Tag Archives: food review

Shumpty Eats: Cott & Co Fish Bar (Cottesloe Beach)

April 1, 2015 By in Shumpty Eats, Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , , , , 1 Comment

It has been a long time since I posted a restuarant review on this blog but I just had to write about my experiences at the Cott & Co Fish Bar this week.  Simply: this is one of the best restuarants I have eaten in full stop.  

The Venue: Cott & Co Fish Bar is part of the Cottesloe Beach Hotel on Marine Parade in Cottesloe.  It is an open space with the kitchen area viewable from the seating area.  Tables are set up for group dining as well as for parties of two.  Large windows take advantage of the spectacular view of the Indian Ocean across the road.

The Menu: As the name would suggest this is a seafood restuarant with a focus on tapas type dishes with a mix of mains thrown in for good measure.  As many of you know I do not eat seafood.  Normally this would cruel most seafood restuarant but not Cott & Co.  I have eaten there twice in the last 3 days and had two of best dishes I can remember eating: a pasta dish based around a brisket ragout from the specials board and, from the menu, the ricotta and truffle gnudi.  I am no vegetarian but that second meal is the best vegetarian meal I have ever had. 

The Service: The staff at Cott & Co provided us with wonderful service.  They were knowledgable about the menu, gave great recommendations and were cheerful to a fault.  The meals were served with alacrity. 

The Price: Given the standard of the food and the service, the prices at Cott & Co are quite reasonable.  Our order of a couple of mains, a charcuterie board and a couple of glasses of wine came to about $90 which felt cheap to me. 

The Final Word: This is a seafood restuarant that has wowed a non-seafood eater.  If you are staying in or around Cottesloe this is the first place you should eat.  If you are staying in the Perth area: this restuarant is definitely worth the trip.  I will be back again (maybe even on this trip). 

Shumpty Eats: George’s Bar & Bistro

February 11, 2014 By in Shumpty Eats, Shumpty Speaks Tags: , , Leave a comment

I was very disappointed when the One Eleven Bistro in Eagle Street (Brisbane) shut down. In its place George Gregan has opened a Bar & Bistro in the same place.

Having had a couple of coffees there over the last week and finding the prices a bit steep for comparable coffees close by I was a bit hesitant when I was invited there for lunch today.

To say I was pleasantly surprised was an understatement. The menu was very much a bistro menu and without the pretension and exorbitant pricing that had killed its predecessor. I shared the chorizo and haloumi entrees with my lunch inviter and found them both to be excellent and just enough to wet the palate for the lunch to come without leaving me full.

Main course was the wagyu burger which, at $20, is not only very well priced but is also very tasty.

The staff are friendly and knowledgable and the service swift. To go with the pricing, this speed of service makes this an excellent lunch venue in my view that I would recommend to anyone down at the Eagle Street end of the city.

One of the negatives of the predecessor restaurant was that it was attempting to be a high class establishment in a space that was open and in a lobby of an office building. It had the feel of the food court about it. That feel remains but recast as a bistro with reasonably priced food it works albeit if you do not like all and sundry walking past the restaurant to know you are there this may not be the restaurant for you.

Food: 9 out of 10

Service:9 out of 10

Ambience: 7 out of 10

Final Word: George’s Bar & Bistro is definitely a place I would recommend for a quick lunch catch up without pretension and with haste. Get around it.

Shumpty Eats: Hundred Acre Bar

July 27, 2013 By in Shumpty Eats Tags: , , Leave a comment

I played golf this morning at St Lucia Golf Course finishing up at about 10:45am. Having been on the course at 7am I was gasping for something to eat and thought, for the first time in the near to 30 rounds of golf I have played at St Lucia, of getting something to eat at the Hundred Acre Bar which over looks the 13th and 18th greens.

Having viewed the menu and chosen my meal, noting that the breakfast menu ended at 11am, I went to order only to be told that the kitchen was closed and, according the waiter who served me, “if I send back another order the chef will kill me”.

So 15 minutes before the advertised time I was unable to order off the breakfast menu. To say I was not amused would be an understatement. Nonetheless I was still in need of something whilst I waited for the rest of the golf social group I play with to finish. A skinny flat white was ordered and some 20 minutes later was duly delivered. It was lukewarm at best and three swallows later I had abandoned any thought of hanging around the venue and headed home.

I am sad to say I will never recommend anyone to this establishment again. This is bearing in mind that generally, in the past, if anyone had asked me for a breakfast recommendation on that side of the city I would have always suggested the Hundred Acre Bar first. Certainly if you are golfer expecting a feed after your round you will be left sorely disappointed. Maybe if I had been wearing the lycra that the cyclists who frequent the establishment, I might have had a better chance but I will never know!

Final word: didn’t get to try the food but the coffee was ordinary at best and service staff couldn’t really give a toss. Give it a wide berth!

Hundred Acre Bar on Urbanspoon