A Hereford Beefstouw

Chips with everything
Comfortable and well lit and helpful staff. Don't trust the website which is actually about the original which has... a salad bar. I had been to the Hutt Street one some time ago and thought I recalled cute ikea-type pencil and pad for customers to write their preferences (rare/medium etc ) and a choice of - surely - baked potato? This time, chips with everything which given the cost of the meals was disappointing - they weren't even nice chips! Bought 2 $10 "seasonal vegetables" for the table - which were presented as a couple of soup bowls with lukewarm slabs of undercooked pumpkin (never a vegetable improved by undercooking) decorated with a couple of florets of broccoli and some wilted cherry tomatoes. Steak was good, wine cellar excellent - but that means that just the plainest steaks and a couple of glasses of wine probably sets you back $60 or more without sides, and for that I think one should expect a balanced meal. Dollop of garlic butter on the steak an extra $5, only sauces were also extra and choice was Bearnaise, Pepper or ... nothin.' Desserts were dreamy and I was pleased to see the creme caramel had improved (I won't easily forget the previous offering of a ramekin of plain custard with shards of burnt sugar on the side! and had warned my guest accordingly) That and coffee - also very good - made it about $100 a head. And brought me no closer to my "5 and 2." The waitstaff were pleasant and attentive but we'd booked early because it was a weeknight; it took an hour for the meals to arrive, and it wasn't because anyone had the chateaubriand!