Union Hotel
This is a somewhat upmarket pub, full of well-behaved 30-year olds. I weave my way through the numerous bar patrons, to the restaurant at the back.
I need to order at the bar, and find myself a table.
Black bean & quinoa croquettes, Salsa Rajas with Jicama & Orange Salad.
The sweet glaze atop this salmon isn't unpleasant. Just slightly unusual. I haven't eaten sweetened salmon before. The underside is charred. Perhaps slightly too charred.
Despite this, this piece of salmon is cooked to a nice pink, and isn't mealy or chewy.
The croquettes are crispy, but don't have a strong taste. Quinoa doesn't have a strong taste. The outside has a nice crisp, but being full of mashed beans is a bit of a letdown. This needed a stronger filling.
The orange sauce tastes like puréed capsicum, with a bit of spice. The cream adds some interest, but there's no taste in these croquettes that really stands out.
The main component of the salad is something like fennel. The thin slivers of it add crunch, but not much of a flavour. The orange and pear add a slight fruity flavour, but the dominant ingredient ends up being the onion. This is like eating a fruit salad with a bit of onion in it. It's not bad, but I'm not quite sure what dish I'm eating.
Dark chocolate mousse, peanut brittle, salted caramel.
Strongly recommended by numerous bar staff.
The parfait is like peanut paste ice cream. It has a strong peanutty taste, which is nicely sweetened by the salty caramel sauce. This is a great combination of flavours, but the caramel is just slightly too salty.
The peanut brittle is fine, but isn't really part of the dessert. It's much harder than anything else on the plate, and doesn't really mix with anything.
The chocolate mousse has a cocoa-ey taste, but not a lot of sweetness. The strength of this dessert is just that it piles all these strong flavours together. The chocolate mousse works well here, in this regard.
This dessert is just let down by being overly salty.