Sarkies Restaurant

Sarkies With Love Restaurant, 126 Union St, Brunswick
Tel: 03 9380 9444
Rates: 4 out of 5 Good
Visited: A Saturday night, July 2008
Food Comments:
Good tasting food, a range of influences here, including use of Asian style light salads and/or greens; and some ‘mash’ options to support the mains; between myself and my partner we had a lovely proscuito wrapped sweet potato version and, another made from potato infused with vanilla bean. Other options [remembered] on the menu included Middle Eastern inspired lamb fillet (rubbed with Middle Eastern spices), Roasted Duck with Asian inspired flavours, an Eye fillet steak also rolled in some spices, a pasta dish and, probably there was something for a Vegetarian but not being one I didn’t note it!
Entrees: Our entree was shared, ‘melt-in-the mouth’ light Arancini balls (3 were provided) served with a lovely light-but-thick-consistency herb aioli (which was really like a very light & mild tasting Belgian-style mayonnaise with herbs). (This was great as it got me over my fear of the “Arancini” following a very bad memory of consuming one as Mains at Trotters Restaurant, Lygon St, Carlton where they used dried shitake mushrooms but neglected to probably both wash or soak them so the smell & taste was so pervasive I couldn’t taste anything else for days -completely disgusting and until now I hadn’t been near one since!)
Mains: my partner had crispy skinned salmon served with Asian Greens and on a bed of sweet potato mash wrapped in proscuito; I had Pork Belly (entrée size) which was crispy and while it may have been cooked in lots of infusing things like anise & soy (I remember the waiter mentioned that!) its flavour was on the light side – only criticism here is its skin was a little overcooked and crackling therefore overdone. They also could have given me better knife to cut it too – luckily though no bits went spinning out of control into my neighboring diner’s lap as I feared they might!
Desert was a ubiquitous Sticky Date Pudding. This was very well done here with pudding so lovely and moist, with solid flavour and richness but not to OTT - could have done with more butterscotch sauce buts that’s often a problem but at least they provided ample cinnamon infused cream (very lightly infused) and it wasn’t thickened or the whipped variety (yeah!!), but a whole small bowl of the liquid variety and therefore perfect for this dish!!! (I much prefer this to a whipped variety where the richness is often lost).
Prices: not the cheap end but after a lot of eating-out in Brunswick where a majority of places are cheap but not great and often just ‘plain terrible’, its worth choosing to spend more to get a meal that’s enjoyable!!
This restaurant seems pitched at ‘fine dining’ end, Entrees priced between $14 - $18, Mains priced in the $30’s with the Salmon coming in at $38 – so not cheap. Deserts were priced pretty much all around $12.50 or so and most had chocolate featured somewhere (Sticky Date possibly the only alternative if you’re not into chocolate flavours!)
Drinks were pretty standard, with some reasonable wines by the glass.
A Plus: the restaurant served a complimentary ‘food taster’ to us before we got our entrees – a small bruschetta style thing with an amazing rich sauce with it that was a rich sweet treacle in consistency but with plum/cherry/ almost chocolate/port overtones…. A really lovely warmer!!
Service: Good attentive food service with prompt taking of orders and service of food, but as usual less attention to empty wine glasses on the table. As the restaurants slick kitchen is completely & wholely visible to diners, it’s also interesting to note a whiteboard where a table’s number is recorded and times allocated for serving of entrees mains etc. Presumably it helps the kitchen keep orders on track and as dishes once served get crossed off there seems to be little chance your meal will either be wrong or not arrive! All is clean and spotless too and a nice ambience overall to the venue with some brick walls still visible, linen table clothes and napkins etc.
Paying: Yes they do take cards !!!, Eftpos etc – they aren’t one of those pain in the arse joints that has a little sign at the cash register as you get ready to pay advising they only take cash.. (Doesn’t that annoy!)
Bookings: We hadn’t booked but knew of the place and took potluck turning up at 7:00am to eat. They asked us if we had a booking – I thought it was a ploy perhaps to make it seem as if they were busy –well I was wrong! We got there possibly last table for 2 and then in the next half hour the place just completely filled!! And they had all booked it seems!!
Go Again? Yes absolutely!