Restaurant Reviews

Rigoni’s Bistro

- Alex Leave a comment

 

 

date of visit:  Friday 11 November 2011

Our last visit to Rigoni’s Bistro was over a year ago.  We returned on Friday night for a very quick pre-Christmas party dinner, just the two of us.  The restaurant doesn’t start dinner service until 6pm so that’s when we arrived. There were quite a few people outside the restaurant having drinks and, indoors, a handful of tables had couples (mostly) seated at them.

This was a rather business like meal, and I’d been fantasising about the linguini di tartufo bianco con aragosta ever since I’d read the online menu. Yes, that’s white truffle linguini with marron. That was all I was going to order – and god help them if they’d run out of it! Andy had to read the menu (well, that gave me time to drink my glass of Prosecco) and decided on the lavender salted chicken with prosciutto, sage and provolone on white polenta. While we waited for our food, there was plenty of opportunity to check out what people around us were eating, finish our drinks and eat the bread, served with olive oil and a type of pesto. This alone gives Rigoni’s a massive tick from me, because I have a bit of a horror of the ubiquitous olive oil with a puddle of balsamic vinegar floating in it.

Our food arrived and the portions were really generous. The pasta dish, in particular, was large and smelly – smelly in a good, truffly way.

Finger bowl to hand, I munched my way through my marrons and the pasta and turned down the opportunity to try some of Andy’s chicken (I’m informed it was good, I just wasn’t interested in stopping motoring through my plate of food!). The dish was lovely – truffly, buttery, crunchy white asparagus, with fresh dill through it adding an aniseedy kick to the seafood. The pasta looked like it was made in house – in places it had rather clumped together (disappointing, but I was enjoying the overall dish so much it was forgivable). I thought it was cooked perfectly but I realise for some people my “perfect” is “underdone”.

The only problem with our meal on Friday night was … the price. Of course, a huge plate of anything involving truffles and marron isn’t going to be cheap and my dish was $40. Andy’s chicken was $34. Add in a couple of drinks each and the bread and the bill hit over $100 which is a lot of money to spend on a quick meal before a night out. Thanks to the Entertainment Book, we actually paid $85, which, for just one course each, is still pretty expensive. In terms of the quality of the food, it’s definitely worth it. The service is also good – I booked at the last minute (and I’d recommend booking) and I was told while on the phone that they did have a table for us but it was rebooked for 7:30pm. Much better to know that type of thing up front than be surprised on the night. And all the staff who served us on Friday night were pleasant, competent and unintrusive.

So save up your trip to Rigoni’s – go when you are feeling a little flush, and take the time to have a proper meal there (that’s at least two courses). Delicious!

Rigoni's Bistro on Urbanspoon

Manee Siam

- Alex Leave a comment

Thailand: Bangkok

photo by puuikibeach

date of visit:  Tuesday 25 October 2011

Manee Siam happens to be more or less over the road from a friend’s house so it’s quite a surprise it’s taken us so long to get there. I have to admit that I’ve often wondered whether or not the restaurant is open – one of its street front signs looks unbelievably worn and tattered for an open business … It turns out it is very much open for business and after a bit of a false start (double booking by me – ouch!) we finally made it for a very early (6pm) dinner on a Tuesday night.

Even at this early time we weren’t the first people in the restaurant – another family had beaten us to it! We were quickly settled at our table with proper table linen and high chair and plastic cutlery and crockery thoughtfully provided for the baby.

With a baby in tow there’s not usually very much mucking around when it comes to perusing the menu and choosing food. With beers at hand, we settled on sharing some entrées before the mains. We started with spring rolls and fish cakes which, if we’re being brutally honest, were really nothing special at all. In fact, after the meal we all admitted that we were a little bit worried about the rest of the meal. The fish cakes in particular were the chewy, rubbery type that you can’t help thinking have gone straight from the freezer to the fryer and been just that bit over cooked.

But we all held our disappointment in check and our main courses soon arrived. I had chosen the hot chilli pork: a stir fry with green beans, capsicums, chilli paste and basil. At a ridiculously cheap $12.50 the portion size was perfect and there was plenty of heat from the chilli paste along with sweetness from the basil. The dish wasn’t overloaded with beans or capsicum as a filler and wasn’t drowning in sauce. I was very pleased.

Also at our table we had a beef massaman curry which passed its test with flying colours – especially on the beef tenderness front. And Andy had the seafood combination stir fry with basil which he cheerfully polished off. Both of these dishes came in at just $15 each.

Service was perhaps a little slow – it wasn’t an issue for us because we were dining so early on (although, by the time we left around 7:30pm, quite a few additional parties had arrived) but I can see how this could pose an issue at busier times. For me, the slowness of service was made up for by attentiveness and thoughtfulness: no restaurant yet has brought out dedicated baby friendly tableware and the staff were all friendly and helpful.

Of course, the icing on the cake was how ludicrously cheap and good our meal was. We spent $30 a head, which included a generous tip (so we could easily divide the bill by three!) and included the entrées, mains, rice, one dessert (ice cream and lychees – I don’t think you need a description of that!) and drinks. If you were trying to save money you could easily leave having spent less than $20 a head.

We don’t eat Thai very often but we’d be more than happy to return to Manee Siam and I suggest you try it out too!

Manee Siam Thai Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Robin Hood Hotel

- Alex Leave a comment

 

 

date of visit: Thursday 6 October 2011

As soon as I knew I was off to the Sapporo launch I started thinking about where we were going to eat our dinner. We would need something quick and light and close to the Robin Hood. After a little head scratching, it was decided that by far the easiest thing to do was to eat at the pub itself. Why I even had to think about that, I don’t know.

I met Andy in the bar but we headed to the dining room (sorry, bistro) to eat. The dining room is at the back of the pub and away from the bars, but looks into the beer garden through floor to ceiling windows so you get the pub atmosphere (and some natural light!) without the noise. We had a table at the window and set about reading the menu and making drinks decisions.

The original plan (“quick and light”) meant that initially we were focussed on things like the tapas and bar plates or on just ordering an entrée, but Andy had spotted sausages and mash on the specials board and I was torn between the entrée of lambs brain with mash, a crispy pepper rabbit salad and a main course of salt and pepper baby squid with lime aioli. As sausages and mash is definitely not light, I ended up opting for the squid.

This is correct: I was in a pub and I didn’t order a schnitzel. Which is not to say that the Robin Hood doesn’t offer them. A chicken or beef parmi will set you back $18.50. If the rest of the food is anything to go by then this is likely to represent pretty good value for money.

Andy’s sole criticism of his sausages and mash is that there wasn’t enough gravy. It looked like there was ample gravy to me so it may be that only gravy aficionados feel a little short changed. My plate of food was generous. The squid was tender and it was only once I headed towards the end of the plate that things started to feel a little greasy: the squid had obviously been cooked in hot, clean oil. I did think that both the ‘salt and pepper’ part of the squid and the aioli could have done with a slightly more intense flavour. Salt and pepper squid (or anything) I think is always better when done with szechuan pepper – it makes it more spicy and aromatic. The aioli definitely needed a hefty shot of lime in it. Overall it was a competent dish but could have been a more exciting and it was really let down by pretty average chips that were positively drowining in chicken salt. Next time I’m at the Robin Hood I’ll be ordering something else.

That all probably sounds more negative than it should. This was a better than average pub meal but it was a shame that just a few simple tweaks could have made it better than average full stop.

The Robin Hood is to be commended on a generous wine list with a very wide range of wines offered by the glass (although, with such a big by the glass list I hope they are taking care to store the opened wines properly). Service was also very good. It was prompt and friendly and the waiting staff obviously work with a degree of flexibility. I noticed our waiter dealing with a very large group adjacent to us and, at the start of their meal, they worked out exactly how the billing would work. It was good to see a practical approach to this rather than a blind adherence to venue policy.

Overall, the Robin Hood gets a big tick – definitely an above average pub dining experience.

Robin Hood Hotel on Urbanspoon

Robin Hood Hotel
315 Portrush Rd
Norwood SA 5067
+61 8 8333 0088