having a bit of a break from adelaide in scarborough, perth foodie mate and myself decided to head to ishka for dinner. although we had read mixed reviews from different sites, we thought, we will try anyway! well! my foodie friends! we really should have taken notice and not bothered, severe waste of money.
the décor is actually quite lovely (except the dining chairs look a bit cheap which i found unusual).
service was good, except for the fact that they did not handle complaints too well, the most difficult job for a waiter, as this is usually not their fault.
we started with some cocktails, which were okay, the marshmallow martini i had was uber sweet, so beware!
i ordered the lobster, cuttlefish entrée and foodie mate had the beetroot ricotta ravioli, underwhelming, you know? when you have finished your entrée and no one has anything to say about it! i am not even sure that i had wa lobster, tasted like slipper lobster and was overcooked. the cuttlefish had no flavour, sauces were okay and a bit of shredded iceberg and cherry toms, not really fine dining fare. the ravioli was under seasoned and lacking in ricotta. we also shared some oysters with the crispy bacon and smoked chilli, really nice but no crispy bacon. i had a second entrée as my main, which was the smoked duck dish and didn’t eat this, the combination does not work, cold slices of duck, fat not rendered properly, skin not crispy at all and yet the pears were warm! crisp bread doesn’t belong on the plate either, goat cheese nice though! although these are all good ingredients, they didn’t come together as a whole dish. foodie mate had the pork dish, which any home cook could have done, this is not the standard we were expecting. had mash as a side which was also left, just wasn’t up to standard.
the biggest disappointment of all, was the dessert platter to share.
we had a terrible choc pudding which was not a pudding at all, like a dry brownie with cheap choc bits, lime rice coconut was just a bit of dry rice with zero taste, brulee was okay, rasp & almond tart was passable, again lacking taste and the eton mess was just that.
we did say a few words to our waitress about our meals, which was taken on board and referred back to the kitchen, but, we received no acknowledgement. it was only when we went to pay, that we were refunded the duck and the mash, but still, no words from the kitchen or management.
what we found, overall, was that the décor and service just didn’t match the food that was being served, there is room for improvement here and this should be acted upon immediately.