The Lansdowne Hotel

The Lansdowne Hotel.
2-6 City Road,
Chippendale.

Style/cuisine: Pub.

Ahh, the Lansdowne. Five-dollar steaks and beer, all within easy stumbling distance from Uni. The Union could learn a few lessons from this place. It could even boost membership if you could get a cheap, decent cut of meat at Manning House.

Sarge had the steak and chips with pepper sauce, medium-well, and I had the steak with gravy, medium-rare. We also had sides of garlic bread and steamed vegetables. And well, it was all good. The steak was exceptional, a really nice cut for the cost. Mine was tender and pretty juicy but Sarge had the misfortune of getting one with more than its fair share of fat and gristle. We've both eaten here plenty of times before and it's the first time either of us has come across a marginally bad steak, so we're willing to write it off as bad luck.

We're pretty impressed with the chips. The look like 'homemade' fries, and initially we thought they were. But once while we were stuffing our faces with dead cow, the kitchen received a delivery. Boxes of frozen 'home style' fries. How disappointing. But for frozen chips, they're pretty good.

The drinks are a little on the expensive side, but I suppose they subsidise the meal. The thing we're most disappointed with is that the 'schooners' aren't schooners at all. Drinks come in 355mL glasses, not the regular 425mL schooner glasses. Ah well. A price we're willing to pay.

Reports of surly staff were unfounded. We found them friendly enough and promptly brought our meals to us. Sarge felt that the perve factor was rather low. However, we found the place pleasant and not too pretentious. A reasonable place for a quiet lunch.

Rating: Four out of five plates licked clean.

Pho 236.

Pho 236.
236 King Street,
Newtown.

Style/cuisine: Vietnamese/Chinese

Sarge and I actually ate at this place last Thursday, but neither of us had gotten around to doing the inaugural post about it. And frankly, it was that long ago, and combined with tiny attention span, I can't really be arsed to put any really effort in. Sorry folks. I promise I'll do better next time.

So we alighted from the train at Newtown and decided we needed to sate our craving for umami, a flavour that can only really come from MSG asian food.

We found this little Vietnamese/Chinese place, aptly named Pho 236, and took a seat by the window. It's exactly the sort of place we were looking for - it fits our criteria for our food odyssey. It's not too flash, an establishment that could be at your local shopping strip. A place you'd take for granted.

After the entree of fried spring rolls and sui maai, I had the seafood and rice noodle and Sarge had the combination chow mein. It was all good. That's my judgment. All of it. See, I told you this was a half-arsed review.

Service? Well, erm, the waiter didn't talk much. Food came promptly. And hot. Pretty good by my standards, really. I don't ask for much.

The place was a little bare, and the decor a little worn by age. It was neat and clean which is all that matters, really.

So yeah, I'd eat there again.


Rating: Four dishes licked clean (out of a possible five).

Coming soon...