Video
Read full review
2013-03-16
419 views
I love Mondays. This says a lot about what I'm not. A few weeks ago I fell in love with Stanley but reckoned that I ought to find some justification for returning so soon, spending a leisurely day out, feasting on nice views, atmosphere and relatively more expensive food. Hence the 3.5-hr hike this morning (Parkview -> Stanley) before a late lunch at CP. The restaurant was pretty empty. The sun was shining. The grass is green. It is good. Environment:What is there to complain about? NOTHING
This says a lot about what I'm not. A few weeks ago I fell in love with Stanley but reckoned that I ought to find some justification for returning so soon, spending a leisurely day out, feasting on nice views, atmosphere and relatively more expensive food. Hence the 3.5-hr hike this morning (Parkview -> Stanley) before a late lunch at CP. The restaurant was pretty empty. The sun was shining. The grass is green. It is good.
Environment:
What is there to complain about? NOTHING.
Love the woody tones. This decor relaxes my body and soul. Service:
No complaints either. Maybe I was too hungry to care. I even found our waiter quite humorous when he served my ice cold lemon tea and with an interesting '...here's your invincible lemon tea! ("無敵檸檬茶")'. ^^''
Food:
Lunch menu. Apart from order a la carte, you have a few lunch set options:a. ANY entree: $95
b. Soup/salad of the day + entree + coffee/tea: $125
c. Starter (from the blackboard) + entree (from blackboard): $18x
d. Starter (from blackboard) + entree (from blackboard) + dessert (from blackboard): $2xx
All 4 of us opted for the $125 set lunch. And among the four entrees, 3 ordered soup...and the same 3 ordered steak, hahaa. So much for variety. Oh and all 4 of us ordered iced lemon tea ^^'' .
Would've wanted to say 'no complaints!' about the food as well but sadly I do have grievances.
Bread basket
Slightly disappointed with the fact that the bread was not hot. It was 'room temp'. Not hot and fragrant and fluffy, but the flavour was quite nice. It had a pleasant, subtle sweetness, and was quite doughy. Unlike a regular baguette. Potato and leek soup
I had a small spoonful. It was very lightly, potato-based (non-creamy), seasoned but a bit bland (a bit more salt?), hot, and was a good dipper for the bread. The texture: grainy, but the grains were fine - no big lumps. Not my favourite soup for sure, but at least it was better than my...salad.Green salad
Boring, predictable, almost insincere. there is nothing I want to say about this disappointing salad. The vinagrette was too acidic, the leaves were boring, probably a mesclun mix straight out of a packet..I finished it only because I needed the greens. Hugely disappointing. Asparagus risotto roll
I ordered this. It was the vegetarian option of the day, and was surprisingly good. I was originally quite skeptical about the idea of risotto wrapped in a ROLL, but it turned out to be a lovely crepe, crisp round the edges, slightly savoury, and the risotto wasn't actually risotto - it was much drier than a sloppy risotto. Its consistency was akin to paella. Plump grains cooked al dente. The flavour of asparagus came through nice and strong. Loved the small crunch the stalks gave the 'risotto'. Well-seasoned. All in all, this was a rather delicious dish, but it should be renamed. Although it wasn't true to its description, it was nonetheless, a great attempt at 'fusion' French food. Recommended! Oh, you also get a small salad to go with the crepe. The salad was about as interesting as the starter.
Sirloin steak with five cheese sauce and side veg
The only thing I enjoyed about this dish is the 5-cheese sauce. Although the sauce was mildly pungent (because of the stilton?) I couldn't help digging in. It was moreish and added a lovely savoury profile to the bread and the side veg. The sides - french fries, carrots, peas etc - were extremely disappointing. Like they just came right out of the freezer which I believe is exactly what they are. Deep freeze skinny fries and peas/carrots. The waiter failed to ask my friends how they wanted their steaks prepared. They all came medium well. Lots of fat. Conclusion:
Would probably come again at some point because of the nice environment, and because there aren't that many choices around. But I could do with an entree only, and maybe add a cheese platter paired with some wine. Next time I should check out the beachfront pubs too. Can't wait to visit Stanley again!
Other Info. :
Pet and kid-friendly - essential in Stanley!
(The above review is the personal opinion of a user which does not represent OpenRice's point of view.)
Post
