Redhead Bowling Club, Burns Street, Redhead

49426022

http://www.redheadbc.com/dininghub

This is a visit you have to plan out. They are only open for lunch on Tuesday through Saturday. Everything on the menu is $12.50 + extra for gravy, which let me to low expectations when i was ordering my Schnitty. I ordered the Chicken Schnitty with chips and salad + Diane Sauce, which came in at $15.00. Well i was pleasantly surprised. Someone at our table said, “I wasn’t aware that chickens grew this large”.A solid helping of chips and a decent salad were buried under a large thick Schnitty drowned in Diane Sauce.

So the size was one thing, and they were doing well in that aspect. But what of the taste?

The Schnitty was very crunchy, not at all in a burn bad way. I really enjoyed the crumbing until about 1/2 way though, by which time the Diane sauce had made it a little soggy. Chips were chips, good but nothing special. The Diane sauce was brilliantly thick, almost perfect viscosity. The chicken itself was if anything a little dry on the inside and the sauce perhaps a little too much (correlation or causality?).

Overall for a $15 lunch Schnitty it left me full and satisfied. I have commonly payed $20 for a similar quality. I give it 4 of 5 Schnittys.

James

Sometimes, these reviews are very difficult to write. The View Factory is up past the top of Hunter Street, over the fine but well defined line that divides Newcastle’s seedy underbelly and into the Classy, Cultured area that makes life beautiful. I’ve been here before with some friends but I think it’s under new management now – and walking in the door, it’s still a fantastic place. The relaxed atmosphere that you expect from a ‘country town’ in what I believe was a wool shed or the like, converted to make quite a nice diner – easily the look of the place you would take a nice group and indeed, on our night, there were a number of couples and double-couples there. it wasn’t romantic in the classical sense but it was in something of a unique, Australian way.

But its here that things start to have a bit of a complex turn. The atmosphere was accentuated by a nice artist playing on the stage – and the independent style was actually relaxing, if not fun, but the thing is that, similar to last week, the music was a little too loud. Like most things I’m about to write – it was only a little, but it was there. We couldn’t have a conversation comfortably as it was, but I’m experienced with sound and such and I can say that it was only a small hint – not much but enough to make me very angry that it was that close!

The food arrived very timely and was a hair expensive – $20 for a schnitty with gravy – but the chips and veg that arrived with it were fantastic. Again, here things get complex because my schnitty wasn’t that big… in honesty, I started to expect last week to repeat itself but as I looked around, It surprised me because everyone else’s schnitty was larger than mine – about what we would call ‘larger than average’ – so I am conflicted about what to say – I need to say mine was small but I am going to say that I ordered last and I guess they felt pressure to get mine in with the others.

And again, when it comes to the taste and texture, it’s hard to deal with again. The gravy was delicious and the chicken itself was fantastic, but the crumbing around was over spiced – but, yet again, only by a little bit. I am pressed because I want to say that the whole things was fantastic – but it just crosses that line so finely, yes, but across none the less.

I cannot truly convey to you how annoying this is because it was spiced to a VERY nice texture – similar to the 11 herbs and spices at KFC but without the horrid aftertaste and obviously MUCH less fat – it was beautiful but, it was a shade overdone. There are a lot of things that can be ignored – but I can’t let this fly in good conscience.

To top it off, the staff were fantastic – they were not in your face, but were quick on the mark – friendly and responsive but, honestly, they looked a little tired. I don’t know why – but it’s still there.

I want to be able to say that this was a one off – or that they were having a bad night – or that they had someone miss work or any one of those hundreds of excuses – and I would take them because it was SO CLOSE to being brilliant, but as a journalist, I can only review and discuss what is in front of me.

The long and short is this, It was close but no cigar – tho a tasty cigarette!

Overall – for what I tasted and saw, 3.5/5 Schnitties – 3/5 Atmosphere, 4.5/5 Environment, 4/5 Staff, 3.5/5 Food. Now again, I need to be very clear – this is not a bad review – I am forced to write about what I saw but I want to go back quickly to be able to change these numbers. I would recommend this to anyone if you are an Australian or want to experience Australia but there are very small adjustments that need to be made.

1 Brunker Rd, Broadmeadow

(02) 4962 3236

471 Hunter St, Newcastle

(02) 4929 2274

James

Well, I must congratulate the people in the CBD – That was, without a doubt, the worse Schnitty I have ever had. It’s a dramatic disappointment because the facilities looked so good. The structure and finishing’s sang of old London Pubs, a style to which I have quite an appeal, but it was fully shattered by….everything else.

While ordering our schnitties, the staff were noticeably rude toward each other and a client – not exactly a good start. They were well presented and the one I heard talking most was obviously intelligent but they were, none the less, uncouth. It was quickly obvious that they were trying to do the work of several people and were a little rushed, even tho there were only about 1/3 the number of people that could be considered a good night there. Furthermore, the gentleman singing and playing was too loud – this might be just me, but he was supposed to be background – the band was in another room. I don’t mind live acts but I do detest when you can’t hear the guy next to you talking.

The food… well it wasn’t fast – it didn’t hit the area where we say it took a long time but it came close. It was well presented and the toping was nice (a nice Cheesy, Eggplant thing) but the portion was small. Like always, I had chicken but my associates across from me had the veal and their portions were at least double mine. It was tiny – reminiscent of a train journey I took last year with a review on here – and there was something strange about it and the chips (those who read my reviews will know I always get chips and veg). It took a while to put my tongue on it but I worked out that this meat and chips had probably been cooked at a different time and re-heated or finished being cooked just before being served. The meat had taste, yes and the chips weren’t bad but there was absolutely no crunch like you would get from freshly cooked food, it was soggy. Now, on a train, this would have been fair enough but I paid $20 for 1/2 a soggy meal… Were we ever disappointed! To add insult to injury, there was fresh, (that is uncooked) meat in the windows for sale at the counter – beef yes, but any butcher that sells beef sells chicken.

Furthermore – the waitress was around rather quickly to collect our plates. I wasn’t entirely sure if she was being concerned about us being cluttered to encourage us to grab some desert from the coffee shop on the other side of the room (that didn’t look like it was occupied) or if she was trying to boot us out. I can’t say either way but it was VERY close to us finishing our meal. It seemed like the staff were worried about everything too much which is fair but like I wrote – they were only at 1/4 – 1/3 capacity. It wasn’t any reason to be worried.

Overall, 1/5 schnitties. The food was small and overpriced (0.5/5) The environment was gorgeous I’ll admit (4/5) The atmosphere non Existent (1/5) and the staff were unimpressive (1/5). In short, don’t re-heat frozen food, start fresh and learn to Calm Down – the feeling was that the staff were obsessing over things and were becoming agitated because of it. There is an appeal there – and the makings of a good place, but it needs some work!

Scott

I sense that this lot of reviews are not going to be in the CBD’s favour. Upon arrival, we discovered our booking for our party of 5 was not really essential, as the place was pretty empty. How can a place like Adamstown RSL pull 10x more people than a nice pub in the middle of town? I guess you could say we discovered why.

Ordering I was excited. Double crumbed and they had veal. If veal is a choice, I generally go for it.. while standing in line however an argument started between the staff and a customer about table choices – with the staff exclaiming that they weren’t at the longest table and not to call it that (or something along those lines). This soured the mood, and I was thinking about how the customer was supposed to know which tables were what when my time to order came up – and this is where things went downhill for me. I forgot to order the veal in between the arguments. I went for the $14 schnitty (veal/chicken same price, covers chips/sauce/salad or veges) and a $6 parmigiana topping – with pepper sauce. The staff grilled me over wanting pepper sauce when there was a topping already – Why would you do this? If someone pays $14 and gets a schnitty and sauce, surely someone who pays an extra $6 for some cheese deserves some sauce as well?

In a busy establishment, waiting 30-45 minutes is pretty standard. At the 45 minute mark, it tends to become an issue. The CBD did it in 35-40 (from first to last serving coming out) which is pretty strange considering the small amount of people inside. Perhaps some cooks were off sick, or there was no chicken left and they had to create some? A mate sitting next to me got his first – and the comments started around the table about the lack of food. A flattened chicken nugget sat upon some cucumber slivers and carrot. Mine eventually came out and while it was bigger, was below par for schnittys, the size you’d expect on a $7 schnitzel night. I am fairly sure the cheese on my topping was thicker than the schnitzel itself. The chips were not crunchy, closer to pale-half-cooked over-salted potato mash. The vegetables were pathetic, broccoli, cucumber and carrot – soggy and not warm. The pepper sauce, apart from the 5 peppercorns in the bottom, was not peppery in the slightest and you would be forgiven for thinking it was plain watery gravy. Looking over at someone who ordered the veal (unlike me and my mistake) the schnitzel looked fresh, irregular, thick and most importantly, delicious. Looking back to my plate, the chicken was a 20cm long, thin piece about the same size and consistency as what is available from Coles in the frozen dinner section for $5. Tasted about the same too.

So what is the outcome? The CBD needs to pick up their game. No wonder the restaurant seemed empty, for a Friday night in the CBD, if this is a representation of the food they have been serving…

1/5. During the meal I was going to give it a 2, but from the perspective of the whole table, there really isn’t any value for money from this establishment. And I really cant think of a reason why it deserves that 1, other than it being the minimum the system offers. I guess this will be looked at as a harsh review – but I paid $25 for the meal, and the only thing it had going for it was the amount of cheese to food ratio and the strongbow cider was cold.

Note From Bill

I ordered a veal schnitty for $18.  It was thick, brilliantly crumbed, and well priced. The chips were a bit soggy having been placed under the schnitty. All in all I would have a veal schnitty there again if i was close by but i doubt i would ever order a chicken.

Scott
The RSL atmosphere was a little more grown up than we are used to, and was packed – seemed everyone wanted a feed. The menu placed on the table seemed a little sparse, however when we got up to order there was a greater variety on the wall/chefs specials etc. I decided to go for the more expensive veal ($18 over the $12 chicken) with pepper sauce.

Due to the seemingly large amount of people, the wait was fairly extensive, stretching to approximately 30 minutes, however good conversation made it bearable. When the buzzer went off, we all got up to collect our food. The staff gave us an additional plate for the sides – There is a salad and a vegetable buffet, however according to the signs they would prefer if you chose only one to go to. I chose vegetables. I had fried rice, chips, cauliflower with white sauce, mashed potato, pumpkin and carrots.

Eating the meal and the first thing that strikes you is the ‘pepper’ sauce. It tastes more lemony, with black peppercorns than the usual peppery gravy. The veal schnitzel is quite large (and flat) and uses an entire plate to itself. The crumbing is delicious and crunchy, the only criticism is it fell off the meat too easily. The veal itself is great – it must be close to a year since my last veal intake, so I’m probably not the best judge haha. The sides went down well, pumpkin was a little undercooked but aside from that (and classifying fried rice as a vegetable) all went well – nothing to write home about. All in all I give it 4 out of 5, points being lost for price and the initial wait.

Dan

The atmosphere of the RSL was quite different to that of the Duke which we reviewed last week. It is probably best described as more suited to the elderly Australian rather than the youthful “party” oriented Gen X and Y crowd. Food wise, the RSL was also somewhat different to our usual dining experience, as it presented a buffet for side accompaniments to our meals. Which in itself is a novel approach to meeting the varied tastes of the dining public

Having ordered our meals we were seemingly unaware of the wait that we were to experience.  Over 30 minutes later our food had still not arrived, which in itself is disappointing and on this occasion was made worse by the fact that the restaurant was no more crowded than the Duke was a week ago.

When our meals did finally arrive I complimented mine with a side serving of rice, baked pumpkin and chips.

Initial analysis of the meal showed it to be a well sized portion of chicken that appeared to be cooked to a reasonable standard. Unfortunate this visual analysis was not affirmed by my tastebuds. I still cannot put my finger on it but there was just something wrong with the schnitzels breadcrumb coating. After suffering through half of it I gave up and moved onto my side dishes. The chips were excellent, golden brown and cooked well, the rice was kind of a Chinese fried rice dish and was also quite appetizing. Disappointing however was the pumpkin, not only was it still hard in the middle it was also stone cold. And after 2 bites I gave up on it. This moved my attention back to the schnitzel, again I tried to eat it and again there was just something not right with the breadcrumbs. As a last resort I removed the coating and simply ate the chicken.

Overall I was left somewhat disappointed by the Adamstown RSL, my meal was certainly substandard especially for an establishment that presented a newly renovated appearance. I give it a 2.5/5. Unfortunately I will not be eating there again.

James

http://www.dukehotel.com.au/

Dan

This being my first “official” Schnitty review, and my first visit to the Duke, I was keen to experience the best they had to offer. On first impressions the Duke was a very welcoming place. A modern and youthful atmosphere coupled with the usual beer drinking Aussie males is probably the best way of describing it.

Moving into the restaurant I joined my fellow reviewing colleagues. Our entrée of garlic bread was an interesting entity in itself. In essence a full cob loaf infused with garlic and served on a bread board – Simple yet effective. I enjoyed the garlic bread and felt that it was an excellent start to my dining experience.

Having ordered my schnitzel with the bacon and shallot sauce I was initially quite taken by the taste of this toping. However after consuming approximately ¾ of my schnitzel my desire for this topping had demised, whilst it was quite tasty it become overwhelming and a little sicking, thus necessitating its removal from the remainder of my meal. Having said that the schnitzel itself was excellent, portion wise I was left satisfied and it was excellently cooked. I ordered my meal with sides of chips and salad, and I cannot fault these in anyway. The chips again were excellently cooked and perfectly brown, whilst the salad was both refreshing and lightly dressed.

As an experience I rate the Duke quite well, the wait times for our meals was within tolerable limits (considering the number of people in the restaurant) and they were reasonably priced. Overall I give it a 4/5. For me the sauce was the only thing holding this meal back.

Scott

Arriving at the Duke early, it was apparent there was a large gathering taking up most of the restaurant room. Lucky we booked as our ‘reserved’ table was the only one free. It then became apparent that this was the local member for labors pre-election-day celebration dinner, however we cant dock points for that. Twelve from our group ended up coming, and while there was initially concern about fitting them (we had booked 8, and then amended to 10) the staff quickly found a couple who were leaving and promptly extended our table.

For starters I ordered two garlic breads. These came about 15 minutes later, and were unusual in the bread choice – a round cob loaf cut into 4 slices. These were pretty tasty and at $5 each pretty well priced. Then the mains choice started. The menu itself seemed to be pretty limited, with its entirity fitting on one page. Pepper sauce, one of my ‘crucial’ building blocks to a good schnitty was not offered, so my usual ‘schnitzel, chips and vegetables’ came topped with a creamy bacon & shallot sauce. For the size of the group, the meals came out in decent time, nothing to complain about there. First impressions show a plate with a decent serving of chips, a long but thin schnitty covered in sauce and a bowl of premade vegetables – the ones that all get prepared at about 4pm and sit in the kitchen under heat lamps until serving time. Honestly it didn’t impress me too much, however with the price point of the meal being around the $15 mark I guess some concessions had to be made.

I always start with the vegetables. The carrot was terrible. It was shredded down into 4cm sections of overcooked (yet luke-warm) watery, limp nodules that tasted unlike any carrot I have previously tasted. Perhaps it wasn’t carrot, and was some other orange plant. The quarter corn-cob was the complete opposite, tasty and sweet. Kinda what you would expect really. Beans were on top and cold, but I don’t like beans anyway. Broccoli nothing to write home about.

The chips appeared slightly undercooked, but they tasted fine. Adequate salt coverage and still hot so nothing to complain about here. They were just normal fries, not shoestring and not steakhouse. I heard murmurings of ‘They put the chips under the schnitzel again!’ from colleagues however this rarely bothers me, they have to go somewhere.

Onto the schnitzel itself and while it appeared long and thin, it was quite filling. The coating was pretty nice, very crispy, but not sure what made it seem different from other places who all seem to buy them pre-coated from the same generic suppliers. Perhaps they did the coating themselves – or buy a more expensive brand? The chicken inside was well-cooked and on-par with most. The sauces served is what everyone was talking about, they looked delicious and in generous serving sizes… On first tasting was strong, very rich and is probably what the chef has deemed to ‘sell’ the dish and keep his customers returning. This would all seem well and good until you get halfway through and the richness is still there.. overly powerful, as weird a complaint that would seem. To appreciate the schnitzel itself, I was using my chips to mop up/dilute a lot of the sauce, not something Ive ever really had to do before.

As this review concludes into the all-important scoring section, Ill reiterate some of the points;

Good – Serving size, coating, 1st half of the sauce, chips, $15 price, helpful staff
Bad – 2nd half of the sauce, woeful carrot, premade vegetables.

From me, 3.5 / 5. The vegetables while being the cheap side, can definitely do with a lot of improvement. If they were only somewhat fresh it would have dragged the score up to a 4.

Amos

I ordered a schnitzel with bacon and shallot sauce, and salad. The schnitzel itself was great; real meat and nice coating, the bread crumbs were pretty consistently sized and stuck well. The outermost crumbs were something of a gold colour, whereas the inner ones had hadn’t been exposed to the heat so much and weren’t. Had I had ordered just schnitzel and salad, a salad schnitzel or a schnitzel salad, or any combination of the three I would have joyed many times over. O indeed, had had I had listened to any of the ethereal decrees by those great gods of foods, such as YHWH, I would not have had the bacon nor the cream. Ere that I had had taken heed of Kronos, the chicken man, I would have limited myself to not two but one incestuous relationship the night before. Heard what I had had heard later earlier, I hid between the hard substitution of flavour with Plutus’ own just secretion – malsobered and stupefied by the intense aromas and flavor (ed. that showed up as a synonym for flavour), I wandered the streets alone with only my thoughts and what thoughts I thought I had had earlier left me promptly. I came upon a nunnery which had lost its whey. I licked it. It was too salty.

Ben

My first impression of The Gate’s hotel, Adamstown was quite literally “how do they fit all of this in here?”. Approaching from the road, this place looks tiny. Inside, however, there is room for a bar, keno/sports area, the bistro, tables with lots of space to spare and a small outside area for smokers and people who love being cold.

The staff are very friendly, well presented and polite to a tee. Drinks are well priced (it’s a pub, so this should be expected) and the menu at the bistro end covers all of what you would expect and most of what you would hope to see from a hotel eatery. But, we are only interested in the schnitty!

The schnitzels come in three varieties (all chicken); plain, parmigiana and Hawaiian. It all comes with the usual choice of chips and salad or vegetables as a side.
I ordered the parmigiana, my favourite, with vegetables and chips! The $18 price tag is JUST on the wrong side of expensive. If it were $16 I would say it’s about par for what you get on your plate.

A couple of intelligent conversations, and more than a few unintelligent conversations later, my meal was cooked and ready to eat. Schnitty on top of chips… it seems to be the norm, but it’s something I still can’t understand. Sure, it looks better because you see just how big (and they are quite large) the schnitty is – but you can’t eat it without losing some sides to the tabletop, or squashing some poor, helpless chips in the process. For sides, the chips were delicious. Pre-salted, perfectly cooked and lots of them. The vegetables were great, too; huge slices of carrot, some broccoli and (if I hadn’t refused it when ordering) some baked potato as well.

The schnitty was a great size, and thickness. It came hot and with plenty of rich parmigiana sauce and melted cheese everywhere. It isn’t the best tasting schnitzel in Newcastle, but when combined with those chips, a nice cold coke (or lemon, lime and bitters) from the bar, and good conversation – you won’t be left wanting.

Breaking it down like a fraction:
Price: 0
Size: 1
Hot: 1
Taste: 1
Sides: 1
Schnitty on top : -1

TOTAL 3 out of 5 schnittys.

While I heard this place was pretty good from my girlfriend’s multiple outings there, I think they have changed hands and sled downhill.

When we arrived we asked for a seat and the waitress hastily shoved to a corner, good seats though, overlooking the water. Straight away we knew there was something up. While I was ordering 2 bosciola schnitzels my girlfriend overheard a comment from a customer on the table next to us “The food was crap” said the man to the waiter “It made me want to vomit”. It was an interesting comment to hear prior to receiving your meal

As our food was placed at our table the waitress didn’t take away used plates or cups while placing down one meal at my end of the table, this was then moved over to my girlfriend’s side as I waited patiently for the waitress to bring over the next meal. A few minutes went by as I watched the waitress do other things around the restaurant, I went up to the counter and asked about the food as the counter staff apologized that she only put down one meal on the order but charged for two. She refunded the meal and still ordered it. Bonus! Or was it?

Eventually the second meal came out and I started eating, the schnitzel was alright but wasn’t going to make me want to vomit like mentioned earlier and definitely wasn’t worth the $18 each put down. Almost glad I was getting it for free apart from the guilt it would come out of someone’s pay that night. While eating our food a large table of other customers were voicing out loudly their concerns to the waitress, they were complaining about the service and left the restaurant after a large argument with the staff. After eating we hastily left the restaurant while they apologized about today’s events.

The counter person, waitress and chef all had complaints from various patrons. Not sure what the main problem was, it was a disconnect across the board on this night. The pluses is that this place serves some fine beers on tap (eg. Fat Yak & Beez Neez) and the positioning on Warners Bay overlooking the lake is excellent. It’s unfortunate that the restaurant section does not do this place any justice.

- Max

So its been a while since we have seen some awesome schnitty scrutinizing, hopefully this drought is broken.

The Nags or as the locals call it, the nags. is located in Adamstown http://www.thenags.com.au/

Kroony

Chicken Schnitzel With Diane sauce and Chips. A bit over $20
Side – Chips. Pretty average, just chips.
Topping – Dianne. Was almost bolognese in texture (like spaghetti with out the pasta, not like the breed of dog dog) Over all it was quite satisfying but perhaps they could have given me 80% less. Perhaps i should have asked for it on the side. Perhaps.
Schnitzel – Chicken. After a long dry spell any rain is welcome, even if its acidic rain from the local sulfur plant. You run out to dance in the rain with the rest of the towns folk but an hour later while applying burn cream to your face u realize it wasn’t actually that good*. While eating it I was saying “by golly gosh darn skedoo, this is an awesome schnitty” but in hindsight it could have been better. It was just pretty average, the only thing special about it was that i had not had schnitty in a while. This schnitty would have impressed me a lot more if i didn’t pay over $20 for it.

Overall i give this 3 schnittys out of 5

*In no way did the schnitty chemically burn my face or any other part of my person

Amos

They had James Squire Golden Ale on tap for less than five dollars, which both surprised and pleased me, so my first impressions were good. They have this cool waterfall thing at the front entrance. It’s full of swank.
The meals were pretty expensive; I ordered a chicken schnitzel with ‘Mexican topping’ (i.e. cheese, beans, avocado, tomato, sour cream etc) and that was about twenty dollars. My partner ordered bruschetta and ‘beer battered chips with aioli and pesto’, which were about seven dollars each.
Despite ordering later than the rest of the party, all our meals came out quickly and at roughly the same time. The bruschetta was cold, poor quality bread, and over saturated in caramelised balsamic vinegar. The beer battered chips however, were wonderful and the aioli was very flavorful without being overpowering.
The schnitzel was mediocre.

Scott

Coming soon to your local schnitty.com

James

The presentation of the premises was immaculate and I was quit impressed by the amount of space that could be found in what, from the outside, appeared to be a small building. The staff were very polite and also very well presented. Dining in the back room gave the feel of a small hotel restaurant which generated a very nice atmosphere. I was quite surprised how European it looked, which is unusual for Newcastle.

The Shnitty itself was large and looked very nice. It was moist but not wet and the sauce (Standard Hawaiian – Pineapple, cheese and Bacon) was very liberally offered. Some other places I/we have been only offer 2 or 3 pieces of Bacon but here, the entire thing was covered.

The meat was a little bland but had enough taste to stick with it. It was large which made up for it and the topping added to the flavor bring it out about par.

The price was slightly on the expensive side – a shade over $20 for the full thing but it didn’t completely disappoint.

4.5 Schnitties for the premesis,
3 Schnitties for the Schnitty
3 Schnitties for the Price
4 Schnitties over all

The sort of place for a quite meal

Brasserie 88 at Wests Leagues Club

The place

Brasserie 88 is upstairs at the Wests Leagues Club. I have never noticed it before. The place has a good feel with quality surroundings. There are curtains that (at night, anyway) cover the length and breath of the room-wide windows, which was disappointing as we think the view would have been good. This is because the feature wall was red but looked like it was patterned with plywood. The place was almost full. The woman that served us was so polite that I felt we should have apologized to her for not being better dressed…………or resembling Brad Pitt.

The food

There are 3 schnittys on the menu. A carbonara, a seafood one and mine was a tomato salsa affair minus the scoop of guacamole.

My meal consisted of two small but very thick and soft schnittys covered in a tomato paste, chopped red onion and diced tomato.

The red onion had a bit of bite to it but was thankfully cooked, not raw like some places. The salad was a standard combination of different lettuces, more tomato and some very weak dressing. The chips were good and crispy. Due to the number of guests that night, the meals took what felt like 30 mins to arrive. We noted that, had we gone to the “food court” or whatever spin Wests want to put on it, we would have finished our meals by the time we received them at Brasserie 88. The birthday boy claimed his wasn’t as hot as he was expecting. Mine was fine. The damage was $20.

The verdict

The size, softness and thickness of the schnitty was very appealing. In fact the whole meal was brilliant. My complaints lie with the place itself.

The lighting could have been a bit brighter, it would have been nice to have a view instead of looking at curtains that resemble those at your grannies, the meal took ages to arrive, even with good conversation. Oh, nearly forgot, you have to walk over to a separate bar area to see the beer available as it’s not on the wine/other beverage list nor the menu that has height/compensation issues. Seriously, if you’re on a blind date and you don’t like the look of them, take them here and ask to have the menus left on the table. Only, you won’t have anything else to look at.

P.S Our birthday boy had vouchers which gave us a discount of $10 which was nice. Even better that he had 7 of them and we were allowed to use all 7 at once.

“So that’s 3 meals, a beer and two cokes, less $70 discount. That comes to $6.35 please”

“……….”

“Awesome”

4/5