Friday 30 September 2011

Victoria Park hotel

I was absolutely starving when I turned up, so I had high hopes for food. Some food. ANY food. Noowww. I feel like I had to wait FOREVER, but that may have just been because I was so hungry.

Food Choices

There were options! Just not things I really wanted. Normally you want everything when you're hungry, but there wasn't much I fancied.

Spotted:

  • Veggie Burger: $17 (This is within my budget, but every veggie burger I've ever had has been horrible. If someone can recommend me an amazing one, I'd love to know, but I tend to avoid them)
  • Grilled Vegetable Tart: $20 (That's the upper end of my budget, and whilst it contained "eggplant & mushroom tart served on a bed of roquette, roasted capsicum and pine nuts." It just didn't strike my fancy)
  • Vegetarian pizza: $19 (Once again, upper end of budget, and I was reluctant to pay. I'd had pizza the night before, and I didn't think I could eat the whole thing, etc. Just not what I was after)

So, that's 3 choices of mains, which isn't bad for a pub. It had the usual sides/starters (chips, garlic bread, bruschetta, wedges, salad) plus some more interesting sounding ones (deep fried camembert [$15.90], greek tasting plate[$20]) but their prices were getting a bit high, particularly as I'd already ordered a drink. Then, hidden at the back of the menu, for an entirely reasonable looking $7 I spotted "wok vegetable & noodles". I was sold.



Food quality

Wow. Just wow. I was STARVING when I came in, and just... It didn't do it for me. And it wasn't just me. It was drowned in soy sauce. It was like the chef had never cooked noodles in his life. Which was surprising as there was a beef wok on the menu. It was inedible. I picked out some of the vegetables and wiped them on my napkin to try and remove some of the sauce, but even that didn't work. It was just so incredibly salty it was unbearable. I couldn't finish it, even though I was hungry.

Just look at how it is drenched in sauce


Then, redemption came in the form of lemon meringue pie, the dessert of the day. Luckily as the previous disaster had only cost me $7, I was able to afford dessert.


Overall Rating


1 point per vegetarian choice (max 3):  3 - The main meals only, not including sides. What I had was so awful I'm not even going to give it 0.5
Quality of meal (1-3): 0 - absolutely inedible
Value for money (1-3):  1.5- $7 is a damn good price, but it *was* a side, and the rest were more expensive. 
X-factor (0-1): 0

Total: 45%

Saved by the dessert.

Guess I will just have to drink my calories tonight...

Victoria Park Hotel on Urbanspoon

Friday 23 September 2011

The Albion

Missed Pub Crawl last week, so I was excited to get back. I'd been to the Albion before and it has a tram in it. I'd forgotten what the food was like, but I was excited to sit in the tram again.

Food Choices

Nothing. 0. Zilch. I looked on the whole menu, including the specials and there was only sides that I could eat. I had my hopes pinned on salad bar and soup (as I didn't want to eat chips if I could avoid it) but the soup of the day was Thai fish :( and the salad bar looked awful! There was some pieces of lettuce, some beans, some corn and that was about it. It didn't look particularly appetizing, so I decided to opt out. So, I looked at the menu again for possible "without-the-meat" options, and decided on the chicken risotto, without the chicken. I asked if they could make it any cheaper without the chicken, but they couldn't. It doesn't seem unreasonable that without the expensive part, a dish should be cheaper. They could have taken a dollar or two off the price and I would have felt pleased that they'd done something for me. They promised to 'pack in extra vegetables'... $19.50 worth of veggies? It had better be a huge risotto.

Food quality


Blannnnddddd. Let's just say, it wasn't a huge risotto. That said, I don't eat much and I don't really mind as it would have gone to waste. But honestly, rice, tomatoes and a couple of mushrooms aren't the most expensive things in the world. But I digress... The food was OK. Certainly nothing to rave about. I ate it, it didn't make me sick. A couple of my friends tried it, and agreed with me. Although I was informed that it would have been improved with some chicken in it...

Looks better than it tasted


Overall Rating


1 point per vegetarian choice (max 3):  0 - No points for sides!
Quality of meal (1-3): 1
Value for money (1-3):  1- Top end of budget! Vegetarian meal at same price as meat one
X-factor (0-1): 1 

Total: 30%



Can't get much worse than that, really. Go there for their tram. That's about all

Guess I will just have to drink my calories tonight...

The Albion on Urbanspoon

Sunday 11 September 2011

Universal Bar

Sorry for the delay, here's the review for this week

Food Choices

Was quite impressed, there was actually a couple of options for vegetarians, and they were all under $20. There was a veggie pizza or a stuffed capscium for $19 and bruschetta for $14 (is this actually a main?). The usual sides too (garlic bread, fries and wedges $9) as well as some mushrooms for $6. The stuffed capscium didn't really strike my fancy so I went for the pizza. It was nice not to have the decision made for me and to actually have a couple of options.

Food quality


The pizza was actually really good! I couldn't eat the whole thing though. I would recommend splitting one between two people if you don't eat much like me. It would bring the cost down too, and then you could have some drinks!



Overall Rating


1 point per vegetarian choice (max 3):  2.5 - 0.5 for the brushetta cos its not actually a meal...
Quality of meal (1-3): 3
Value for money (1-3):  2 - The pizza was expensive (top end of budget), but it was tasty, and it could have been split
X-factor (0-1): 1

Total: 85%

Guess I will just have to drink my calories tonight...

Universal Bar on Urbanspoon

Friday 2 September 2011

The Vic

After taking a weekend off to go to Melbourne and eating plenty of delicious food asian food, I was looking forward to eating a meal of not-rice.

Food Choices
 
After a quick skim through the menu, both the mains (Sundried tomato and olive ravioli  - $24.50 and "vegetarian option available" wok $23/90) were out of my price range. The Vic however completely outdid itself on its range of sides, which included:
mmm vegetable.. pity they were horrible :(
  • Fries
  • Wedges
  • Onion rings
  • Bowl of Danish fetta
  • Mashed potatos
  • Roast potatos
  • Steamed vegetables
  • Greek salad
  • Garden salad
  • Kalamata olives



All of which were under $10, with the fetta, mashed potatos, roast potatos and onion rings all  $5 or under.

I decided that a mix of sides was my best option, but then noticed the special. Sweet potato fries for $9.50. I couldn't say no! I decided not to be completely unhealthy and ordered a side of veggies as well, making my meal total $15.

Food quality

These were amazing. Totally recommend. The lighter sauce was best

The sweet potato fries were delicious! Unfortunately the vegetables were not. I like my vegetables crunchy, which was lucky as they were rock hard but the problem was they tasted kind of like frozen mixed vegetables. The loose bits and pieces of crushed-ness seemed to support my idea.

Overall Rating
1 point per vegetarian choice (max 3):  3 - 2 mains, plus an extra point for the huge selection of sides
Quality of meal (1-3): 1.5
Value for money (1-3):  2
X-factor (0-1): 0

Total: 65%

Not a bad score. Would recommend the Vic to anyone who wants to eat sides or fries, but not someone looking for a real meal

Guess I will just have to drink my calories tonight...
The Vic on Urbanspoon