Always busy, so you know the meat is fresh. Not super cheap, but worth the money.

Feb 08, 2012

7 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  6      Value  8     

We tried out Lotus after reading good things, and had a good meal. The only let down was the inexperienced service and the long waits for food delivery.

We ordered 3 mains and 1 veggie dish, and got the Bo Luc Lac (beef and onion in soy based sauce) in under 5 minutes. It was tasty, the meat was very tender, but it wasn't a knockout.

We then had to wait for probably 30-40 minutes for the next dish of soft shell crab, which was solid, but a little too salty and lacking in flavour other than the basic sweet chilli sauce. We then got the chilli jam broccoli and the crispy skin duck. We had to wait as our requests for hot rice failed until a second attempt (it had gone cold in the 40 minutes since we received it).

I thought the duck was the highlight of the meal, the tamarind sauce perfectly sweet without overdoing it, with a good proportion of duck meat and crispy skin for the price. The chilli jam with the broccoli was also a highlight.

For desserts we shared the banana fritter (actually a deep fried whole banana), and the chocolate truffle. Servings were on the small side, but both were tasty, and only around $7 each so no complaints.

Aside from needing to speed up in the kitchen (they were never full yet there were lengthy waits), they could use some more experience on the floor. We had a dessert plate dropped on delivery, we had to get up and walk to the counter to ask for things on occasion, and some orders disappeared, but the service was always friendly and well meaning.

The room could definitely use some soft furnishings/hangings to cut the noise as some have suggested, it is all tiles and concrete at present. All up a good find, good quality fresh food and a solid take away option.

Jan 25, 2012

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful

7.3 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  5      Value  9     

We've only done take-away from here, but we love it. It is greek food like your mother would make it, if she was greek.

We've had the moussaka, the roast lamb, the beef casserole, and most of the veggie side dishes, and it is all good. The meat is super tender, the moussaka has a lovely sweet spice to it, and it cost $22 for enough food to feed 2-3 people.

The guys serving look like they don't want to be there, and won't give you a smile no matter how nice you are, but I'm there for the food not the company, so it's a minor hiccup.

Jan 23, 2012