Enrik's Restaurant (II)

Another weekday night, another busy and unfortunately, a rather loud night at Enrik's.

ET, not being overly hungry decided to give the kangaroo a go.  The serving was adequate which looked and smelt quite nice.  ET was impressed and made no complaints.

Being on the hungry side, I went for the good 'ole chicken parmigiana.  It was by no means fantastic, but it wasn't bad either.  And thankfully the portion size was manageable so no complaints here either.

The staff weren't too bad but they did forget to show us the night's specials.

Enrik's Restaurant

25 Railway Rd, Blackburn

Juniper Cafe

ET is somewhat of a regular here because of the coffee, so he was looking forward to having some when we got there.  His first coffee was quite good but his second, a short black, fell below the cappuccino standards.  For the record, I had no complaints about my soy latte.

Being close to lunchtime, we both went the sandwich route.  I chose the chicken, avocado and lettuce.  The chicken may have been a little on the dry side, but being shredded, I guess it can be forgiven.

Smoked salmon with cream cheese was ET's choice.  He gave it a "quite nice" rating. 

When we ordered at the counter, we were given and shown the different bread options which I thought was a nice touch.  Usually the varieties are just reeled off and I would only ever remember the first few choices.  It was nice to be able to see the choices for a change. 

What I did find a bit weird was they served the toasted sandwiches with only one side buttered on the outside.  I don't think I've ever seen that before.  And to be honest, I'm not quite sure I liked it..

Juniper Cafe

26 Britannia Mall, Mitcham

The Firehouse (II)

Being a Friday night, we actually made a booking at Firehouse.  ET had wanted to visit the bar beforehand but we took an unintended detour before getting there and ended up arriving right on time.  Since our table was actually ready and we were quite hungry, it looks as if the bar will have to wait until next time.

We were seated in the small room off the main one.  I would dearly have loved to sit by the window but unfortunately that table was already taken by the time we got there. And, incidentally, they were still happily drinking from their carafe by the time we left.

But anyhow, lucky I had already started this blog or I wouldn't have been able to answer ET's questions about what we ate last time we were here.  This time ET was eyeing the omelette and the chickpea churros had me sold.

The omelette, sadly to say, was quite bland.  Both ET and I put seasoning on it.  :(   The churros, however, was a real winner.  ET seemed quite surprised that he enjoyed the unusual choice.  He thought the taste was quite mild but matched well with the aioli - a good dish to have as an entree.

For main I went for parpadelle with beef ragu.  Beef in the dish had quite a strong flavour but eaten with the sheets of pasta (they looked more like sheets to me, not wide strips of pasta) meant it wasn't over-powering.  I wasn't quite sure about the pine nuts in the dish though.  And the cut of meat had a little too much fat on it for my liking.

The porterhouse, much to my surprise was requested by ET as medium rare.  He said they did a good job on it.  Although we weren't quite sure what they were trying to achieve with those sad looking peas.  Judge for yourself --

For me, the chickpea churros is definitely enough to bring me back.  It may be a little crumbly, but the aioli had a strong garlic taste which I surprisingly enjoyed, and smothered all over the churros.  Yum!

The Firehouse

253 Maroondah Hwy, Ringwood

Enrik's Restaurant

We arrived late one weekend to find a hens night in progress.  ET & I were seated for several minutes and with menus closed, still had to wait a while before our orders were taken. Once they were, we were told it would be a 20 minute wait and suggested we order entrees.

As suggested, we ordered cheese bread.  But the plate put in front of us was garlic bread.  ET & I looked at each other and back down to the plate.  Yep, it was garlic bread alright.  The waitress returned to apologise.  Apparently they mixed our order up with another table.  They offered to bring us the cheese bread but it was late and we were hungry and since we had already tucked in, we declined the offer.

We were then served our mains while I was still eating the last of the garlic bread.  There was by no means a 20 minute wait for the mains, so we were left wondering whether the suggestion to order entrees while we waited was just a con.

ET wasn't any happier once he started tucking into the dish.  Having ordered his steak, then being told a few minutes later that it was actually unavailable, ET was already disappointed.  And is it just me, or do the vegetables seem a little lacking in quantity??

I ordered the chicken off the dairy-free menu.  It was a little dry and a tiny bit pink in some places.  However I liked the fact that they served it with a mix of potato and sweet potato chips.

Upon leaving, they apologised again for not having the steak that was originally ordered and the mix up with the bread.  Which, thankfully, they did not charge us for.

I'm not so sure if we'll be back any time soon.  One thing though - kudos to for providing a gluten AND dairy free menus.  It's something I've never seen before and wish more restaurants would do it. 

 

Enrik's Restaurant

25 Railway Rd, Blackburn

Escape on Puckle

To be honest, ET & I chose this place because it was the only one that had outdoor tables available.  It was the day after Melbourne's craziest storm and it was way too muggy to sit inside.

Upon reading the menu, I asked ET what BBQ dim sims were.  He was just as perplexed.  But, surprisingly, was willing enough to try it.  And just as well, cos it was a winner!!

Although it was just your average dimmy cut in half and grilled, it tasted quite good and both ET & I agreed it would be a good way to serve dimmies from now on.

For lunch ET chose chicken schnitzel focaccia.  He said it was quite good.

I chose the salami, olive with napoli sauce focaccia.  I was once again surprised by the taste.  I expected this to be slightly weird but I didn't find that at all.  But perhaps they can put more salami next time?

No complaints about the staff, or the coffee and overall, we had a good experience.  I, for once, am willing enough to try it again.  But only if I get to order the BBQ dim sims again.

Escape on Puckle 

103 Puckle St, Moonee Ponds