Breslin Bar & Grill - A Work In Progress

En route to the Pinot Palooza I thought it would be wise to fill my stomach so I would be fully prepared to take on all of the vintners at this very special and anticipated wine show. Walking down the Southbank Promenade, the epicurean emo and I decided to call into the Breslin Bar & Grill. It is the newest addition to the strip of restaurants and I was keen to see how yet another steakhouse would stack up against other anchors in the area like Pure South and the ethereal Meat & Wine Co. 

I was extremely hungry and I had a massive headache so unlike my other adventures to restaurants in the area, and in general, I wanted to operate on the "no dawdling" rule. We decided to sit inside because it was very windy and I really do not need to look at the murky Yarra River since I live in Southbank, I see it enough. We were offered to pick a table so we chose on away from the large group of people with the pram conveniently parked in the aisle and also the other family not far away where the child was climbing on the table with another pram parked in the aisle. This seems to be a very family friendly restaurant and also good for large groups of people considering the table configuration.

Having pulled two pills out of my pocket, I immediately ordered a Fat Yak and the epicurean emo ordered a Bees Neez. Both beers were served in Peroni glasses though. I thought that was strange but I was most interested in getting the pills in me to get rid of my headache so I could be fighting fit for Pinot Palooza. After reviewing the menu, we both decided to try the pork belly with scallops and also share a meat plate.

The restaurant smelled nice and that was the first sense that was piqued. A pig was spinning on the spit in the kitchen and it smelled lovely. It would seem if you bring in ten people, the whole table can enjoy the beast for $150 per person with matching wine.

It wasn't long before the shared meat plate arrived. Steak, liver, chicken and sausages graced this board and you were given three different kinds of mustards to dress the meat with. I am still confused as to why just mustards are provided. I thought it was queer that this board would also arrive before the pork belly starters.

We started to enjoy the meat, which I did particularly because I was ravenous. Whilst chewing on a piece of chicken, the pork belly and scallops were served. It was awkward timing. The dishes could not conveniently be placed on the table without adjusting the meat board by 90 degrees, which I took the liberty of doing. After tasting the liver, which left a metallic taste in my mouth, I decided to try my starters.

The metallic taste of the liver was replaced by the poor taste of the scallop. It was cold on the inside and really the sort of food that I fear. I thought back to my previous trip to Sydney and the amazing scallops that I enjoyed at Jamie's Italian and compared these poor morsels to what I had at Jamie's and also at the Stokehouse. They were just that. Poor. The pork belly was average and nothing worth salivating over.

It seemed the staff were not enjoying themselves. When I queried various people as to how their day was going, looks of indignation were given and the responses were not very positive. The staff that I spoke with obviously wanted to be elsewhere, which made me want to be elsewhere also.

I believe this place has potential and perhaps because they have not been open very long that they have not settled in and worked out the bugs. I certainly will go back at some point as there are other items on the menu that I want to try and also see how the service evolves. In the next couple months I will update this post and assign some scores which would be the fair thing to do.


Breslin Bar & Grill
Link to review
3 Southbank Boulevard, Southbank VIC 3006
(03) 9626 2110
http://breslingrill.com.au


Twitter: @epicurean3006
e-mail: epicureanofsouthbank (at) gmail (dot) com
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When I made this post originally, 76% of the reviewers on Urbanspoon liked Breslin Bar & Grill.