Monties

It came as a surprise to both of us that Monties has a pizza takeaway joint that you can walk through from the restaurant. And on a quiet rainy day, the staff walked between the two areas to serve the few who dared to venture out in the pouring rain.

I ordered the lasagne which, from first bite, I did not like the taste of. I actually asked ET to taste it, to see what he thought. I've never done that before - I usually don't like to share ;)  He thought the sauce wasn't great.

Needless to say, I did not finish the dish. It was quite a large serve, so I probably would have struggled to finish it anyhow.

ET ordered the carbonara. He didn't seem to mind it at the time, but (dare I say it?) he wasn't well afterwards.

So now ET can't make any positive comment except they had pleasant staff; but we were the only table being served, so now he might be reluctant to go there again.

I guess the highlight of the meal came at the beginning when we got our coffees.

My latte cup was cute but too hot to hold. I think ET finished his long black before I was happy enough to start drinking mine. Now that I think of it, that seems to be when it all started going downhill.


Monties
351 Smith St, Fitzroy

The Firehouse

Arriving at Firehouse after 8pm on a Thursday night, we thought it was a good sign that the place was still packed.  The menu is short with a huge wine list.  And although the menu leans towards tapas/shared dishes, we just ordered the Spanish braised octopus.

ET really enjoyed the combination of cheese with octopus.  I'm sure he'll want to order it again.

For the main I went for the paella.  Since that night I've come to the realisation that you should only order paella at a reputable Spanish restaurant.  Enough said.

ET chose the salmon with parsnip mash.  (Sorry, the photo is pretty terrible).

ET believes the mains could have been plated better.  And although I found the staff attentive enough, ET thought one had a weird smell and was a bit put off that the half dozen or so floor staff were dressed differently.  Some wore aprons, and those that did, had different styles on.  I don't think staff need to be dressed identically, but a bit of consistency would have been nice.


The Firehouse
253 Maroondah Hwy, Ringwood

Feedback Cafe

This cafe consistenly gets good reviews.  But the last one I read mentioned their table was not cleared very quickly.  For our visit, we finished our meal and paid while the table stayed uncleared (even though the cafe wasn't flat out).

But enough of that.  I ordered the jumbo sausage roll after checking the display to make sure it wasn't just an extra long commercially produced one.  

Although it was large enough for me, ET decided it shouldn't be called  "jumbo".  As a man-sized serving, I'd probably agree.  The photo doesn't do the size justice, but I'll leave it for you to judge.

ET decided on a focaccia and although he said the bread was nice, he rued the lack of garnish on the plate.  I'd have to agree.  It looked so plain I didn't even bother to take a photo of it!  Oh well.

Feedback Cafe

31 Ballarat St, Yarraville