Unacceptable @ The Garden, Leederville, WA
I wish I read the reviews on Urbanspoon before casually dropping in for a Friday night dinner. The décor is beautiful and you’d be happy having a wind down after a long week in the surrounds. However – the food is something out of this world. And not in a good way!
I had the seared scallops with pumpkin rotolo, brussel sprouts and truffle oil. This dish was gag worthy! The scallops were not just seared but completely overcooked, rubbery and just plain nasty! Thankfully, I like brussel sprouts, as my meal for this evening was the scallops and the brussel sprouts. Luckily my partner was smart enough to order the fries as a side – which are really quite tasty. The pumpkin rotolo was the worst thing I have ever been served and made to pay money for. Firstly, it looked like something that shouldn’t be served on a plate, let alone at a restaurant. Secondly, the ricotta and pumpkin mix had turned strangely lumpy and smelt quite putrid. The top was “char grilled” (aka burnt) which I was told by a waitress that the chef specifies that this is “normal” and it was actually my lack of ricotta liking that made me dislike this rotolo so badly (And to think I knew what I liked and didn’t like?!)
My partner had the pork belly, which didn’t look appetising either. Now, I’m not just judging our food choices on looks alone – however aesthetically pleasing food does have a positive effect on our mental appreciation of the food we intake. If the food looks shit, we’ll have an automatic, involuntary reflex to think that the food will taste shit, and vice versa. Kind chefs of Perth – please make our food look good! Just a common courtesy really. Oh, and serve your dishes on proper plates. The Garden has these strange, huge green plates that have a little border around them. They are ghastly in comparison to the rest of the pretty surroundings. Anyway, the pork belly was overall given thumbs down, mainly due to the fact it tasted like canned apples with a tiny portion of pork on top.
The service was overall quite good. The waitress who had the duty of smelling my plate, and telling me it was normal smelling was polite and apologetic. The chef however, needs to really look at the food they are producing. Killing a scallop that much is an atrocity – don’t put scallops on your menu if you are going to make them rubbery and bland. Plus, don’t tell a customer what they like and what they don’t. Also, the reviews provided by patrons may be a good sign that what you are currently doing in the kitchen is fending people away from your establishment.
Overall, at the end of the day, we paid $80 for two mains, a side of fries and three drinks. For me – this would be acceptable if the food was above average and deserving of my cash. After this dinner, it has left my stomach upset, a bad taste in my mouth and a hole in my wallet. Criteria not met.
Will not be returning and would suggest to others to go for the extensive drink menu and tasty chips only.
