Sarah C.
Yelp
Came here and met up with our foodie friends. Rubyos is
awesome. It is an inviting place, looks quite formal and has a fully stocked
bar and its' quite large in size, perfect for a date or dinner with friends The
owner has taken over this place a year ago and worked hard to develop the food
and service at this venue. He was very welcoming and introduced the menus on
offer.
This would also cater for a wide range of people as there
are a wealth of vegetarian foods, vegan options as well as being able to cater
for those with lactose intolerances. So much food, everyone would like
something. They also have very reasonably priced set menus. Being in a group we
had the 'Seasonal Sampler'. At $50 a head, this was great value. I liked the
sound of everything in the set menu which isn't always the case at some places.
We began with Peking Duck Pancakes with a traditional
garnish and hoisin sauce, roll your own, and these are always a crowd pleaser.
Followed by a balsamic baked beetroot salad with frisee lettuce, baby spinach,
nashi pear, chia seed and apple cider caramel vinaigrette. Then came this
amazing serving of huge oysters deep fried with pickled ginger and topped with
wasabi mayo. We all normally prefer natural, but in this instance the batter
was light and crispy with juicy oyster inside and I enjoyed it a lot.
We then had curried cauliflower arancni which wasn't your
traditional arancini, but rather sitting in a bowl of spiced spinach leaf gravy
, mustard, chili and yellow split peas. This had a nice hint of curry flavour.
Following this was panfried haloumi that was piled high with watermelon,
coriander and mint salsa, chili oil drizzled all over. We were sure not to get
many photos so that it was not cold and rubbery. The haloumi was melted well
and the saltiness of the cheese combined well with the watermelon.
The main dish was some lovely pieces of panfried atlantic
salmon that was cooked nicely in a thai green curry sauce, coconut mango rice
(which was one of my favourite things) and a tamarind dressing. This was
followed by a harissa basted chicken, served in strips with a smoky eggplant
salsa , whipped feta and yoghurt dip. Tender chicken with a delicious sauce.
One of the standouts.
I'm not personally a fan of kangaroo normally, so I skipped
this, but my husband and the others really liked it. It was perfectly cooked
(which is hard to do) and served in slices, nice and tender with a blue berry
and red onion chutney which accompanied the meat well.
Another great dish was the roasted crushed chats with fresh
herbs and seasoned salt. They were so crispy, I kept going back for more.
To finish we had the bitter sweet baklava and grand mariner
truffle ice cream. Baklava awesome add chocolate, even better. We also got to
try the chocolate and cherry crème brulee, different but very nice. Pulled the Matt Preston spoon out ;)
spoon cracked through the top layer perfectly. I'm keen for another visit and recommend you all go too!