When I heard that we were heading to Glebe Point Diner – I took the word Diner literally and thought, “Great, I’m going to end up eating RSL Club food! Must come up with escape and backup dinner plans”
But, it turns out that Chef Alex Kearns’ aim is to provide simple and comforting dishes to please your palette. Was I pleased? Well, just about. This wasn’t a place that wowed me! But neither was it a place that reminded me cheap diner service.
The restaurant is well laid out, it’s well presented but it can get a little too cosy. And by cosy I mean, if you try to move your seat a few inches back, you’ll hit a customer behind. A little claustrophobic for my liking. On the flip side, there is alfresco dinning with a few 2 seater couches. With Glebe Point DIner, you need to book in advance, and they are only open for dinner from Wed – Sat. It’s not a few mins wait if just turn up, be prepared with a newspaper and a cup coffee if that’s your intention.
Upon our arrival, we were asked to wait a few minutes before our table was ready. In the meantime, that gave us the opportunity to review the specials on the board. Shortly, we were shown to our tables and they had run out of menus – “Please try and share” is what we were told after 2 copies were given for the four of us. 5 mins later – 2 more copies of the menu arrived, and we were no longer tilting our necks to the corners of the table.
Glebe Point Diner boasts that they like to make everything in-house. Including their bread and butter too. Look, I have no issues with a restaurant churning their own butter – but please, even if you gave me a butter bowl with Western Star, I wouldn’t be complaining. A lot of effort for a small highlight. But the bread was nice and moist, and I can appreciate restaurants baking their own bread.
Alex Kearns’ cooking style is producing simple food – and I can see why. To start, I ordered the Duck and Pork Sausage served with rocket and grapes salad ($18). Good flavours, and simple salad – but I felt like I was at a mate’s BBQ. However, one of the my companions at the table dared herself with the Crispy Pig Ears salad – I don’t think she quite savoured that taste the next morning and vowed never to repeat.
Main course time and I tried the waygu with vegetables and horseradish mash ($34). The meat was good and the vegetables cooked well – simple is what I got from Alex Kearns. But the mash over complicated a few things. The horseradish was a little powerful and became the main element of taste – but the carrots, potatoes and spinach were cooked to perfection. However, it felt like meat and 3 veg.
Throughout the meal we shared 2 bottles of red amongst four of us. A Tempranillo from Spain and a bottle of Cabernet Merlot by Maverick Twins – each were approx $45. Their wine list is quite a impressive. I would assume they had about 40 to 50 to select from for white and about another 40 to 50 for Rose / Red – which is great, don’t get me wrong, but pretty challenging too!
For desert, we had all had the Chocolate pudding with Vanilla Bean Ice cream ($15). Rich, but flavoursome. This, like most 3 course meals, was my favourite part of the night.
The end the damage was $90 per person + tip. Not bad for a 3 course meal and 2 bottles of wine shared by 4.
Look, overall Glebe Point Diner is all about simple and comfort food – and they did what they can to present that. But is it a place I would recommend? Well, no. It takes an effort to book a table, for the price I would recommend L’etoile or for a bit extra, go to Verde. But if you’re looking for a nice restaurant in Glebe – then this or the Boathouse would be on my list of recommendations and hence why they are always busy. It’s one of the best in Glebe.
Atmosphere – 7/10
Food – 7/10
Wine/Cocktails – 7.5/10
Staff – 7/10
Value for money – 7.5/10
Located on 407 Glebe Point Road, Glebe
After having been to Tabou, L’etoile and Vamps, I figured I should try Assiette. After all, there’s no better way to compare restaurants unless you indulge yourself in their finest food.
Making a booking was a breeze – I thought I’d give their online enquiry form a shot, and surely enough, within 24 hours I got a response from a very courteous Rachel McShane, the manager herself.
We arrived as promised, at 8pm. Rachel showed us to our table, and as we sat – the first thing they asked was “Would you like some water or a glass of champagne?”. Clever, I thought. What a way to start off as soon as you sit down. Champagne, of course, was what we preferred and they got back with an impressive wine list – to choose both our champagne and wine for dinner.
After ordering and receiving our glasses of French bubbles, they left us with the menu and gave us ample of time before we ordered.
Just after we ordered, Rachel suggested we move our table a little to the north as she was expecting a birthday group behind us. This allowed us a little privacy by avoiding their loud conversation.
Having cracked open a beautiful bottle of 2007 St Clair Omaka Reserve Pinot Noir (Marlborough, NZ), oysters were presented on the table (I skipped this bit due to my lack of appetite for seafood).
For entree, my plate consisted of goats cheese sprinkled with spices served with tomatoes cooked 3 ways. One of the tomato were presented in jelly form and was quite remarkable – something that I’ve never had before. I’ve tried beetroot jelly – but not tomato jelly that wrapped itself around some tomato puree. Beautiful textures and flavours.
Following my entree, was sliced lamb fillet on top of mashed eggplant, served with onion puree and deep fried pieces of lamb placed on top of wilted spinach. Individually, each of them tasted great. However, I didn’t find that the entire dish came together as one. The onion puree was quite overpowering and deep fried lamb bits were just there for the sake of presentation I think. Although, the lamb and eggplant were perfectly matched. Overall, it was very enjoyable.
I must however say, that the choice of wine did very well suit the main course.
Finally for dessert, we shared a glass of dessert wine accompanied by a serving of vanilla compote. The taste was perfect to end a meal and each bite just melted in your mouth.
The staff were very good at what they did. They paid good attention to your table and knew when to top up the wine and water. They even explain each dish as it was placed on the table.
With each person having a glass of champagne, bottle of wine, entree, main, dessert and a glass of dessert wine, expect to pay about $150-$180 each.
To top it off, I had a good experience – but did I find it better than the others? Unfortunately, yes. I still prefer Tabou and L’etoile. I would have also hopped that Assiette updated their website showing their latest menu, as I went with the expectation of their existing online menu.
Atmosphere – 7.5/10
Food – 7.5/10
Wine/Cocktails – 8.5/10
Staff – 9/10
Value for money – 7/10
http://www.restaurantassiette.com.au/