The world has its way of telling you something, but how do you tell a chef to pay attention to the details when they are working split shifts 6 days a week in a tiny pub kitchen. The Brunswick had been on my list of pubs to eat at since they removed the corrugated verandah from the saloon bar. So a mild Wednesday evening in August comes around and the city pub meal seems very enticing.
I step into a neatly organised saloon bar no longer resembling the themed farmhouse of years past, the fashionable interior highlighted with antique furniture and homogenous art. The classic features have been effectively highlighted, like the floorboards, terrazzo bar frontage and the pressed metal verandah ceiling.
The pub menu is a much pondered subject... Does a pub take stance and say no to gastronomic influences and continue with ‘Roast of the day’ and ‘Seafood baskets’? I am recently inclined to think that the food and the decor should match, such as a restaurant. The short walk through the front bar to the saloon and around a delightful seated area to the dining room brings the decor to just on level with a reasonable restaurant. The menu reads well with some interesting inclusions and some pub standards. Note no beef or veal schnitzel, big call!
We are interested in a Brunswick Platter ($22.9) on the short starters list, it arrives very promptly which I would have expected on a quiet evening. It held a few surprises for the table, which suited the Steam Exchange Stout we were sampling off tap. Oysters and stout, poached star anise pears and stout, Grilled chorizo and anything! These were really good combinations to start a meal, my thoughts in particular were racing, beer included of course! The specials list had some great options which put the hard decision with our table and we required more Stout and the wine list. A bottle of fairly generic ‘Gamekeepers’ Shiraz Grenache 07 was requested and an 08 was delivered. Do I have grounds for complaint? Oh well, it was just the ticket for the diverse range of meals ordered. I attacked a grilled Pork Cutlet ($22.9) with Cheese tart and beans with a fig glaze I forget those details as the glaze and tart had chilled significantly since its preparation waiting for its porcine keystone. My immediately adjacent diner had ordered from the specials, Eye Fillet ($22.9) with a mash, wild mushrooms and a glaze the details are again hazy as the mash and the sauce were heading south in degrees. It was cooked correctly as was the pork and both were very tender serves. On hearing the ‘chilled’ news I whip round the table with queries of “Cold?”. The responses were mixed, the Stuffed Crispy Skin Chicken Breast ($23.9) with roast capsicum coulis arrived hot but its accompanying risotto tower was chilled at its base and warm elsewhere. The chicken was stuffed with an under seasoned mix of spinach, ricotta and pine nuts. The Red Curried Snapper ($22.9) from the specials was suitably heated although there were mumblings of the curry being to overpowering, I would contest that Red Curry is specifically formulated to be overpowering. The Chicken Schnitzel ($16.5) is offered with lemon, it appeared to be standard Pub Schnitzel effort but the crumb seemed to have received some special treatment I could not pick, but well worth the price tag. I didn’t really care if the chips were cold against the plate, as there is a distinct line in the sand when it comes to serving a dish with a specific sauce and offering deep fried beds of chips to lay your crumbed protein upon. The allowances given to the pub oriented meals are justified, as for the more refined dishes I would reference the restaurant quality decor and question why the kitchen procedure does not match.
On this evening the plates were cold, otherwise the meals would’ve impressed. The Brunswick Hotel kitchen has done almost everything right, smart menu with diverse choice to coax the blinkered diner away from the TAB. The world is cold and harsh sometimes even on a mild August evening.
I step into a neatly organised saloon bar no longer resembling the themed farmhouse of years past, the fashionable interior highlighted with antique furniture and homogenous art. The classic features have been effectively highlighted, like the floorboards, terrazzo bar frontage and the pressed metal verandah ceiling.
The pub menu is a much pondered subject... Does a pub take stance and say no to gastronomic influences and continue with ‘Roast of the day’ and ‘Seafood baskets’? I am recently inclined to think that the food and the decor should match, such as a restaurant. The short walk through the front bar to the saloon and around a delightful seated area to the dining room brings the decor to just on level with a reasonable restaurant. The menu reads well with some interesting inclusions and some pub standards. Note no beef or veal schnitzel, big call!
We are interested in a Brunswick Platter ($22.9) on the short starters list, it arrives very promptly which I would have expected on a quiet evening. It held a few surprises for the table, which suited the Steam Exchange Stout we were sampling off tap. Oysters and stout, poached star anise pears and stout, Grilled chorizo and anything! These were really good combinations to start a meal, my thoughts in particular were racing, beer included of course! The specials list had some great options which put the hard decision with our table and we required more Stout and the wine list. A bottle of fairly generic ‘Gamekeepers’ Shiraz Grenache 07 was requested and an 08 was delivered. Do I have grounds for complaint? Oh well, it was just the ticket for the diverse range of meals ordered. I attacked a grilled Pork Cutlet ($22.9) with Cheese tart and beans with a fig glaze I forget those details as the glaze and tart had chilled significantly since its preparation waiting for its porcine keystone. My immediately adjacent diner had ordered from the specials, Eye Fillet ($22.9) with a mash, wild mushrooms and a glaze the details are again hazy as the mash and the sauce were heading south in degrees. It was cooked correctly as was the pork and both were very tender serves. On hearing the ‘chilled’ news I whip round the table with queries of “Cold?”. The responses were mixed, the Stuffed Crispy Skin Chicken Breast ($23.9) with roast capsicum coulis arrived hot but its accompanying risotto tower was chilled at its base and warm elsewhere. The chicken was stuffed with an under seasoned mix of spinach, ricotta and pine nuts. The Red Curried Snapper ($22.9) from the specials was suitably heated although there were mumblings of the curry being to overpowering, I would contest that Red Curry is specifically formulated to be overpowering. The Chicken Schnitzel ($16.5) is offered with lemon, it appeared to be standard Pub Schnitzel effort but the crumb seemed to have received some special treatment I could not pick, but well worth the price tag. I didn’t really care if the chips were cold against the plate, as there is a distinct line in the sand when it comes to serving a dish with a specific sauce and offering deep fried beds of chips to lay your crumbed protein upon. The allowances given to the pub oriented meals are justified, as for the more refined dishes I would reference the restaurant quality decor and question why the kitchen procedure does not match.
On this evening the plates were cold, otherwise the meals would’ve impressed. The Brunswick Hotel kitchen has done almost everything right, smart menu with diverse choice to coax the blinkered diner away from the TAB. The world is cold and harsh sometimes even on a mild August evening.
Giles
Footnote: Rip it Up Mag has a bad habit of trimming the odd sentence or stanza from the printed reviews. So it is best to get the full review here....
Firstly super review.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, the nail has been hit on the head!
I have only ever had a handful of meals there and been mildly dissapointed each time as per your comment, inconsistant temperate throughout the meal. Upon conversation at the Brunny with friends we all agree the beer selection there isn't too bad and cold! BUT are the chefs just not used to new equiptment, tired and lazy! They are serving food which doesn't look too bad taste fine when comes hot enough. As a wine sommelier it gets my goat when asking info about a couple wines I haven't come accross and the barkeep doesn't know a cracker about them. Thus the problem with South Australia!