Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Discovery XXIX

'Taking it to the people' saw three discoverers taking the 112 tram (popularly known as the one one twelve) to the Lord Newry hotel in North Fitzroy for Discovery XXIX. Meanwhile I drove the discovery taxi to the site and was happy to score a spot in the middle of Newry Street just over the road from the pub.

First a shout out to Max, the Newry's resident handyperson who has done a marvellous job of decoration with flower boxes and planters and even an octopus on the chimney. Yes really. Just look up next time you're passing, if you don't believe me.

Octopus

Soon the tram travellers and the special local guest arrived and we perused the menu over our drinks (Coopers Pale, sparkling wine and water). Sadly the Newry's famous eggplant chips are no longer available. We made do with Scotch fillet, grilled haloumi, the Lord Newry burger, a rocket and pear salad and pizza.

Scotch fillet
Scotch fillet

 

Haloumi
Haloumi

The haloumi was probably the star dish of the evening. It was served with lovely crunchy rösti baskets and a rather weedy salad. One of the 'thin & crispy' pizzas was found to be too crunchy and blackened around the edges. The staff were very obliging about this and more than happy to remove the item from the bill.

Pizza
Pizza with fenugreek

I already had plenty of salad with my haloumi so I didn't need to sample the separate pear and rocket salad. In my opinion this world was a better place before rocket became a ubiquitous salad ingredient, but some people seem to like it. It's OK as long as its bitter mustardy taste is ameliorated by other ingredients. Pear, balsamic vinegar and parmesan generally do the trick.

Rocket
The ubiquitous rocket

The front bar of the Lord Newry is the new dining room, with the former dining room transmogrified into the pool area. I'm not too sure if this has been a successful move as there was no one playing pool on this warm Wednesday evening, nor were there very many people eating in the front bar. Most people like to sit outside at the footpath tables, and a very pleasant area it is too, with the lovely old green tiles and Max's plantings.

Green tiles
Green tiles

The return trip over the river to the to the quiet and leafy city of Boroondara was accomplished without incident as the dropoff was on the way home. Future dropoffs may be different. Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of Disovery 2013.

 

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