Don't ask me how but we managed to find a parking spot right across the hotel when we arrived at half-six. The tables on the sidewalk were already all occupied, and the patrons were all *gasp* young! You must forgive me; these days, anyone under the age of thirty or who looked to be so, is young as far as I am concerned. Anyhow we weren't bothered as we headed for the upstairs restaurant where Rose of Australia awaited us. And guess what? We have the whole upstairs to ourselves, that was how (not) busy they were and we attributed that to the likelihood we were there early.
The girl (yeah, below thirty) all decked in black and an engaging smile, showed us to our table and handed us our menus. Menus! In a pub! Wow! After a short discussion we decided to share an entree of Crispy Pork Belly and have separate main; Lamb Rump for John and Peking Duck Risotto for me.
The (same) girl appeared briefly to give us our (daily?) bread and a complimentary shot of wild mushroom soup. You can see in the picture it is literally a shot. Not that we minded for it accorded us time to look around the place; do you not dig the modern bar, we most certainly did.
The crispy pork belly followed, very prettily presented and yes it tastes as good as it look. The skin is crispy and light, contrasting perfectly with the soft juicy fatty bits which is exceptionally full of flavor, sinful and absolutely heaven. Our mains arrived exactly half hour after we polished off the crispy pork, understated and without fanfare.
The lamb rump won the taste stakes of the evening, succulent and juicily yummy. The glazed fennel was crunchy, it's piquant note contrasting nicely with the sweet kumera mash. A perfect combination.
The peking duck risotto on the other hand started to feel a bit too much after the fifth spoonful; it was that rich in flavor which was why I thought a lighter, thinner stock would have been better to cook the risotto with. The duck bits were a tad thin in presence but the shiitake mushrooms were a delightful highlight, maybe it has something to do with the fact that I happen to like shiitake mushrooms.
We were so satiated by the end of the mains that we gave up the notion of having dessert, even my requisite coffee. We did however polished off the brandy dark chocolate balls that arrived with our bill, which came to a very reasonable A$70, not bad for one entree, two mains, a LL&B and two glasses of wine.
Will we come back? You betcha!
Rose of Australia Hotel
No.1 Swanson Street
Erskineville 2043
+61 (02) 9565 1441
roseofaustralia@bigpond.com.au
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