This is another enliven your sense meal two for the price of one deal. YAY! It was a cold and rainy night when we went and we were so glad to walk in and get away from the rain. The first thing that I noticed was the separate bar and dinning area and the second thing I noticed were the massive beer barrels in the bar area.
According to their site, Redoak Brewery is the *msot awarded brewery in Australia* and this is really emphasised with display after display of trophies and awards. All their food is matched with beer suggestions, they even have tasting plates that come with matched beers.
Vegetarian Tasting Board $20
The little schooners of beer were so cute and I thought that the actual 'board' was ingenious, there were slight depressions to hold everytyhing in place and they all fit perfectly.
From front to back (beer in brackets):
Sweet corn, red capsicum and chilli soup (Honey Ale)
Cous cous, vegetable loaf with beetroot hommus (Kolsch)
Polenta muffin w/ BBQ zucchini, tomato and Irish Red Ale relish (Irish Red Ale)
Roasted pumpkin, fetta and pine nut pie (Organic Pale Ale)
We were instructed to take a sip of beer first then take a small taste of the food then another small sip of beer and so on. The food would enhance the beer and vice versa. I'm no beer expert (I get Asian flush VERY EASILY so I rarely drink but hey, it is a *beer cafe* so why not!) so I don't really know if the beers were enhancing the food and so on! My favourites were the soup and the pie. The soup was all at once sweet, salty and slightly firey and I was quickly mourning the fact that there was so little of it!
The pie was also great, crisp pastry, a tad of fetta on top and pumpkin and pine nuts in the centre. We had a a bit of trouble eating it though! We didn't realise it was only a pastry top, the innards housed in a dish so we tried to cut the thing in half! We got a rude shock when the knife hit china! hahaha
Cripsy Skinned Tasmanian Ocean Trout w/ sauteed scallops, cauliflower mash and tomato & chive dressing $26
I had the Tasmanian Ocean Trout. The whole thing was great, perfectly cooked fish & scallops, nice dressing - everything excepting the cauliflower mash. The cauliflower mash was placed under the trout and it had a very distinctive fishy taste - not good. But apart from that I loved it!
Grain-Fed Beef Fillet on a potato, chive and Spanish onion cake with eggplant relish and peppered Oatmeal stout jus $36
The slab of beef was very thick and we found it slightly rarer than we preferred, but it was very tender and every last bit was eaten up. I really liked the potato, chive and spanish onion cake and I had a hard time trying to sneak more of it onto my plate! N.B. If you order the steak you'll need to wait 30min.
The lighting was pretty low but half way through the night they decided to make it even dimmer! Thus the next horrible pic:
Tamarillo Creme Brulee w/ Blackberry coulis and peanut brittle $10
The dessert was a bit of a let down. I really wanted to taste their famed beer icecreams or truffles but my Asian fllush had only settled down a while ago so I decided on the creme brulee instead. I couldn't taste the tamarillo at all and the creme brulee itself was very foamy and it wasn't set properly. The blackberry coulis was good and the peanut brittle smelled really nice. I'm allergic to peanuts so I didn't try the brittle but my mum tells me it wasn't that great.
Overall there were some great bits and also some not great bits but hey, it was two for the price of one!
Pretty cupcake display I saw at QVB that night
Redoak Boutique Beer Cafe
201 Clarence St
Sydney
Ph (02) 9202 3303
website: www.redoak.com.au
10 comments:
did you guys get my email about my bday dinner?
It's hard to tell how big the vegetarian tasting board servings were from your picture?? Would it be enough for 2 people to share, if they didnt get any other entrees?? and then shared one main & one dessert?
@ chocolatesuze: YES, I just replied you, I'm so sorry but I can't make it =[
@ Anonymous: We actually shared the entree between the two of us + a main each and I had the dessert myself. We came out feeling just right, we weren't clutching our stomachs but it was enough. Since the two for one deal is for main meals only I think if it's for two people the way to go would be one entree shared, a main each and dessert. If you're looking for value you might want to do dessert elsewhere. If you check out the enliven your senses website, there might be a two for the price of one dessert hidden somewhere!
I think this was the place where I first learned to like beer! Asian Flush haha, I love that term, I get it so often!
omg i am sooo not a beer person as well !
i went to the belgian bier cafe and omggg :( i can drink beer at pubs but not at all with food
just like how i can't drink coffee with food either :( i'd prefer something sweet any day !!
@ YaYa: haha yeah don't you just hate the asian flush! LOL
@ EDEN: I have yet to try to Belgian Bier Cafe, the food there looks good though! For me I can't drink beer/coffe with OR without food! LOL
Ooh been wanting to try this place for a while now and with the Enliven its a good opportunity isn't it?
Thanks for the sneak peek ^^!
They have such good selection of beers here and it's always got a great lively atmosphere. Good to know about the 2 for 1 deal. Gotta love the GFC perks!
I really wanna try Vegetarian Tasting Board .. so cute ! I am not expert of beer also but always love to try when go to the place like this :D
@ FFichiban: yay for enliven your senses! there's still time left for me to binge eat on buy one get one free offers! WOOHOO!
@Forager: uhuh, someone who likes there beer should enjoy this place =]
@Bean Sprout's Cafe: The vegetarian tasting board was great but there's also meat and seafood tasting boards too if you're interested
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