After drooling over the hundreds of blog posts and pictures posted up on Urbanspoon, I was finally able to go to The Grounds of Alexandria! We arrived at 1:30pm on a Monday and it was still packed. The man at the door handed me a buzzer and said that it would be a one hour and fifteen minute wait. But that was okay - I was prepared for this after hearing about two hour long waits from my friends who had been here before.
Here are some obligatory pictures of the The Grounds but feel free to scroll down to the food.
Guess what's in the red telephone booth? An ATM!
I definitely want to try some of the food from The Garden Bar - I was salivating as I walked around the area and smelt the meat cooking on the grill. The grilled chorizo roll and spit roasted roll sound so good.
I think I was really lucky! We walked around the whole place once (I think that took about 20 minutes) and my buzzer started beeping which meant there was a table for us!
Oh, and here's the lunch menu for people like me who like to do a bit of "research" before getting to the restaurant.
Beef Short Ribs ($19.00):
Master stock braised beef short ribs accompanied by parsnip puree with shaved brussels, garden peas, wild mushrooms and truffle oil.
I was conflicted inside because I couldn't choose between the salmon salad or beef short ribs but in the end I was feeling like something hearty and went for the beef short ribs (I'll be back for you, salmon salad!). Anyway, these ribs were to die for! They were perfectly braised, tender, stringy and fell of the bone. I loved the parsnip puree and wild mushrooms but I wasn't a big fan of the shaved brussels.
The 'Ground' Burger ($19.00):
Ground beef brisket, cheese, lettuce, dill cornichon mayo on a toasted brioche bun served with beer battered fries.
This burger may seem really small but was really (really.) filling! The bun was sweet, soft and warm and the beef was so tender and juicy - I was pretty impressed with the flavour. It was like an upgraded version of a McDonald's cheeseburger and I love the cheeseburgers from Maccas. The fat fries were perfect with the chilli mayo - more chips please!
Beef Ragout Stracci ($19.00):
Slow cooked beef ragout with hand made rag pasta, parsley from the garden and grated Parmesan.
The size of this dish came out looking pretty small but my dad was stuffed after finishing it. The beef ragout was full of flavour, tender and was probably what made this dish shine. I thought the thick fresh pasta was cooked perfectly but my dad mentioned he would have liked it to be tad bit more softer.
Blue Eye Trevalla ($19.00):
Pan-fried and served amongst warm kipfler potatoes, zucchini flowers, caper berries and a sauce gribiche.
I really liked this fish! The flesh was soft, moist and very well seasoned but would have liked it even more if there was a crispy skin on top. I thought the combination of potatoes and zucchini flowers with fish was pretty strange at first but as I kept stealing bites from my mum's plate, I began to like it more and more.
We finished our meal at about 2:50pm and there was still a long line for the takeaway goods and still quite a number of people waiting for a table. Overall, it was such a pleasant experience and definitely a nice place to spend the afternoon with your family or friends. If I'm ever in the area and the lines aren't too long (which I doubt), I would definitely come back for more!
The Grounds of Alexandria
7A/2 Huntley Street
Alexandria, NSW 2015
f: https://www.facebook.com/GroundsRoasters
t: (02) 9699 2225
w: http://groundsroasters.com/
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