Restaurant Reviews

Morphett Arms Hotel

- Alex 4 Comments

 

 

date of visit:  Thursday 29 September 2011

Sorry – no picture of my schnitzel this time – I am self-conscious taking photos when out with friends!

A quick mid-week visit to a pub with a couple of friends.  I don’t know what made me do it, but I actually rang up and booked a table at the Morphett Arms.  I thought I was a bit silly, booking a table for 6pm on a Thursday night – after all, the pub dining room (sorry, it’s always a bistro these days!) will be empty.

It turns out it was extremely lucky that I booked a table, because even at that early hour the pub was busy.  And I don’t mean ticking over nicely, I mean really busy.  I suspect had we not had a reservation we might not have been eating.

The pub is reasonably basic – the dining room is dominated at one end by the salad bar, and everything is done out in various shades of neutral.  The clientele seems to fall into two distinct groups:  those who are somewhat older and family groups with children.  One of my friends commented we were far too young to be there – but we did have the baby in tow, so we sort of fitted in.

Not knowing how things worked, the first mistake we made was one of our party wandering off to find the bar and buy drinks.  At the Morphett Arms, drinks are table service, but when it comes to ordering food you have to order at the counter.  What most patrons do (that would be those familiar with the system) is arrive, order their food immediately and then sit down and have their drinks order taken. We were flapping around like complete novices – not sure where to get menus, not sure how to order our food, and having to turn away waiting staff who wanted to take a drinks order …

Menus in hand we were next completely flummoxed by the array of schnitzel toppings on offer. I know I only ever order a parmi, but Galaxiian? Princess? No explanation at all on the very basic printed, but laminated, menu. When we did go up to order, all was made clear: all the necessary details and the specials are all at the counter.

So we ended with beef schnitzels with gravy and the Galaxiian topping (a combination of onions and capsicums), and chicken schnitzels with Hawaiian and American toppings. Yes – I departed from the standard parmigiana because, at the Morphett Arms, a parmi is tomato sauce and cheese, but American adds the ham.

The food arrived promptly and the beef schnitzels were huge. The plates were decorated with a very token lettuce leaf – but all main courses do include the salad bar. By the time we’d all ploughed our way through schnitzels and chips there was no space for salad – but there was a generous selection of the pub standards: rice salad, pasta salad, green salad, beetroot, and so on.

The schnitzels themselves were good but I did think that the topping (on mine, at least) could have been a little more generous and extended the entire length and breadth of the schnitzel. The chips were pretty disappointing (even by the low standard I set for pub chips).

However, the real sting in the tail is that the schnitties at the Morphett Arms don’t fall into the cheap category – by the time you add your sauce you are looking at over $20 (most sauces are $2.50) which I think is too much for what is really a stock standard meal. While the Morphett Arms doesn’t appear to have a cheap schnitzel night, the pub does take the Entertainment Card (there’s a voucher in this year’s book for 25% off your entire bill, including drinks) and it also looks like it runs the occasional shop-a-docket promotion but if you’re paying full tote odds, I think it’s too expensive.

Service wise – things were definitely above average. Despite the busy dining room there were plenty of staff on and we had no problems sorting out drinks (once we’d worked out what we were doing!), organising a high chair or having any other needs attended to.

While this is definitely a venue I’d consider if I needed somewhere family friendly for a group, it won’t be my first stop for a schnitzel.

Belair Bhavan Tandoori Restaurant

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NOW CALLED MUMBAI INDIAN RESTAURANT BUT RUN BY THE SAME PEOPLE

date of visit: Sunday 18 Sept 2011

We’re always on the look out for a decent, and reasonably local, curry restaurant. There are places we like in the city centre, but that’s no good if you want to nip out for an early, and swift, dinner. I actually became aware of the Belair Bhavan’s existence when the restaurant followed me on twitter. Not only that, but the restaurant is in the Entertainment Book so there was really no excuse for not visiting.

The Belair Bhavan lives opposite the BP, as Main Road turns into Belair Road. It’s a slightly odd location, but being part of the Belair Vines shopping centre means there’s no shortage of parking. As we were visiting early on a Sunday evening, we didn’t bother with a booking. Funnily enough, at 6pm on a Sunday, there was no problem getting a table but quite a few tables were reserved (including a large one) and even after our swift meal, the restaurant was definitely getting busier. What was also great to see was how well customers who were obviously regulars were looked after.

With baby and pram in tow, we were seated at a window table, with plenty of space around us, and a highchair was set up. All of that palaver over, we could get down to the serious business of inspecting the menu.

As its name suggests, the restaurant does indeed have a tandoor which you can see as you enter and naturally the menu features plenty of tandoor cooked goodies. We skipped starters and headed straight for main courses. I couldn’t go past the achari lamb (a curry cooked with pickle – hot lime pickle is one of my favourite things, so put it in a curry and I will almost always order it) and Andy chose the Kashmiri Elaichi lamb. As accompaniments we had rice and a naan bread.

Now this is a pretty lean order on which to base an assessment of a restaurant – but we were really happy with everything on the table. (The baby was slightly suspicious of the naan bread though!). The consensus was that I had won with my achari lamb but Andy only conceded that grudgingly. The achari lamb was spicy, hot with lime pickle through it – especially perfect as I had a slight cold. The Kashmiri lamb was a lot more subtle and the yoghurt made it a creamy, rich dish with a cardamom hit. The naan bread was crispy and buttery (or should that be ghee-y?) and was polished off, as was the rice. It makes such a pleasant change to go for a curry and actually manage to finish everything, instead of the usual over ordering.

Décor wise, the Bhavan is understated – its tables and chairs are quite basic and there’s nothing flashy about the interior. Andy and I both decided that it was very much like an English curry house – and that is a good thing. The emphasis seems to be on friendly service and good curries – what more can you ask for from your local curry house? We will definitely be back.

You can follow Belair Bhavan on twitter.

Belair Bhavan Tandoori Indian Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Barendoe

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date of visit:  Sunday 4 Sept 2011

To be perfectly honest, I forgot that it was Fathers Day* so I thought nipping for an early dinner in town (and when I say early, I mean 6pm-ish) wouldn’t be  a problem.  By the time I remembered the occasion, we were already committed and it turned out I needn’t have worried.

When we arrived at Bareñdoe we actually thought it was shut. The restaurant has two rooms that face Hutt Street and the first was full of stacked tables and chairs and in darkness. Someone sitting out the front having a coffee pointed us towards the right door.

The restaurant has quite a plush feel to it: carpets, leather (or at least leather like – I didn’t spend that much time inspecting) chairs, and proper cloth napkins. The décor is very contemporary.

When we arrived, there was just one other table (of four) seated. Usually if we are out with the pram and baby I ring venues ahead, to make sure they can (and are happy to) accommodate us but on this occasion I hadn’t. We were able to snuggle ourselves into a corner near the bar without too much hassle but it was cosy. Still, Bareñdoe isn’t really the type of restaurant you’d drag a small child to on a Friday night and there were definitely plus points as the staff were happy to shift tables and chairs around so we could squeeze in the pram.

As we were there for a quick dinner, we only tried out the main courses. Andy ordered the Italiano calzone (declared by one friend to be the “best calzone ever”) and I chose the linguine marinara. Both were very nice – Andy was not sure that, while very tasty, the calzone could be described as the best ever. My linguine ticked a lot of boxes – the pasta was al dente, the seasoning was good, the amount of chilli was just right. However, one of my clams had remained resolutely shut and should never have made it out of the kitchen. Also, the menu describes the dish as calamari, scallops, prawns and clams but on my plate mussels substituted for the scallops. While this doesn’t make any difference to me, it’s the type of thing that customers should be told about when ordering. I imagine plenty of people like scallops but not mussels and maybe some people are even allergic to one but not the other (I know shellfish can be a bit funny like that).

Service wise things were OK. There were no blatant faux pas, and there was nothing particularly stellar about our experience. Bareñdoe does indulge in one of my pet hates – the comedy oversized pepper mill being brought to the table and we did have to wait a little while when it came to sorting out the bill (given that by that point there were a whole two other tables occupied no one can blame an unexpected rush for front of house staff).

Overall, we both felt that, while we had enjoyed our food, it was just a trifle expensive ($22 for the calzone, $27 for the pasta). It was as though everything was trying just a little too hard to be something it wasn’t. While it’s very pleasant to eat in a restaurant with carpet and soft furnishings (and much reduced clatter, as a result) this alone doesn’t push it out to a fine dining experience. And I’m not convinced that that’s where Bareñdoe should be aiming.

While I’d be happy to eat at Bareñdoe again, I don’t think we’ll be rushing back. But you should probably make up your own mind on the calzone!

Barendoe on Urbanspoon

*No discussion on the lack of apostrophe, please.  If you take the approach that it’s a day for fathers then there’s no implied possession and no need for an apostrophe.