MPB @ Martin Place

6. Martin Place Bar (51 Martin Place, Sydney)

by Mattje

Situated in the heart of Sydney’s CBD, it is surprising the number of people who may have walked past Martin Place Bar (or MPB as it is affectionately referred to), had an after work drink here, but not dined. Admittedly, it is placed in one of the most competitive “casualquicklunch” food markets, with an abundance of food courts and cafes all vying for that ‘55 minute quickie’ (and yes, I could hear my ex laugh as I wrote that).

After a year of eating plenty of schnitzel, but without review – many friends thought they must have been proven right when suggesting that maybe there was only so much one could say about a crumbed bird. This is not true, and I hope that what follows can do justice to the meal that was.

The bistro at MPB has gold certification from the RSPCA Choose Wisely campaign aimed at improving the welfare and treatment of animals. This means that all egg, chicken and pork products used in the MPB bistro, are certified free-range. For the past two years running, it has won the Best Bistro/Pub Food accolade at the ‘I love Food’ awards. But awards and titles aside, it is just a place that does a cracking meal.

So... the schnitzel. Visually, the crumb is the first thing you notice about this schnitty and taste-wise, the thing you head back to the office tasting and thinking about. Full of herbs and flavour, the crumb has finely chopped rosemary, sage, oregano, parmesan and lemon zest. It is a great fresh combination of flavours that you do not normally associate with a schnitty but one that works magically.

The free-range chicken breast is also faultless. The chicken is tender, a reasonable and even consistency throughout and allows for the ideal amount of resistance when biting into the meat. Also, there are no fatty, chewy deposits which so often you find hidden in fantastic schnitzels – no this bird looks great without clothes too.

The fries are fries, and disappointingly, the side salad is just that – a salad on the side. For me, it adds to the meal in no way, but for occasionally getting in the way of the bird I am eating, falling off the plate, and me looking a bit sheepish as I pick it back up off the table apologising to my fellow diners.. However, I understand the logic, and if it allows chronic dieters to justify it to themselves that they are getting their vege intake for the week, or into thinking “well its not all bad, there’s green on the plate” then so be it. It does just appear very standard and out-of-place in a carefully constructed menu that prides itself on combinations.

However all is not lost, as the perfect accompaniment to the perfect schnitty, is an interesting (but not over powering) condiment, and the ‘made on premise’ chilli aioli is just that. I feel that you can always tell the quality of the product by the amount of sauce you need to ‘value add’ the overall taste. And though appearing paltry in proportion, it is enough to make the perfect marriage.

In terms of presentation I love the look of the crumb, it's rich, full of flavour, perfectly cooked and finished with visible sea salt. The chips dipping their feet in the pool of sauce, and one little guy completely submerged in a sea of aioli, though usually a minus, this reviewer remembered he was not Terry Durack eating at ‘3 hatter’ and let it pass.

Overall the bistro staff are fantastic. They do are great job of getting the hungry and time poor office workers in and out without complaint and a smile. They are all generally quite switched on about all aspects of the menu, which on seeing same familiar faces makes you realise staff retention is high.

For those who haven’t been, you must. While true to it’s word on the MPB website, referring to itself as an ‘informal dining environment’, it does little to impart on the reader the sheer quality of food that leaves the kitchen. MPB presents a bistro that does real bistro food, without the superlatives or the ‘beds of this’, ‘caramelised [insert unknown vegetable]’ and ‘foams of that’. It does a burger, pasta, fresh fish, nachos and so all at reasonable prices. Among such other bistro favourites, it may be hard find yourself with the schnitzel on your plate. But please, for those that say there is nothing fancy about schnitty, I challenge you to eat this crumbed bird – you will not be let down.

http://www.martinplacebar.com.au/

18/20

The Rising Sun Hotel @ Clare Valley

5. The Rising Sun Hotel (Clare Valley, SA)
by Mattje.

Set in the “historic” town of Auburn in the Clare Valley, this pub is a major benefactor of the fact “historic”, in tourist guides, is no more than a euphemism for run down, brick, desolate and drained of any modern pleasures. When the federal government had the National Broadband Network in its policy sights, I dare say a stop here may cause them to have second thoughts as the only thing connect to electricity are the pokies.

Nonetheless, being the only place to dine, I tried my luck and felt immediately welcomed in the Rising Sun Hotel by all the trappings you would expect in a country pub: a stale smell permeating from either the red carpets or the locals, a small dining room with a log fire, pleasant though guarded service towards city-folk, the familiar chime of a feature turning over from the pokies lounge, and a simple pub-style menu featuring schnitzel.

While the menu had two options for meat (chicken or beef), and four options for sauce (peppercorn, Diane, mushroom or mustards), I played it safe and went chicken with peppercorn in this unfamiliar setting. A suspiciously short wait later, my meal arrived. Served on a giant plate comes a generous schniity with an amount of chips and vege that is aimed at not distracting you from the main event. The first thing that strikes me is the colour. The crumb is not the usual golden sunset [insert other fake tan colours here] I have come to enjoy, but looks darker bordering on overcooked. The sauce too is an intense brown I have only come to associate with the Ganges in India. Looks aside, on tucking into this schnitty, I was not disappointed. The crumb, while slightly burnt around the edges owing to the inconsistent width of meat throughout, was superb. Crisp and flavoursome, there was an beautiful fragrance to it that I couldn’t identify.

The sauce too hit the mark: perfect consistency, meets the perfect amount. I love a place that is so confident of its own product, they are not shy to just ladle it on there for you, rather than serving it up in a side dish (either that or it is just less washing up). The meat was tender throughout with only the smallest pockets of fat to distract your attention, leading me to believe it was a mixture of breast, thigh and other. The sides felt more like something that was added to the dish to make it look complete (at the main-sized price tag of $17.50) rather than enhancing the dish. True the chips were fantastic and were the right size and texture to really soak up the sauce, but the vege/salad option was a little underwhelming by size and freshness.

Overall I really enjoyed this schnitty experience. The Rising Sun Hotel has an affable charm you let yourself go in, while the food is passable enough compared to city standards to make you feel like you’re dining well in the country. If you’re planning a visit to the Clare Valley, treat yourself to a meal or beer at the this place on the way through.


13/20

Essen @ Broadway

4. Essen Restaurant and Beef Cafe (133/135 Broadway)

by Mattje.

Essen restaurant and beer cafe is certainly serious about their schnitzel. For one, it is the first place I have been where “one schnitty please” has not been a recognised order. Whether it was a German reluctance to recognise our shameless demoralisation of their language, as the English, at times, seem to think “G’day mate” should be enunciated “Good day mate” or that our waiter was truly so authentic he simply did not understand. Secondly, the menus consisted of Entree, Main, Deserts and Schnitzel. I rubbed my eyes a few times, had a guy on the next table pinch me, was I seeing this correctly, a menu dedicated to Schnitzel? Thankfully I didn’t follow convention and try to progress through the menus in that order, instead I turned to the Schnitzel menu and began the process of carefully selecting my meal.

The menu itself has 8 different schnitzel options, which are done either with chicken or veal... providing you with 16 choices in total! From your run-of-the-mill schnitzel, the menu moves towards the more exotic from ‘Jeager Schniztel’ to ‘Gypsy Schnitzel’ to ‘Zingara Schnitzel’ to ‘Diane Schnitzel’. With a menu that sounds as tempting as a German porn film on mute (with the names to match) I spent like, what seemed an eternity, until settling on the one with creamy green pepper sauce.

The schnitzel itself arrived and was the size of the plate it was served on. With the confidence of an wretched fisherman, I turned to the waiter and said, “I’ve seen bigger”.. I was then informed that underneath my plate-sized schnitzel, there was in fact a second plate-sized schnitzel. Dear lord. The chicken was breast, and cooked beautifully with the meat tender and moist. The crumb was golden, light and fluffy. From first bite to last, every part of this continent sized meat was perfect. The sauce suburb and not overpowering. The meals comes served with potato roesti and cabbage salad (which is generally contained on a second plate). Now I must admit, at first I was a little disappointed with the “my way or the highway” choice of sides. I typically prefer my meals served with chips and a little green to clear the conscious. However, what Essen does is remove your default option by taking you out of your comfort zone, and pairs the accompaniments beautifully. As many beer cafes, German, Czech or Dutch do when they serve a litre of beer with a schooner worth of head (froth), they do something their way and they do it because of tradition and because it works.

The atmosphere in the place was far from electric, but then again, you head somewhere on a Monday night for a late feed and you don’t expect much. However, there was definitely a food buzz. From groups like ours pushing through and finishing our meals in what must have seemed like a 1500m swimmer fist pumping, chest beating jumping out of the water type-triumph, to those tables of date table of two - everyone at the restaurant felt like we were doing something great and achieving a food dream together.

If you’re looking to relive your Oktoberfest days of stein drinking, fried food eating messiness, you’ve come to the wrong place. What you will find at Essen is a selection of beautiful meals, friendly (in a very matter of fact kind of way) service and some really good beers to match. For those couples, probably only the sort of place you can go once you’ve reached a certain comfort level in the relationship... instead head there with a small group and enjoy a few.

For all the hype, and for the $22.50 price tag, this place does not disappoint and I will not attempt to find fault. Essen is German for 'to eat', and when you are at this place, that is one command you follow!

Rating - 19/20

http://www.essenrestaurant.com.au/

London Hotel @ Balmain

3. London Hotel (24 Darling Street, Balmain)

by Ads (guest reviewer)

Perhaps it was just me, but this schnitty was behind the eight ball from the get go. What I noticed when I walked in, is yet another Sydney pub with rubbish beers on tap and an overpriced pub-grub menu. I was informed when ordering that there would be a substantial wait for my Sunday afternoon cardiac-clogging delight. Despite the place being just over tumbleweed full, I was fine and replied, “No worries, I’ll happily wait for a well cooked schnity...(hint, hint)!” Whether it was the cheeky left-eye wink I gave bar girl or just a kitchen that was on a half-hour break, my meal (and I use that word hesitantly) arrived some 35 minutes later and was of mini-schnittal proportions.

The schnitzel itself was tough, dry and bordering on cremation. The salad, appalling. I’m not too sure what century the tomatoes and greens were picked in, but I dare say they were as old as the building itself.

The highlight on the plate were the chips – crisp and golden and fried well. Query whether packet-chips as a highlight should really be a testament to the ability of the cook?

In terms of ambience, the London did wonders to truly give you that local feel. And when I say local, I mean all the locals. Sitting in what could have been the main dining area, I was forced to eat my meal surround by dogs (and no I don’t mean the scantily clad local girls of questionable morals) I mean the hairy four-legged kind... allowed inside the pub, where food is served... unhygienic much?

Despite the old brick foundation that retains the a little of the colonial appearance, the London Hotel proved to be another glossed up pub benefiting from the affluence of the area it is in, without much substance. So many kinds of wrong, it just isn’t schnitzel.

Rating - 4/20

http://www.londonhotel.com.au/

Hotel Bondi @ Bondi Beach

2. Hotel Bondi

by Ads (guest reviewer and schnitzel connoisseur) - sent through mobile.

What a great way for me to start. Looks great, visually the schnity is perfectly cooked and the steak cut thick chips are clean and crisp. The schnity was breast, crisp and cooked to perfection, the chips also perfectly cooked in fresh oil, yum! The salad that was served with it was fresh, no 3 day old greens here. All wrapped up for the great price of $15. This is pub grub perfection served with an ice cold beer.

Rating - 16/20 (but show this baby a pan and its 17/20 all the way).

http://www.bondihotel.com.au

Buena Vista Hotel @ Mosman

1. Buena Vista Hotel @ Mosman

by mattje

It is Friday 11 June 2010 on an awesome winter afternoon and the first stop on my schnitzel tour of greater Sydney has taken me to an old time favourite. The Buena Vista Hotel in Mosman (76 Middle Head Road) shot to fame about 6 years ago when they re-did their pub-style bistro, with a new bar and slick hot plate for the ‘grill your own’. While the bar failed to live up to the hype (except for 50-somethings, trying to look late 30-somethings on Friday evening drinking slushy cocktails for $7), the food went through a bit of purple patch with the offer of two-for-one mains. Sad to say, they realised that making money on two-for-ones was only really possible when people wanted to stick around and drink. Consequently, the quality slid and the price went up gradually (arguably outstripping inflation). However, as a first stop, I thought I would revisit my old schnitzel stomping ground... and I was pleasantly surprised.

The schnitzel comes out relatively quickly and immediately looks great on the plate. A good size, shape and served with a moderate amount of fries. The chicken is clearly breast, has an amazing porcelain white look and is tender and moist. The flavour and tenderness of the chicken is beautifully juxtaposed with the crispy golden texture of the perfectly salted crumb. The schnitzel is a consistent thickness of 1.5-2.5 cms throughout, making the chicken tender from edge to centre without the need to cut away crumbed, and often chewy, edge. One of my favourite things about the schnitzel experience at the Buena Vista, is the salad bar but moreover the sauce bar. Many places offer a variety of similar looking salad bars with your Greek-salad (with oversized chunks of salty feta), your potato salad, pasta salad and vegetables. To this end, the Buena is no different. However, moving from salad to sauce, from health to heart-attack and you get to the dark corner of the bistro... the sauce bar! Here you will find a selection of hot sauces (pepper, mushroom, gravy and diane) that look like they need a good stir and your usual spilling of tomato, sweet chilli, mustards and tarter. Finally a sauce bar that isn’t afraid to let you sauce your own, so for those shy-types not wanting to make a scene and seem like a freak for harassing the bar girl for more sauce, you can sauce away in anonymity till you have what more closely resembles a mixed sauce soup, with chunks of chicken on your plate. One word of caution, do not be afraid of the slight layer of film that builds on the hot-sauces... try and think of it as the sauce marinating itself.

Overall, I cannot fault this schnitzel experience. From amazing chicken, to a place that serves delicious crispy ‘fries’ and not chips to the condiment kingdom, you will not be disappointed. The only letdown is the price tag. Although it is deep in the heartland of merchant bankers, a plate of fried things with salad and day old sauce should not be $22. However, take advantage of their two-for-one mains on Monday – Friday, midday till 3pm.

Rating – 18/20.

http://www.buenavistahotel.com.au