As we sat down, we were offered water and also slices of bread with butter. A good start with sourdough bread slices as we browsed through our menu but of course, do browse first and decide what you would like.. If not, the bread crumbs would just fall down to the menu causing abit of a mess..
'Onion Rings' ($8.9) with parmesan salt was what seemed to be a simple but delightful side/entree to start off however, it was quite bland, lots of batter though the onion was quite thick but it just seemed to be quite boring in a way. The parmesan salt did not help much as the batter just overtook the whole taste and texture in every bite.
'Angus Rump Cap' ($29.9) is 300g, grain fed, Grainge Certified Angus with a marble score of 2+. Sauce options were either Mushroom Brandy, Green Pepper or Bearnaise sauce in which he chose the Green Pepper. After choosing Green Pepper, we realised that it would be liquid-y pepper sauce and not thick and full of flavour peppercorn sauce but we thought ah what the heck, we'll give it a go.
The green pepper sauce was smooth and did not have a very strong peppery taste afterwards that stays on your tongue. Combine it with the steak let's say, slice a bit of the Angus beef, dip it in to the green pepper sauce and find how much it compliments each other. Although, I still prefer my strong peppercorn sauce and maybe a bit thicker in liquidity wise.
'Twice Cooked Pork Belly' ($29.9) with celeriac and apple remoulade, roast pumpkin puree and radish. A pretty dish and the slice of the pork belly was sufficient. One thing that I was scared of was that the pork belly skin would not be easily sliced or chewed since sometimes, cooking pork belly may not be that simple as it takes time and when it takes too long, it might harden up, it would be harder to chew.
The celeriac and apple remoulade was a unique combination to have with the twice cooked pork. It allowed the dish to have a refreshing but also acidic yet creamy texture as you eat the meaty twice cooked pork belly. The apple perfectly complements the flavour of the celery being it mellow, but when combined with mayo, it just reminds me of a light salad or even as a side. Although some may say that remoulades may be great with cold meats, but I think it works just as well with the pork belly. Another thing is that the remoulade also has a mustard-y taste within which makes it more enjoyable and not as too creamy hence the use of mayo. Having it thinly sliced it made it more fun yet an enjoyable side for the whole dish.
The twice cooked pork belly should have a good texture, its fat cooked and of course, the most important thing of all is its crispy skin. However, if you aren't able to slice your pork belly nicely in a way that it doesn't neccessarily make you mess up the whole plate or even make you have to pick up the crispy skin and bite it using your fingers while all you can slice through is the meat, somehow, that annoys me a bit. I would like to be able to slice through my pork even if it does tend to get a bit messy, but at least it cracks. If it needs extra strength in terms of using your teeth in order to even bite it, chew it and then hurts your teeth, then that, my friend, isn't what I would like.