Oxford Hotel

By now, we could basically call ourself O'Connell Street regulars, we had wandered up and down that many times.  It was a lot of fun walking around like well, we've been there and there and there… I'm probably exaggerating and we haven't done that many but it FELT like it.

Everyone knows of the Oxford Hotel, and it seemed like a prime unbooked and unplanned date night location. Plus, it was a pub, they would have burgers… I do love a good pub burger ;)

The Oxford was so nice inside, and it was so easy to get a table. We were fairly early and it was a Saturday so there wasn't any after work mob there which was good.  I don't think I express enough how much I appreciate a good burger.  When it's just all put together right, and the patty is good. I don't like a patty that's too… if you've had the Primo Burger at Caffe Primo, I don't like it like that.  I guess I like it real? More homemade, not too greasy.  I know, I'm picky for a pub meal but oh well.

Anyway, so went to the bar to get us drinks and I'm pretty sure, not 100% but pretty sure the lady bartender hit on me.  You know when you get the eye? Not the stink eye, the Joey Tribiani "how you doin?" eye… I'm SURE it was that hahaha.  Just a fun little thing I'd like to share. 

I loved the chips they did, no fries here! They cut them up (with a v slicer I bet) and boom on the plate.  I didn't feel as bad about eating them because they weren't technically "fries" right? 

Paul had a lovely fancy pizza with pumpkin and an assortment of other pizza vegetables that I don't really like, but he freaking loved. 

I'd like to mention my eyes only look so crazy because of shadows - I don't actually have a super weird shaped monobrow

It was a pretty short sharp shiny date night which I was peachy keen for. 

Salsa

So I had heard about Salsa from a few ladies at my previous work, and they had taaaaalked about it and talked it up so much we had to date night there. Simply could not say no after hearing about this amazing place. 

It's possible we didn't go at the best time, it's near the beach and it was winter. It was on a dark street that didn't really have a lot else on there, maybe a fish & chip takeaway shop and the front was lit up with florescent lights which I think were all the rage in the… 80s? Also a lot of palm trees. Anyway, it was a bit cool and hip, and very very different to what I was expected from a place called "Salsa". I hear that and I was thinking mexican. I don't know what Salsa was, it definitely wasn't mexican. I'm thinking italian. 

The inside matched the outside, it was very dark inside. Not like mood lighting, it was darker than that. Like a struggle to read the menus dark… but that's okay! Especially where we sat kind of in the corner. Furniture looked like it was from the 80s as well, which I have nothing against it was just a different kind of date night.  Actually thinking about it - whatever era "Grease" was in… that's what it was like. I thought of the diner they have the shakes in and Danny and Sandy hid behind the menus and giggle. Yeah that diner, it was like that. But smaller. And a lot darker. And in Australia… etc.

The menu is very limited and it's all a bit.. different. Which is great, but personally didn't leave me with a lot that I like the sound of. Paul had a chicken dish, which was chicken breast, potatoes and another vegetable in a sauce and I went for definitely the most basic thing on the menu - margarita pizza. 

Don't mind the poor quality photos... it was dark :)

Paul cleaned his plate up :)

I wish I wrote this closer to that particular date night, but I didn't… So this is what you get!

Maple House

We'd first noticed it when we had date night at Outback Jacks. I had high hopes just from the name Maple House… it sounded delicious. 

It wasn't particularly busy when we went on a Friday night, especially compared to Outback Jacks across the way, but I liked the quiet, it was more "datey". I love a good fried rice, so that's one my obvious, no questions asked, we're definitely getting that choices. Really, I can't go past a good sweet and sour dish either. And Paul can't go past anything that has "ribs" in it. 

Prices were reasonable so we got two entrees to share, fried dim sims and spring rolls. I'm not used to having "real" dim sims, more the frozen/deep fried salty ones you get at chicken and chip shops. So when these big round things came out I was like… that's not a dim sim (obviously it was). It tasted a lot better than other dim sims. The real stuff always is right?

Paul got what I believe was pork ribs in plum sauce (whatever it was, it was bloody delicious) and I had sweet and sour pork. Hello amazing. I was so glad that when it came out it wasn't that red super artificial sauce. It looked and tasted amazing. It looked and tasted really fresh. And the fried rice was awesome too, not overly oily and didn't make me feel like I was eating something terrible for me (even though I really knew I was).

Unfortunately now, Maple House has closed down… however it has been replaced with Top Tai, which we've been to which will feature in a later date night entry ;)

Greek on Halifax

I can’t even remember how I heard about this place, as to my knowledge it’s not somewhere that “people our age” (hehe) frequent (if it is and I’m just not part of the cool crowd, my apologies). It was winter when we went but there were still tables set up outside. I remember thinking oh my goodness I hope one of those isn’t ours! We went in and it was just amazing. So warm and cosy and just nice. Very busy but not too crowded, you could still move around without knocking other people that’s always good.

We were a little bit early and our table wasn’t ready yet. The hostess was so apologetic I nearly felt bad! She was lovely and seemed to appreciate that we didn’t mind waiting until our table had cleared. So we sat outside and had a drink before we were officially seated. I think this was our first of Greek date nights. The menu blew me away. So much meat and different types of meat, and different meals. It was food I wasn’t used to on date night so I couldn’t not try something new even if I tried.

There was a lot of different “types” of people in the Greek. There was the small group of middle aged well dressed tipsy women, a few couples, what appeared to be a family and a few double dates. Our table happen to be seated next to the tipsy older women so I got a few giggles from listening to them for the evening.

We went to town on the pita bread, we were both so hungry and I may have ruined my meal by eating my weight in dip and pita. It was worth it. A mixed dip platter and pita is $18, then we ordered extra pita (which was only $2) because our mains were taking a little while to come out.

Looking back at the menu, I can’t actually remember what I ordered. I have a feeling it may not be on their current menu. It was basically lamb and vegetables, but that was some damn tender lamb and some damn good vegetables. It tasted almost like a home cooked meal, but with a touch of fancy. Like if one of your parents was a chef, that’s how your home cooked meal would taste.

Paul, being the manly man that he is, got the Colossus ($27). It’s basically just a giant plate of different meat. So much meat. I felt full just looking at it. But, apparently it was delicious, and to go with my damn good vegetables and lamb was his damn good meat.

It wasn’t a big date night after our huge meals. We just had to go home and slip into food comas, which really is a good end to a great date night :)

Outback Jacks

I’d like to make something clear to all those out there. We are using this blog to track our own personal experiences at particular venues. The experiences we have may be completely different to someone else’s and in the end I think it all really comes down to personal preference, so even if we don’t like somewhere, I can guarantee someone out there loves it. So ignore our opinions, just use it for ideas for places to go :)

So, Outback Jacks. We’d seen it, heard about it and dined near it, so it was time to make it a date night official venue. Tip number one: if you’re going on a weekend, make sure you book a table early in the week. The place was PACKED. I do love the décor in that place. A couple of giant crocs (one hanging over you while you eat and a half one near the entrance), dim lighting, a very funky bar and raw meat in a glass fridge where you order, the makings of a great theme restaurant really.

Anyway, so I’m not into steak that much, and as I’m sure we’re all aware, I do love a good burger. So the Wagyu Beef Burger it was. The prices at Outback Jacks are pretty reasonable I think, the burgers range from $17 - $26 (the Wagyu was the most expensive) and everything else can range from about the $17 - $50 mark, the most expensive being the steaks they have to offer (which I hear are pretty good). I think Paul got Big Jacks Rack (because as I’m sure we’re all aware, Paul loves his ribs), which were $40 for their famous 8 hour slow cooked ribs with a choice of sauce and chunky chips.

We’re usually pretty hungry before date night, especially Paul who won’t snack between lunch and date night in anticipation of a big meal, so sometimes pre-food we don’t talk a lot because we’re so hungry we can’t really hold a conversation that well (or it’s opposite and we’re so hungry we go bananas cracking terrible jokes and laughing like maniacs)… then we don’t talk when we get our food because we’re so busy stuffing our faces… then post food we’re so full we’re both about to slip into food comas. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not that weird couple that sits at the table looking awkward and not having anything to talk about… we just react the same to hunger.

Now, here came my problem. Having so many cuts of meat, so many ways to have them and being so busy posed a big issue for their ordering system. They don’t have waiters that come to the table, you go up and place your order, which is fine… usually. As I said, it was packed. Their genius way of ordering is telling them your order, them writing down your order, then as your there they get the cut of meat from the previously mentioned fridge, write on a particular popstick how you want it cooked, any gravy etc, put that in the meat then put it on a tray then send it to the chef.

It doesn’t sound time consuming, and it really isn’t if there are only one or two people. But when there’s a massive line of people, and nearly every person is ordering for more than themselves (in the case of the two people in front of me – an entire table) it takes a bloody long time. I waited half an hour in line just to order. It was ridiculous, I was hungry, and I was super dissatisfied. They only had one counter to order at as well, I feel maybe for a really busy weekend night they should consider maybe another person at the counter to improve their customer service.

So I was thinking, after I finally got to order and my stomach was about to jump out of my body and wrap itself around my throat for near starving it, that our entrée shouldn’t take too long – it was only garlic bread. Half an hour for garlic bread I think is too long, but they were really busy. Who knows, maybe they were understaffed that night. By the time the food came out I want to kill and kiss the waiter in the same go, which was a very strange feeling. The burger was average; even considering how hungry I was it just wasn’t worth the wait for me. However, I did get onion rings so that was a BIG plus :)

From what I was told by Paul, the ribs were pretty damn good, and I trust they were considering how fast and messily he ate them :)

In saying all of this, I’ve been there on a week night and it was a lot quicker but I think it’s kind of ruined for me. It’s not somewhere I would choose to go, nor would look forward to going. Paul’s brother and fiancé love the place and rave about it, so don’t let our bad experience stop you from going!

Overall, it’s not a place we would go again for a date night, and if we did it would definitely be on a week night.