adelaide

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.

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.

The Victoria Hotel

- Alex 1 Comment

photo(2)

date of visit: Sunday 28 August 2011

Writing a review of a pub can be tricky. If the pub fashions itself as trendy or cutting edge, with a more interesting than average menu then the review is relatively easy – either things have worked or they haven’t. But sometimes, a pub is … just a pub.

The Victoria Hotel, at O’Halloran Hill, is one of those pubs. It’s part of the Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group – a behemoth owning 286 licensed venues across Australia. And this means, as you’d expect, that the menu is standard pub fare, at standard pub prices. As with so many pubs, you do need to have the right attitude as you walk in the door.

We visited on a Sunday evening, small child in tow. The Vic sits on Main South Road almost directly atop O’Halloran Hill. The dining room makes the most of this, its huge windows looking out across Sturt Gorge towards the foothills. The dining area is also massive: it’s divided into two sections and there’s plenty of space around the tables.

Early on a Sunday evening things in the bistro were quiet. We were able to settle ourselves and the baby in without any hassle (spotlessly clean high chair provided by the pub’s friendly staff). Having been to the Vic once before we didn’t need to spend too much time looking at the menu. As well as the usual pub staples, the Vic also offers wood oven pizzas. As you might have guessed, I ordered a chicken parmi and Andy ordered the Ocean Catch which he’d also ordered on our previous visit. The catch is a collection of seafood goodies – a beer battered fillet of fish, crumbed prawns and salt and pepper squid.

In both our cases, I’m sure our dinners went from freezer to deep fat fryer and to the table. But that’s almost exactly what I’d expect. Service was super fast which is what I want when having a pub schnittie.

And both our dinners were completely adequate. Personally, I’d prefer that the salad dressing be served on the side (so I could avoid it) and I do think that the pub could do a LOT better with its bread rolls (sad, tiny, anaemic, doughy in a bad way), but in terms of meeting expectations the Victoria hit the nail on the head.  The schnitzel had a crunchy crumbed exterior without being burnt and the meat was moist.  The topping was the usual ham, tomato based sauce and cheese.  Absolutely nothing to complain about.

A chicken parmi will set you back $17.90 (plain $15.90, with choice of the usual sauces) which is more or less standard. However, Tuesday night is schnitzel night and then a plain schnitzel is only $10.90.

If you want a pub meal with better than average views then you can do a lot worse than the Vic.