It’s a tricky thing for a restaurant to cater for the range of dietary choices that are demanded by discerning diners these days. However, the good people at CSI have risen to the challenge and have invited us in to sample their new menu range. We were specifically requested to focus on the plant based foods as well as the Mixed Grill.
The new menu has the usual favourites such as lamb cutlets, the ever-popular parmi and a variety of sides and toppers. The salad menu is very enticing and has a new edition of the Nicoise salad and entrees are sensational (we recommend the Haloumi Bruschetta and the Rustic Turkish Bread).
For the meat lovers, there are the combo meals and you certainly won’t struggle to find something you like from off the grill. Add to that the seafood, pasta, and pizza menus and a great range of sides, including bread rolls. How many times have you been to a restaurant and thought to yourself that you wish you had a piece of freshly baked bread roll to mop up the plate with? At CSI you will find one of those in the sides menu. Bloody brilliant!
The part of the menu that we were focusing on last night was the plant based menu. We started right at the very top with the HoiSin Chicken Stir Fry and we will be heading back next week to try out some others.
As a true litmus test of the plant based menu, next week we have invited a couple of our vegan friends to join us and share their opinion.
Let’s get into what we tried. The HoiSin Chicken Stir Fry - Plant based chicken tossed with broccoli, carrot, capsicum, baby corn, sugar snap peas, hokkien noodles all tossed in a hoisin sauce. $21.90 for members, $26.90 for non-members.
As most of our readers would undoubtedly know, I’m very much the carnivore, so, I have to admit I was a little dubious about trying something new that looks like chicken, but actually isn’t chicken.
Never-the-less that was one of our picks for the evening. Being the true gentleman that I am and with a bigger mission to attend to, I had to let Sharon eat most of this dish, which clearly wasn’t a problem for her. Of course, I wanted to try it and, much to my surprise, it was pretty darn good.
I would quite happily order this again. The flavours were all there and it certainly didn’t have that chemical flavour that can sometimes be associated with plant based foods. Everything was cooked beautifully and I’m very confident about sharing this new menu with my friends.
The entrée’s that we had on this occasion were the Duck & Plum Spring Rolls and the Cheese and Bacon Cob Loaf. We only ordered two entrée’s in the name of science and I feel the cob loaf could very easily keep two people happy all on its’ own, unless you were only ordering a very small main.
Still, I’m glad that we didn’t miss out on the spring rolls which were absolutely brilliant (and tasted just like a spring roll should). Totally crispy filo pastry all around and a very tasty filling, but what really topped them off was the tangy plum sauce. There wasn’t much left of that by the time we were done.
Now, onto my main event – the Mixed Grill!! Lamb cutlet, 150g rib fillet, pork sausage, fried egg, hash brown, grilled tomato, sautéed mushrooms, served with chips, salad and gravy. Enough food to feed a hungry Viking.
Definitely a man-sized meal and the thing that stood out to me the most was that, with everything that was going on, on the plate, they still managed to put up a perfectly cooked, medium-rare, 150g steak. Now that tells me that there is discipline in the kitchen because I’ve been to places where the mixed grill has portions that are a bit of a let-down.
The chips are not hot, the chops are greasy and the steak is cooked to that unappealing state of grey. Nothing like this one, that’s for sure. Everything on the plate was to the highest standard right down to the button mushrooms. Simple food done really well.
I am also happy to say that, even with our over-ordering, the cost for the evening including beer and wine was just over $100.00.
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