The other day, Thomas asked a bunch of us to go for a food tasting session at Bondi Beach Grill & Bar.
It’s located at The Curve, right next to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. on the 1st floor. Lern and I have passed by the restaurant with its big signboard a few times even before they opened, and each time he will rave about how Bondi Beach in Australia has these fried Mars bars (which sounds pretty interesting). Well, sorry to disappoint you, but this Bondi Beach we went to doesn’t serve fried Mars bars.
The surf board looks like it just survived a shark attack...LOL
It’s newly opened, on the 15th of November. They offer free wi-fi and they even have their own restrooms (unlike some of the eateries around The Curve). No hunky, blonde, blue eyed surfer dudes, or even beach babes in tiny bikinis here, but I guess I’ll just settle for good food... :)
The interior with a bar in the middle.
A choice of al-fresco dining or just to chill out.
Bondi Beach Grill and Bar is not the place for you if you are looking for fine dining. They offer a more simple and natural fare, and their food is cooked with olive oil. According to the management, theirs is a backyard barbeque concept; but what sets them apart is their specialty sauces which complements the food. Any barbeque maestro will tell you that a good barbie is determined by the sauce.
For some of their dishes, there is a choice of different portion sizes; appetizers/mains. There are also a variety of categories to choose from; ‘burgers n sandwiches’, ‘flamin kitchen’ and ‘giant skewer’.
The menu
Their beverage list is pretty decent. There are no special concoction beverages (the fanciest they have are smoothies), but it’s adequate enough. The cheapest are sodas and ice lemon or orange tea (RM 9), and the most expensive (not counting alcohol) is freshly squeezed apple or orange juice (RM 15). Beers, alcohol and a wine list are also available. Bondi Beach is currently having happy hours all night long, even including weekends.
Ice Orange Tea
RM 9
The first dish we were served was Grilled Oysters topped with Buttery BBQ Sauce. The appetizer portion comes with two oysters while the main portion comes with 10 oysters. If you are squeamish about oysters like me, this dish might change your mind. The BBQ sauce with a dash of Tobassco really made the difference. I was slurping it all up!
Grilled Oysters topped with Buttery BBQ Sauce
RM 21/RM 32
Spotted: Photographers with big-assed cameras swarming over food *flash flash flash*
The second dish was Prawn Pinwheels, which are “spiced tiger prawns grilled on a bed of curly endives”. The appetizer portion come with 3 skewers of prawns, the main portion comes with 5 skewers. Now, I’m not a huge fan of prawns, but I’m telling you, this dish was my favourite for the night! The prawns were so juicy and succulent, with that delicious taste of perfectly grilled food. Ooo...I’m drooling already just by thinking about it!
Prawn Pinwheels
RM 16/RM 21
What was served next was the Seafood Kebabs with Dill from the ‘giant skewer’ category which has tiger prawn, soft-shell crab, squid, tenggiri, courgette, cherry tomato served with tartare sauce on what else but a giant skewer. One of the tiger prawns I tasted was not so fresh, but I think that was the only exception (I still prefer the Prawn Pinwheels though...). The soft-shell crab was a nice touch to the dish, delicious too I might add, with its char-grilled taste. Squid and tenggiri fish were not bad too. The tenggiri was soft and flaky.
Seafood Kebabs with Dill
RM 38
Next, we got to sample some dishes from the ‘flamin kitchen’ category. All of the dishes in this category are served with their specialty sauces, though if you want more (which I guarantee you will) you can always order extra from their ‘Sauce Selection’ menu (RM 3). We were served the Rib Eye, Sirloin, Fillet of Dory and Salmon. Each dish comes with baked creamy potato with cheese, and vegetables. The sauces which accompanied the dishes were Bondi BBQ, Mushroom, Black Pepper, and Lemon Herb Butter.
I’m a firm believer that you shouldn’t cook your steaks past medium rare. So the Rib Eye was quite a disappointment for me as it was a tad over done for my liking, which made it quite tough.
Rib Eye
RM 32
For me, the Sirloin is one of the tougher cuts of meat, but this time the Sirloin was just nice. It was cooked pretty well also; not too rare that you would expect it to ‘moo’ at any time, and yet not too overly done that it feels like you are chewing rubber.
Sirloin
RM 28
I personally preferred the dory over the salmon because the dory was juicier. I found the salmon a tad dry. It was an excuse to slather more Lemon Herb Butter sauce on it though... :D
Fillet of Dory
RM 21
Salmon with Lemon Herb Butter sauce
RM 28
As for the sauces, they were all superbly delicious. The Bondi BBQ sauce has a nice balance between sweet and sour, while the black pepper is just nice without being too overpowering in its peppery-ness. The usual mushroom sauces I taste are pretty bland and lacking that oomph. But Bondi Beach’s mushroom sauce was really flavourful, with lots of mushrooms in it.
Black Pepper, Mushroom and Bondi BBQ sauce
RM 3 per bowl
For desert, we had Honey Grilled Banana with Coconut Flakes, and Apple Cinnamon Comb. All dessert are served with vanilla ice-cream. The grilled bananas were just so-so, and I wasn’t a fan of coconut flakes.
Honey Grilled Banana with Coconut Flakes
RM 8
The Apple Cinnamon Comb was better, especially eaten warm with the cold ice-cream.
Apple Cinnamon Comb
Rm 12
Me digging in!
Hmmm....Might I suggest fried Mars bars for the dessert menu to spice things up....? *grin*
