Miss Marple's Tearoom

With just a week to spend in the Melbourne Autumn, I had to get out of the city and into the Dandenong Ranges. After an ambitious climb up the (I say ambitious because it's been at least 5 years since I last went up them), we made the short trip over to Sassafras for a return visit to Miss Marple's Tearoom.

As before, it struck me how quaint the tearoom is, how busy it is (we were lucky to snag a table for two straight away even though we only arrived 30 minutes after opening), and how eye-watering the prices were. But you go in knowing what to expect, which is all of the above.

To start things off, we had a pot of the Yorkshire Gold tea.

Yorkshire Gold Tea

I'm not entirely sure that I would call this the "best cup of tea in England", but it certainly was pretty good. With the requisite milk of course. 

From there, we moved onto a few dishes to share.

Soup of the Day (Cream of Broccoli) & Pimlico Pastie

First up, the soup of the day. On the day of our visit, it was a Cream of Broccoli rendition, that was silky, rich, and was obviously made with extremely fresh produce. Indulgent while feeling healthy at the same time, this was accompanied by slightly salty, freshly baked bread. 

We also ordered the Pimlico Pastie. The accompanying salad was nothing to get excited about, but the large-sized pastie itself had a wonderfully buttery pastry and filled with a soothing variety of vegetables (including onion, celery, and potato if my memory serves me). At $17, it's pretty expensively priced, but you pay for the venue and atmosphere as much the food itself. 

To finish, of course we had the Devonshire Scones.

Devonshire Scones with Raspberry Jam & Cream

Far from traditional, these rectangular, mostly-crustless scones were light, but incredibly filling. After trying both cream first (Devonshire) and jam first (Cornwall) methods, we decided the best construction came from the jam first method - sorry Devonshire. 

Miss Marple's Tearoom is decidedly a tourist destination, and one you would be advised to try and visit shortly after opening to have the best chance of getting seated without a wait. The food servings are generous, but pricey. And while you don't have to, I recommend getting the Devonshire Scones (their star menu item after all).

Which has left me a craving for these scones all the way over the ocean in the USA. Time to track down a recipe...

Miss Marple's Tearoom


Mon - Fri 11:00am - 4:00pm, Sat - Sun 11:00am - 4:30pm

Bowery to Williamsburg

So it's been roughly a lifetime since I last posted, but the itch to blog about some of the food I consumed last time I was in Melbourne has caught up with me. Most of the pictures from my dining adventures turned out fairly blurry, so this might be a limited series.

First up though, a post on an American-inspired cafe in the CBD: Bowery to Williamsburg.

As a side note, living in America, I find the new wave of American-inspired restaurants in Melbourne amusing although somewhat strange (because I haven't found American food on the whole to be all that appealing). Regardless, I came for the company and the coffee and wasn't disappointed.

Long Black

Serving Padre coffee, there's definitely something to be admired about the silky smoothness of Melbourne coffee. My taste-buds may have been burnt by my time overseas, but this was a wonderful cup of coffee, with the sweet taste of being home. 

I was unfortunately less enamored with the food. I ordered the Lox & Potato Latkes consisting of mezcal & cucumber cured lox salmon, zucchini and potato latkes, horseradish, picked fennel, asparagus and poached eggs.

Lox & Potato Latkes

While the eggs were perfectly poached, and the salmon tender, I was sad to find the potatoes weren't crispy, and overall that the dish rather lacking in flavour. Which is surprising given the ingredients should have combined wonderfully.

My dining companions ordered the vegetarian version of the Shakshouka baked eggs:

Shakshouka Baked Eggs with Zatar Pita

The vegetarian version included sweet potato, silverbeet, feta and pinenuts. I didn't taste it, but the dish got both their stamp of approval, and their kiddo's (who ate most of the eggs). Their better informed view of the food in general is that "their burgers really are the star, but their brunch options are varied and fun". 

Being a bit behind on the Melbourne food scene these days, I feel like Bowery to Williamsburg is a pretty standard foodie cafe: good coffee, interesting (although not necessarily the tastiest in Melbourne) dishes, efficient service, and a bustling atmosphere with a line pretty much any time of day.

Bowery to Williamsburg

Mon-Sat 730am-3pm, Sun 830am-3pm

Box Hill Tour & Cooking Demo (Sneak Peek)

There are times where I really wish I'm back in Melbourne more frequently. These waves of home-sickness happen more often when I'm craving Melbourne's take on Asian cuisine - the US just doesn't do things the same way.

Box Hill really is a concentration of all things Chinese and Malaysian, from markets that are a source of Asian produce that's hard-to-find elsewhere, and restaurants that are frequently visited at all times of the day or night. I do have a soft-spot for their Mid-Autumn Festival, having performed there a few times myself - check it out if you get the chance. 

Box Hill Markets Bounty

Don't those vegetables look delicious? Dan will have the full scoop on a recent market tour and cooking demonstration with James Tan and Spencer Wong hosted by Box Hill Central so keep an eye out for that in the next week!

Box Hill Central

Top Paddock

One critical item on any itinerary when in Melbourne is to enjoy brunch with some friends. Indeed, what better way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon than catching up with friends over a Melbourne coffee and good food.

Top Paddock was a central location and given we were after a late lunch, seemed a good option to for delicious grub and (hopefully) not to long of a wait. Getting there at 2pm meant we snagged a table without effort as their rush hours seem to coincide with more traditional brunch times.

First order of the day was to get some caffeine into me (long black, no sugar) - living in the US, you really appreciate how wonderful Melbourne coffee is. Don't you lucky Melbourne residents take this for granted, ok?

The coffee is Five Senses, and much of the produce is locally sourced (from paddock to table, get it?). The menu itself is typical brunch fare;  almost all the dishes featured some kind of egg but there were still enough variety, and an interesting Spanish spin, that deciding what to eat was still a difficult choice.

I ended up with this:

Roasted kipfler potato & leek omelette with padron peppers & taleggio on toast

Not particularly pretty but very patriotic with the green and gold. Since my last trip to Spain, I've had a craving for padron peppers. This didn't really satisfy the cravings given they were really for the roasted peppers, smothered in salt, with the occasional hot one to spice things up. 

I digress however, and this omelette was rich and filling, and the flavours worked together quite well, although I wish I had added a sprinkle of salt over the top. Really, that was my fault given I had ordered it without the taleggio (and got teasingly reprimanded by the waiter for that). I can appreciate how the addition of the cheese would have completed the dish. 

My dining companion were happy with there orders too, and in the process, taught me quite a lot about all the different types of cheese on offer.

Grilled broccolini & sugar snaps with avocado, toasted almonds, poached eggs & heidi racelette on toast

White anchovies & Jamon serrano with fried eggs, padron peppers & manchego on toast

Eggs benedict: poached eggs with hamhock & béarnaise on toast

Did I mention that I really, really miss Melbourne brunches?

Overall, it's understandable why Top Paddock is so popular. The coffee is great, the produce is fresh and mostly local, the dishes are interesting and the waitstaff are friendly and efficient. The space is airy and on a beautiful day, the patio is wonderful to relax on. What's not to love about Top Paddock,  except for the almost guaranteed wait for a table that is. 

Top Paddock

Mon-Fri 7am-4pm, Sat-Sun 8am-4pm

Supernormal

There are places that open up in Melbourne you hear the buzz about even while overseas. Supernormal is one of the those places, popping up in newspapers, Broadsheet, blogs and a million-and-one Instagram posts.

When a friend suggested we catch up there for lunch, I was keen to see what all the fuss was about and so quickly agreed. Even with a fairly pared down menu of Asian inspired foods which only bear some resemblance to the dishes that inspired them, and all with a fairly steep price-tag, it was difficult to decide what to order because everything sounded interesting and a ‘must-try’ once you got over the cost shock.

In the end, we decided to forgo the seafood-heavy raw bar section, and the meat and fish section and settled on a variety of dumplings, bao and plate/vegetable dishes.

The dumplings we ordered were, well, not my traditional idea of dumplings.

Prawn & chicken dumplings, chilli & vinegar sauce

But of course I’m just being pedantic, they’re wontons with their thin egg shells and the way they are wrapped, but ‘dumplings’ after all is a fairly generic term so I’ll let this one slide (mostly). The wrappers were delightfully thin, the meat was balanced and packed the little pockets well, and the chilli and vinegar sauce cut through the rich texture for a morish dish. Pity there were so few dumplings for quite a bit of cash, but there are times were you settle for quality over quantity.

The bao that we ordered were once again not my traditional definition of bao (where the meat is completely enclosed in a dough filling) but instead the Melbourne style of bao à la Wonderbao.

Pork bao, tamarind sauce

I was also surprised at the form the pork took – I was expecting a chunk of fairly unprocessed meat and was instead greeted by a heavily breaded and internally shredded meat cube. Strange, but delicious nevertheless. The dough was slightly sweet, and fairly light and springy and the tamarind added a distinctly Asian but definitely non-expected flair to the dish.

Whereas we unanimously decided that the dumplings and bao were tasty, the next dish divided our group. Some of us liked it, some of us were just plain confused by it.

White cut chicken, cold noodles, black sesame and cucumber

The chicken I get, the cold noodles I get, the cucumber I get (standard ingredients) but the black sesame sauce just threw me. Slightly floury, slightly tasteless, I just didn’t understand the appeal. Why couldn’t a simple broth do? But hey, that’s why I’m not a chef – I just don’t understand the art of experimentation like they do. This dish works for some, but definitely not for others. 

Thankfully the last two dishes were rich, delicious, and kept my tastebuds very happy.

Sauteed mushrooms, rice cake & sweet soy

We’ve once again got the Asian influences of rice and soy but this dish was purely just a wonderful highlight of mushrooms. Meaty mushrooms, with different varieties lending different flavours and textures, offset by the crunch of the rice cake. Probably my favourite dish of the meal.

Silken tofu, marinated eggplant & coriander

The silken tofu dish came a close second, but likely only because of my affection for eggplant. The eggplant was silky, as was the tofu (which you may have gotten from the name) and were good foils for each other in terms of heavy and light flavours being balanced with the coriander was adding a refreshing highlight.

The whole experience is enjoyable if you just go with the fact that the dishes are very different to typical Asian food. Having never been to another Andrew McConnell restaurant, I don’t know if this is just what his style is like. Trying something new is always fun and worth a shot. The price tag is something you’d better be prepared for because that certainly doesn’t resemble the price tags you may be accustomed to seeing in most Asian restaurants. 

Supernormal

Sun-Thu 11am-11pm, Fri-Sat 11am-12am

Mamak

After all this time, I've only just got around to eating at Mamak. I remember the hype surrounding the restaurant when it first opened, and the corresponding lines, and I shudder just thinking about it. The experience was much more pleasant now that it's no longer the darling of the Melbourne dining scene (especially with the massive expansion of Pappa Rich everywhere).

I arrived there for an early 6pm dinner with a friend and were promptly seated. The restaurant was relatively empty and fairly spacious, although the tables were smaller than I was entirely comfortable with (I need space to make a mess after all!) but not a-typical of an inner city restaurant. The menu is very Malaysian and very manageable - just what I wanted.

On to the food. I couldn't dine at a Malaysian restaurant and not order some Roti.

Roti Canai

The Roti was perfectly flaky and I had great fun feeling the layers off the roti ball. The curries were pretty uninteresting being both thin in texture and flavour, but luckily I'd ordered some additional curry in anticipation.

Kari Kambing

The lamb curry was rich and tender, with the faintest hint of spice (rather than what I'd call 'spicy'). I miss Australian lamb (the lamb in the USA isn't as flavoursome, tender or as abundant) and was incredibly happy with my order. In hindsight, I should have ordered more roti to soak up the juices.

Rojak

My friend ordered the Rojak, a Malaysian-style salad with prawn and coconut fritters, fried tofu, hard-boiled eggs, yambean (jicama) and cucumbers and the requisite peanut sauce. I've never been particularly fond of Malaysian-style salads, but my friend demolished it in record time, which suggests that they liked it a lot.

The food was delicious (especially the roti), prices were reasonable and the service was fast. The nly blip was the confusion of whether iced black coffee should or shouldn't contain milk (some things just get lost in translation). I can understand the attention Mamak garnered when it opened was mostly worth it, but I think the lack of lines certainly makes for a more enjoyable dining experience.

Mamak

Sun-Thu 1130am-230pm, 530-10pm

Fri-Sat 1130am-230pm, 530pm-12am

Krimper Cafe

You know when I said the my last post was final entry in my Melbourne series? Well, I lied. Not deliberately of course, but there was one more review hiding in my drafts.

It's a cliche, but one of things I miss most about Melbourne is the coffee culture. The little laneways, the hidden cafes, the great waft of fresh coffee as you walk through a heavy wooden door into a warehouse-like space. Sound familiar? This description could apply to every second cafe in Melbourne but that doesn't stop it from being impressive/comforting never the less.

Krimper Cafe

The menu is of course very different now to when I dined there with some wonderful friends, but at least one things stays the same: the coffee.

Espresso

A delicious roast by Proud Mary. You just don't get that type of coffee here in the States!

The lunch options on the day we dined there were varied and could easily be classified as modern-comfort food. Taking a quick look at the current menu, at least that theme hasn't changed with hearty sandwiches, a duck-meat shephard's pie, green risotto and winter salad on offer.

We dined on a glorious rendition of salmon and eggs:

Salmon & Eggs

Crispy skinned salmon that was lightly seasoned, fresh greens, sweet grilled cherry tomatoes, a slice of potato (because you always need some sort of 'hash brown'), pickled onions and of course, a crumbed egg.

Yolk, Glorious Yolk

Not quite as perfect as a Scotch Egg (because meat mince makes it inevitably better) but delicious anyway. Look at the runny yolk and try to not be seduced by it. Well, younger me would have hated it but I was much picker in my teenage years after all. 

Also ordered was a board special (so you'll have to excuse my memory) featuring duck. 

Duck Dish

You can see that it's slightly pink, and I did find that the meat was slightly on the tough side, but where else can you get a generous serving of duck for <$25? Well, I could never go past half a roast duck from Chinatown but this is a little bit classier and had a much more refined taste. The salad was a refreshing counterpoint to the oiliness of the meat as well. 

Krimper is one of those cafes I could see being a regular haunt if I worked in the Melbourne CBD. With an interesting variety of dishes, friendly staff,  funky atmosphere and most importantly, great coffee, it's got a lot going for it. The location is a little hard to track down, but once you've found it, it's definitely worth a return trip. 

Krimper Cafe

Mon-Fri 7am-5pm, Sat-Sun 8am-4pm

The Trust

So much time has passed since I was last in Melbourne that I'm now thinking about when I should head back next for a visit. Which just goes to show how overdue this post is.

Selecting a location for a dinner with colleagues is always a challenge; the restaurant has to be close enough to the office, the space has to accommodate at least 10 people, food should be reasonably priced, there must be enough vegetarian choices available, there should be a decent wine list, and the menu should appear tasty enough to some of the fusspots in our group (ahem, me).

After a bit of searching, we decided on The Trust which appeared to at least satisfy all these requirements. 

The Trust

Walking into the big front restaurant, there was certainly enough space to seat all of us. Apart from a few other patrons enjoying after-work drinks, we were the only diners. Which suited us just fine. 

The menu has an Italian spin to it and is quite extensive covering antipasto selections, pastas, and fish, lamb, chicken and vegetarian mains.

To kick things off, we ordered a few items from the antipasto bar.

Salumi Misti

It's hard to go wrong with thinly sliced, well cured meats. I can't remember the exact cost, but the menu says it's $20, which in hindsight was way to expensive for this, no matter how good it was. 

For the benefit of the vegetarians, we ordered some chickpea chips.

Chickpea Chips

These were nicely crunchy on the outside, and by contrast, soft on the inside. I found them to be a little bland and the sauce only helped to add a little flavour. Much better were the gooey aracini balls. 

Aracini

Another vegetarian dish, these were stuffed full of cheese. Not a healthy choice by any stretch, but comfort food in small serves is always in fashion.

A beautiful demonstration in simplicity came in the form of a calamari entree.

Calamari Grigliati

With chilli, lemon, olives and parsley, in my mind this is a quintessential Mediterranean dish. I certainly can't vouch for the authenticity of this, but it was my favourite starter full of flavours and fresh-tasting seafood. 

We ended up getting almost all the mains available between us, however I only have shots that turned out well thanks to my colleague's camera (my iPhone failed to take decent photos in these lighting conditions). 

From memory, Agnello all Brace of 10 hour slow cooked lamb, chickpeas and mixed grains was rich and thick, with a generous portion of meat accompanied by a salty broth.  

I'd ordered the fish of the day, accompanied by roasted baby beetroot and potatoes, a lonely spear of broccolini, and a very odd tasting crab-quinoa concoction.

Fish of the Day

The fish was crisp and nicely salted, with a nice firm flesh, but really, I couldn't get over how jarring the crabby mousse thing was. Points for healthiness and creativity, but unfortunately no points for taste.  

Squid Ink Linguine

And for interest, the squid ink liguine was ordered. Because differently coloured pasta is always a hit (but of course it tasted like any other well-cooked pasta). Not as good as freshly home-made, but a decent dish. 

Overall, we had a good time at The Trust and would certainly recommend it for groups. The atmosphere is cosy but still professional (like an old library full of dark wooden furniture), the waitstaff are friendly and efficient, there's something for everyone on the menu and the food is satisfying and decently priced (average standard for a CBD restaurant). Nothing mind-blowing here, but sometimes that's not a requirement. 

The Trust

Mon-Fri 9am-12am, Sat 5am-12am

Paperboy

Catering exclusively for the CBD lunch crowd, Paperboy is a new and very well regarded arrival on the Melbourne dining scene. When Libby suggested that we catch up there for lunch, there was every reason to go with the promise of good food 

Paperboy Kitchen

We headed there early to avoid the lunchtime crowd, and were rewarded with a relatively empty restaurant. 

Paperboy Kitchen

There are only a few seating areas, so I guess that Paperboy caters more towards take-away than dine-in, but I've always preferred the luxury of settling down and experiencing the atmosphere of a restaurant. 

The menu itself is relatively simplistic; rolls and bowls are the only mains on offer. You choose whether you want a roll or a rice noodle bowl, and then choose your topping. BBQ chicken, panko fish, pulled lamb, slow-cooked beef and red-curry cauliflower are the options and all come with asian slaw, carrot-daikon pickle, sriracha-mayo and coriander.

Libby and I made our choices and sat down by the window with this cute order number for company. 

Order 'number'

So not really a number, but a pretty unique identifier to help the waitstaff figure out which order belongs to who. After an incredibly short wait of around 5 minutes, our meals were on the table. 

I'd ordered the pulled lamb & hoisin rice noodle bowl.  

Pulled Lamb & Hoisin Rice Noodle Bowl

The meal was satisfying although not spectacular in my opinion. The serving was of a decent size and they were fairly generous with the meat, but I felt there was too much reliance on the sauces to add flavour rather than doing something interesting with the meat. The noodles themselves were cooked well though being neither soggy nor too crunchy. The popcorn on the side was a eccentric touch but welcome and memorable nevertheless. 

Slow Cooked Beef Rice Noodle Bowl

Libby ordered the slow cooked beef bowl and also seemed satisfied with her order. I took a bite and found that the beef too suffered from a lack of flavoured, but the sauces and the pho dipper (a little mug of pho-broth-style soup) made up for it. 

No restaurant in Melbourne would be complete with some caffeinated offering, and Paperboy Kitchen delivers with Vietnamese style iced coffee. Perfect for a summer day (although maybe not the almost-winter that this autumn has been).

Viet Iced Coffee

Paperboy Kitchen is a welcome addition to the fairly lackluster, west-side CBD lunchtime dining scene and serves up filling dishes in record time. The meats themselves could do with an injection of flavour, and I would expect more for $9-$13.5 a meal. Still, with friendly and fast service and a hard-to-mess-up offering, it's not a bad lunchtime option.

Paperboy

Mon-Fri 1130am-3pm

Pizza Capers Flavourendum

I believe there are 3 types of people in the world; those who like simple pizzas, those who like gourmet pizzas, and those who only like pizzas at 3am in the morning. I fall in the middle-camp so was super-stoked to be offered the opportunity to try a few of the new pizzas on offer by Pizza Capers and vote in their Flavourendum to pick my favourite!

Three very different pizzas were up against each other in the taste test: Tuscan Pesto Chicken & Bacon, Reef & Beef and BBQ Bonanza.

First up to the stage, the Tuscan Pesto Chicken & Bacon. 

Tuscan Pesto Chicken & Bacon

With tender chicken and sizzling bacon pieces on a medium-thick base smeared with tomato sauce, accompanied by red onions, mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, garlic, mozzarella, Parmesan, fresh herbs and creamy pesto, it was a brilliant combination of flavours. It made me realise that after months of American pizza, Australian pizza is just that much better.

The next contender: Reef & Beef.

Reef & Beef

A fairly classic pairing often seen in pub meals but rarely seen on pizza, the Black Angus Beef, Cajun prawns, bacon, shallots, red onions, red capsicum, tomato sauce, mozzarella, lemon pepper, hollandaise and fresh lemon was quite good. Sizeable chunks of steak made an appearance alongside the sweet and spicy prawns. My only complaint was that the steak was on the dry side, but it was a good pizza nevertheless.

The final contender: BBQ Bonanza.

BBQ Bonanza

This is definitely a gourmet take on meat-lovers pizza. 100% Angus beef, sizzling rasher bacon, smoke cured pepperoni, leg ham, herbs, mozzarella and BBQ sauce is miles better than the not-quite-meat seen on many pizzas. For those who want more meat and more meat on pizza, then this is winner, but for someone like myself who prefers a more balanced meal, I did find it overpowering. Regardless, I did decide that the salty meats of varying textures, a hit of herbs to freshen up the slice, and sweet BBQ sauce is a decent offering.

All pizzas are available on a delicious gluten free base which I don't think is as delicious as a traditional base, but which is convenient for all you gluten-free folks out there.

As for the champion? Colleagues who I invited to sample the pizzas with me (what, you didn't think I ate three pizzas myself did you?) voted for the Reef & Beef but my favourite was the Tuscan Pesto Chicken & Bacon as I thought the flavours were more interesting and always like plenty of vegetables on a pizza. 

In a fairly crowded pizza delivery service market, Pizza Capers stands out with their interesting menu options and quality ingredients. Now if only they had a Melbourne city branch, and could change pizza offerings in America to be similarly delicious.

Thanks to Pizza Capers and Retail Food Group for this fun opportunity!

Dolce & Guava Cocktail

With the amount of travel I do, I sometimes feel like I'm missing out on fun events in the various cities that I may call home; I consider both Melbourne and San Francisco home at this point.

Nevertheless, sometimes the only thing I can do is be grateful that I get to explore to world (which really isn't so bad after all), and live vicariously through other people's experiences. As those of you living in Melbourne may have noticed, the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival is in full swing this week. While I can't attend like I would have wanted to (shiny dresses are mesmerising after all!), I can at least sip on the signature cocktail: The Dolce and Guava.

Dolce & Guava

The recipe below makes 10 cocktails, so plan to share these at a very fashionable event.

---

Dolce & Guava
Makes approximately 10 cocktails

Ingredients:

• 150 ml London dry gin
• 150 ml Lemon juice
• 150 ml Pomegranate sugar
• 150 ml Sugar syrup
• 10 Raspberries
• 1 Bottle of Rekorderlig Apple/Guava cider

Method: 

1. Mix in a bowl and enjoy
2. Add some raspberries or blood-orange slices to garnish

Bistro Gitan

It's somewhat strange posting about a restaurant on the other side of the world when you haven't been there for a few months. That's what happens we're you're super slack about keeping up with reviews, so I'm probably the only one amused by this.

In any case, during my whirlwind trip back to Melbourne, I ended up at Bistro Gitan with M and a few of his friends for dinner. 

Bistro Gitan

The menu is fairly seafood heavy, which I always enjoy as I pretty much terrified of cooking any seafood other than mussels. Seeing as we were a relatively large group, the waitress suggested we order an assortment of shared entrees to start. We're not the most decisive of people, so it was a pretty good idea. 

Sardines

I love the salty flavour of sardines and these were quite wonderfully salty and oily. Unfortunately, I found the bread overly crunchy, and perhaps a tad stale which spoiled the experience.  

Cheese-Filled Croquettes

Cheese-Filled Croquettes

One downside of letting an establishment decide what to eat from a food blogger perspective it's doubly-hard to remember what you've been served without seeing a menu. Nevertheless, the croquettes were cheesy as you'd expect, with a relatively light coating of batter for that bit of crunch. I could down more than just one of these fairly easily.   

Tasmanian bush pepperberries liver parfait with pickles and toast

This dish suffered from the same bread annoyances as the first, but at least the liver parfait was smooth and flavoursome, with the pepperberries adding a slight bite into the mix. A little extra butter goes a long way into adding some additional dimension to this too.  

Squid

The squid was a decent appetiser, although hardly memorable. Next please.

Prawn Cocktail with Grapefruit and Avocado Salad

Next please didn't exactly result in fireworks unfortunately. The prawn was coated in too-sticky, too-sweet sauce, masking the delicate sweetness of the prawns and there wasn't much to say about the presentation.

At least the restaurant itself was nice enough to look at. 

Bistro Gitan

On to the mains. Around the table, there was a selection of mains chosen primarily based on degree of hunger.

Ocean Trout

On the lighter end of the scale, there was the delicate ocean trout dish made heavier with a liberal dose of butter. This was deemed delicious by many. 

Porterhouse Char-Grilled

Bistro Gitan does a decent steak, although the lack of any greens on the plate made it look unappetising. Unless you are just craving a giant hunk of meat in which case it was very attractive. The salsa was a nice balance point, but the ratio of salsa to steak was certainly on the low end.

Dessert was a fun affair.

Donuts with Jam and Cream

Not that you can really go wrong with donuts. Almost everyone learns to love donuts from a young age and these were sweet, deep fried, yet airy in the middle.  

Some ice-cream to offset some of the oiliness.

Tranche Napolitaine

What got us to order this dessert was the promise of five flavours of ice cream and sorbet. The sorbets were light and refreshing, and the ice-creams were smooth and rich. A great combination I'd love to order a tub of from an ice-cream shop (to share of course).

To finish off the meal, a requisite dish of petit fours.

Petit Fours

Nice enough, but nothing spectacular.

Which is what I can say about Bistro Gitan in general. The food was decent, the service was friendly and efficient and it was a fun night in good company, but nothing was memorable. There really needs to be one knock-out item on the menu, and there simply wasn't. It's a shame because all the right elements are to there, but as show business says, there's no X-Factor. Still, for a nice-enough night out with excellent service, Bistro Gitan is a sensible pick. 

Bistro Gitan

Mon 5pm-late, Tue-Fri noon-late, Sat 5pm-late