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Wednesday, May 14, 2008

The Monkey Bar, Balmain


Suckling pig $20.00
available only on Tuesdays


Ahhh suckling pig. Let's not think about scenes from Babe, but instead appreciate the glorious sight of --ooh! the crackling! ahh the tender flesh!

Tuesday night is Suckling Pig and Mussels night at the Monkey Bar in Balmain. A recent change in restaurant management meant our Entertainment Card was rejected, but we stayed in the bar anyway, swayed by the menu and the unwelcoming swirl of cold winds outside.


Mussels $8.00
available only on Tuesdays


A bowl of mussels can be had for a very affordable $8.00. It's not a huge portion, but the dozen-mussel portion works well as a shared appetiser among four, even if the mussels themselves are quite small in the shell.

Much more impressive is the suckling pig, the biggest selling dish of the evening, we notice, of the tables around us. It's a narrow rectangular platter that holds a portion of suckling on one end, a mound of salad greens on the other. The crackling is picture perfect, golden and bubbled to a delicious crisp. The bed of mash is tasty too.


Local calamari floured and fried $15.00
served with chips and leaf salad

I also have a stake in the calamari, tender curls lightly floured and fried. Served with a generous pot of aioli, we gobble the lot including the crunchy shoestring fries and the smattering of palate-cleansing salad.


Beer battered flathead fillets $16.50
served with aioli and chips

Beer-battered flathead fillets are sweet and fresh, its light, crisp and airy batter adorned with a bonus lace petticoat.


Crespelle con mousse di cioccolata $11.90
Crepes filled with Belgium chocolate mousse
served with roasted almond gelato

Our crepes arrive to craning necks and envious glances from the next table. The chocolate mousse filling is more like a thick chocolate paste, and our promised almond gelato has been replaced with a too sweet vanilla ice cream, but the puddle of chocolate provides a celebration of decadence. Rich and a tad cloying in sweetness, it's probably shared between two.


Meringa $11.90
Italian meringue served with vanilla mascarpone,
strawberries and orange montenegro jelly

The meringa is much more of a success, a battle of spoons ensuing for extra mouthfuls. A sugary pillow of crunchy meringue is slathered with creamy vanilla mascarpone and a small scoop of vanilla ice cream. The swirl of orange jelly and macerated ruby grapefruit provides a refreshing counterpoint to the sweetness of the meringue.

There are no monkeys are the bar tonight, but there are certainly plenty of little piglets.

The Monkey Bar
255 Darling Street, Balmain, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9810 1749

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Balmain--Kazbah on Darling (b'fast)
Balmain--Kazbah on Darling (dinner)
Balmain--La Boheme
Balmain--Trojans
7 comments - Add some comment love

posted by Helen (Grab Your Fork) on 5/14/2008 10:29:00 pm


7 Comments:

  • At 5/15/2008 10:41 am, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Yums..!! the prices ain't too bad either.. :)

     
  • At 5/15/2008 3:05 pm, Blogger Y said…

    Mmmm... suckling pig. The rest of the dishes sound great too. Looks like my kind of restaurant :)

     
  • At 5/16/2008 12:51 am, Blogger Helen (Grab Your Fork) said…

    Hi Mama Bok - We ate from the bar menu, but yes it was quite reasonably priced.

    Hi Y - There are fancier dishes in the restaurant itself but we preferred the casual bar area. The suckling pig was great. I was a little bit worried it might be dry but it really was quite sensational!

     
  • At 5/16/2008 9:44 am, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    that's so disappointing to see that your ent. card was rejected! They are in the 2008/09 entertainment book if I'm not mistaken - I've only just received the book... how can the management have changed that quickly?

     
  • At 5/19/2008 11:30 pm, Blogger Helen (Grab Your Fork) said…

    Hi Silver - I checked the Ent Book on the website and they don't seem to be listed? In any case, it's still worth it to head there on a Tuesday if the suckling pig is still a weekly special :)

     
  • At 5/20/2008 2:39 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    B*gger! Why didn't I go that night!

     
  • At 6/07/2008 1:31 am, Blogger Helen (Grab Your Fork) said…

    Hi divemummy - Never ventured, never gained. That'll teach you! lol

     

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