I haven't been to the Mean Fiddler in years. It used to seem so far away, in the middle of no where, and it felt that you were driving to the country for a beer / steak. Things have changed. They've whacked one of the largest shopping centres in the southern hemisphere next to it and colonized the acres of grassland with new housing. The Mean Fiddler has also franchised from just being a cozy old pub. It now has a bottle shop, a fish & chip shop and a charcoal chicken shop all under its name in buildings surrounding the pub. With new kiddies playground we had to venture a food exploration...
Gotta love pub-grub. Good man-sized steaks, a cold beer, and live music just makes you wanna grunt with joy. After all that hype about being in a pub environment The W went all girlie and ordered the Salmon with balsamic reduction ($24.00). It did look very good though, and she did give it the thumbs up. Crispy skin with a flakey center really harmonized with the light spinach salad and the balsamic dressing.
I on the other hand embraced the pub environment *grunts*and went for the only acceptable meal ...Steak!! Admittedly I wussed out on the 700grm T-bone *hangs head in shame*and went for the 400grm T-bone steak ($29.00) served with potato mash and English dumpling smothered with pepper sauce.
The steak was cooked to perfection. Juicy and soft with small bits of charcoal burnt bits around the rind/fat. The mash was really creamy and there was quite a bit of it too!! The only thing I wasn't sure of was the English dumpling. I'm used to my dumplings wrapped in rice or egg pasta and stuffed with pork or seafood and steamed :P The English dumpling was a piece of soggy bread, kind of like a profiterole only without it's chocolatey, custardy goodness (would have preferred a profiterole - mmmm!!) It was very plain in taste and I wasn't sure if it should have tasted sour so I left it on the side of the plate and opted to polish off the rest of the mash.
Overall we thought the meals were quite pricey but I think that's due to the evolution where pub-grub meets fine dining. On weekends there's live music and the clown that comes to your table and entertains the kids with balloon art. MiniB got a balloon poodle made up and a Pooh Bear sticker - she was really excited about that!! You can see the poodles tail next to my steak in the photo above. We finished the day with a Oreo cookie ice-cream from the old fashioned ice cream parlor adjoining the pub (oops - forgot to take a photo).
Till next time...we eat!!
Shanks
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haha, I wouldn't stop to take photos of dessert either! Great post.
ReplyDeleteHehe what I would do for a pink balloon poodle! Good to know that the do their steaks really well. I've only been there once and it wasn't for a great occasion (it was for a wake) but the food they served was pretty good!
ReplyDeletewow I didn't know they started serving proper food, it's been years since I've been here. And I think your right about the evolution of pub food, it can be a hit and a miss especially with the varying in prices.
ReplyDeletei visited for the first time over the easter long weekend this year and was very impressed with the pub layout and how big it was. very cool comfy seating inside which would be great for winter weather too.
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