Salty Pidgin

Such delicious and wonderful food... Excellent service. Beautiful quirky setting. Perfect wine match and yummy cocktails. The flatbreads are delicious.. the cheese one was a huge hit with our table. The beef fillet was perfectly cooked with a wonderful, unique smokey flavour complimented with scrumptious sides... the asparagus was so good we ordered another dish. The gnocchi was also a favourite. To end with, we had the cheese board and panna cotta. Semifreddo desserts they were all fabulous....We'll definitely be back.

Have heard raving reviews of this place and everyone who attended this dinner were curious because of its reputation. We shared 4 entrees and 5 mains plus their Turkish pizza, and because the dessert price was very palatable, we mostly ordered 1 dessert each and didn't share this. The crudo (tarakihi) was nice and fresh but not very distinct in flavour, the orecchiette (like a shell pasta) had a very nice tangy lemon flavour to it and was generally very well like by all the diners, but the sauce was very watery. The biggest surprise of the entrees was the ox tongue, usually my impression of ox tongue is that they can get very hard, but these were extremely tender and fell apart when cut, the flavour was beautiful and it resembled the texture of beef brisket cooked for a very long time. The beetroot was nothing notable and some of us claimed it would be the same if we had cooked it at home in our own kitchen. The mains arrived promptly and the lamb was raved about by many of us, I am personally not a big lamb fan because of its smell, but I must admit it was fall-apart tender, even softer than a beef brisket would. The steak was nice and soft but the flavour was quite generic. The chicken breast to me was as soft as they could be without having them soaked in brine (which means it was still on the dry side) but it was done rather well, the sauce that goes with the chicken breast was beautiful and actually I liked that more than the chicken! I actually really loved the gnocchi because it was infused with a very nice cheesy flavour and a rich side of mushrooms. The fish had quite a strong smell to it but it did not taste old or off, so it must have been some condiment they had used, with the eggplant in the side that had a good kick or spice to it, generally if you like fish this was quite well made. The consensus of the table especially with all the mains that we had, was that the name of the restaurant is present in these dishes - they were all very salty. Every single bite made us reach for that glass of water in front of us, which was topped up very frequently by our lovely attendant. At the end of all over our savory dishes we added the beef kofta Turkish pizza, it was a very cute presentation of a boat shaped pizza, the crust was lovely with a nice texture and the filling was very well liked, it was one of our favourite dishes of the night. Yes it was also very salty! On the other hand, we collectively ordered the chocolate semifreddo, coffee rice pudding and panna cotta. The chocolate was rich, the coffee pudding had a nice coffee flavour to it and the panna cotta was very bland. It was quite funny because the chocolate looked like pate, the rice pudding looked like porridge and the panna cotta looked like tofu. Generally the portion size was on the small side for all the dishes, and even though they had very nice flavours, but the saltiness dominated our impression of this place, albeit the service we received was top notch and the attendant was very knowledgeable and friendly. Giving them a 7/10

High points: Overall food was spectacular, including a stunning vegeterian main. Wait staff were attentive and friendly. Deserts to die for. Let downs: a long wait on drinks and meal. A missing side dish, as it was delivered to wrong table. Very small lamb main for the price and rolled cabbage with pork was bitter.

highly rate this restaurant! the food never disappoints, absolutely beautiful. balanced all the way through. the menu covers everything, but isn't overwhelming. the service is always on point, feel looked after appropriately and never over the top. prices match food and service! can't wait for my next visit! thanks to the team (:

While the food is relatively tasty it's way overpriced. A Bluff oyster cost $4.5 each and was presented raw with a vinaigrette sauce. The Turkish pizza entree was fine and the duck liver pate very tasty but the mains were disappointing. My main was what was called lamb neck in filo pastry. I expected puffed filo pastry wrapped around some lamb beck but what came out was just something wrapped around pulled lamb meat sitting on a bed of peas. The meat was lacking seasoning and dry. The dish (for $42) really needed two of this filo wraps, a nice gravy on the side and possibly some mash to make it a complete dish. Another dining guest had the special of the day which was whole flounder. It only came with some leaves on the side and while well fried lacked any seasoning. When I mentioned during paying the bill the lamb needed the sauce they said they were experimenting a new menu and would pass on the feedback Plus for a high -priced menus, they didn't even take Paywave forcing me to scramble around to find my physical credit card. I don't think I will be back.

Such a great spot, friendly service, nice warm environment. Local small busienss at its best. There is even an intimate fire place plus an outdoor area for those sunny days. Beer tap list is of local brewies and changes often. Food is excellent, thier Pides are amazing 👏 Want to try them all! (Partial photo due to my hunger...)