pub

Flagstaff Hotel

- Alex Leave a comment

date of visit: Sunday 29 April 2012

It’s been quite a while since I’ve written up a pub meal (the most recent I think is the Victory at Sellicks) and I think it might even have been that long since I’ve eaten in a pub.

Anyway, I’m going to rectify that with two pubs in quick succession. We took the baby for an early Sunday dinner at the Flagstaff Hotel. That’s right – the big, can’t possibly miss 1950s building at the Darlington end of South Road. I guess you could call the Flaggy one of our locals (although certainly not within walking distance).

We’ve only eaten there once before (it was a quick lunch back in 2009) so we thought it was time to give it another try. That, and the fact we had an Entertainment Book voucher!

The dining room at the Flaggy is massive and, depending on where you sit, you can get some impressive views. The website suggests booking – I scoffed at this. We’re going at 5:30pm on a Sunday night! Well, quite – 5:30pm on a Sunday it may have been but there were several large tables booked and by the time we left the place was heaving.

We had a window seat (overlooking the carpark and Flagstaff Road – maybe not the most exciting view ever!) and a spotlessly clean high chair for the baby. One thing to note is that the high chair didn’t have any straps so wouldn’t have been suitable for a very small or very young baby.

The menu is, of course, pub staples but the Flagstaff’s distinguishing feature is its massive salad bar which is included in all main course orders. Salad bar isn’t quite the right term for it – it’s more like a giant fruit and vegetable buffet! You help yourself to bread (loaves of all different types in the bread basket) and there are an array of sauces, hot vegetables and fruit as well as the salads. If you wanted to make an utter pig of yourself, you could.

Food wise both Andy and I went with the seafood basket – reasonably pricey for a pub meal at $26.50. This was a selection of prawns, salt and pepper squid and barramundi (no note of provenance – hopefully it was Australian …), served with chips and salad.

I am not so naive to imagine that this did not come straight to the table via freezer and fryer. Even so, given the price, I will note that the (battered) prawns were tough and utterly tasteless – think fried, slightly salty eraser and I reckon you’re on the money. The barramundi came as two fillets – two very thin fillets so that the fish was completely swamped by the batter. I only ate one of mine and fed the rest to Andy and the baby (minus the batter, in the baby’s case, obviously). The highlight of the plate was definitely the squid which was tender, pretty tasty and not at all greasy.

Andy, who is something of an expert in seafood baskets, rated this one as better cooked than that at the nearby Victoria Hotel, but said that the Vic’s is bigger and overall better.

The chips and salad were pub stand chips and salad.

As the wine list was pedestrian I opted for a beer with my dinner.

All up I’d rate the Flaggy as perfectly adequate for a pub meal, but on the expensive side. For $26.50 you can go to a lot of more upmarket restaurants and be fed something that takes a lot more effort (Andy’s pork belly at Press was the same price). On the upside, the dining area is massive, there is a small play area and the hotel is clearly set up to cater for large groups.

However, for a quick family meal, my vote goes to the Victoria Hotel, further up South Road.

Flagstaff Hotel on Urbanspoon

Hyde Park Tavern

- Alex Leave a comment

 

 

date of visit:  Tuesdsay 17 January 2012

I’m one of these people who spends far too long thinking about where to eat which makes a simple lunch date a three hour exercise in research. After quite a bit of agonising I decided I was being ridiculous and I should just choose the venue closest to my lunch partner’s house.

Easy – that’s the Hyde Park. I may have been here once before – waaaaaay back when I was at uni. It might have just been for drinks as I certainly don’t remember anything about a meal.

As with almost all pubs now, the Hyde Park has a refurbished Bistro which, when I arrived at 1pm on a Tuesday, had a few tables full, mostly with older patrons. This was lucky as I hadn’t booked. I know – so out of character for me! I was greeted and given a choice of tables and the requested high chair was promptly delivered. This was typical of all our interaction with staff – cheerful, friendly, efficient and actually thinking about their job. It’s so lovely when you arrive at a venue with a small child and the staff put some effort into thinking about where you might be most comfortable sitting.

Naturally, I’d spent some time at home reading the menu and thinking about what I might have. I wasn’t feeling super hungry so I knew my standard schnitzel was out of the question. I eventually decided on the tandoori chicken with cucumber and mint salsa, raita and flat bread. Maybe the baby would like to try some tandoori chicken …

When the chicken arrived, it was served as a kind of open wrap. The flat bread covered the plate and the chicken, salsa and raita were spread across it. I suspect that description sounds a little unappetising but the combination of the red chicken (a rusty red, not an alarming cochineal red), the green of the vegetables and the white of the yoghurt looked really good.

It also tasted good – the chicken was tender and not at all dry, and the greenery and yoghurt provided a sharp counterpoint to the richness of the tandoori paste. It wasn’t hot at all – so those who shun chillis should enjoy it and I found the portion size pretty much perfect. A good lunch but not one that will put you to sleep for the rest of the day.

My friend ordered salt and pepper squid which looked fairly standard. I didn’t try any (I was too busy trying to make sure I ate some of my chicken before my 13 month old demolished it for me) but there were no complaints from the other side of the table.

We wrapped up our meal with coffees and the bottom line was that we spent just under $50 on our lunch. I think that’s not bad at all. Most of the main courses are under $20 so you can definitely keep the cost of your lunch down.

I’d definitely head back – the food certainly cuts it amongst Adelaide’s pub grub and the staff when I was there were a real asset to the business.

Hyde Park Tavern on Urbanspoon

The Stirling Hotel

- Alex Leave a comment

Stirling Hotel

date of visit: Wednesday 14 December 2011

Time off work as a family is a bit novel in our house but we have visitors from overseas so we’re trying to maximise our opportunities to do stuff. And of course, a fair bit of that ‘stuff’ involves eating. With my initial first choice of lunch venue kyboshed (not that I’m bitter) we headed up to Stirling to check out the Stirling Hotel.

Stirling is pretty small and you can’t really miss the pub – it’s on the main drag (technicall Mt Barker Road). It’s a semi rural setting and it’s a lovely old building so it’s all quite picturesque. One thing I think that spoils it is the decision to have some car parking in front of the outdoor eating area. It would be more pleasant to have that as garden, screening the area from the main road. However, people do drive and do need places to park – and no one forces you to sit outside.

Inside the Bistor it’s all very modern – white and neutral tones, clean lines. The menu is definitely a cut above the pub standard. Yes, it does feature schnitzels (well, goodness me, it wouldn’t be a pub if it didn’t!) but you can eat much more interesting food here than at many other places.

We decided to start by sharing wild mushroom arancini and the duck spring rolls. These are both from the “Shared” part of the mneu which is available all day. The arancini were excellent – mushroomy, not greasy and the rice was properly cooked. The duck spring rolls had a delicious filling but I felt were spoiled a little by having quite a thick (and hence a little doughy) wrapper. Andy disagreed with me and he felt that they were obviously made in house. To be fair, I did only have a tiny taste of the spring roll so we should probably take his word for it.

For main course I had salt and pepper squid which was very good. I particularly liked kipfler potato wedges (far superior to the pub’s standard chip which appeared with the schnitzel) and the garlic aioli was delicious. The squid was tender, not greasy and was tastier than the usual pub standard (and let’s face it, most pubs get their salt and pepper squid straight from the freezer, direct from a food processor – it’s ALWAYS the same).

Andy had the beef schnitzel with gravy which passed his schnitzel test. Also at our table we tried the chicken breast with brie and smoked ham and the char grilled pork cutlet with parsnip mash, broccolini and spiced rhubarb chutney.  These were polished off so they must have passed muster.

As it was lunch and I was driving, I stuck to water and everyone else just had drinks from the bar but we wrapped up with coffees. The only hiccup of our meal was that one coffee cup arrived with lipstick residue still in situ. Now I appreciate that lipstick is a proper pain to clean off glassware and crockery but I’d kind of expect whoever made the coffee to notice. I sent the coffee back and it was collected with appropriate apologies, a fresh coffee was made and the cost of the coffee was refunded. You know what? Sometimes I really like it when something goes a little wrong with a meal because when a complaint is handled well, like this, everyone ends up feeling warm and fuzzy.

Overall I was really impressed with everything about our lunch at the Stirling and I’d definitely go back. The pub also has a restaurant (The Grill) for a more formal dining experience and now I’d like to give that a go too!

Bistro, Stirling Hotel on Urbanspoon