temporada, aubergine's "casual friday". when first walking in, although initially meeting a sea of suits sitting around the bar at the centre of the restaurant, the barman noticed us at the door and eagerly jumped out and took us to a seat nice and far away from the door (and cold outside) despite no reservations.
we ordered a glass of sparkling and half a dozen oysters to start. they have a variety of different oysters (literally a variety! not just various ways of presenting them). we went for the plain old tuross rock ($3.5 each). our waiter asked if that was all we were ordering or whether he should leave the menus on the table. this very much feels like a place where you could just have a drink, a bite to eat, or a full multi-course meal. no pressure either way!
we both moved on to a pork roll each as a starter, which were literally melt in your mouth! at $10 each they were half way between a slider and a burger, and a good starter for a casual but still interesting meal.
on the menu there aren't any mains, instead there are "plates". now, this isn't tapas, and they may not necessarily be designed to be shared, but our lamb with pearl barley and broad beans was pretty easy to divvy up. i get the impression that you could cobble together your own selection of what a meal is and it would be acceptable.
the lamb ($32) was lovely by the way. not the most tender i've ever had, but still flavoursome, medium, and the perfect size.
despite the collection of suits, and the aubergine ties, our waiter was incredibly friendly (without actually trying to be our friend), and above all genuine! although not providing tasting notes on the wines (not that it would be expected) he offered his opinions and background on thewine(including telling us that the relatively cheap pinot noir we chose was just one of his favourites, even compared to the pricier one, and made other recommendations too).
when we couldn't eat any more, and asked for the bill, he came back and poured us the end of a bottle of dry riesling they were discontinuing, just because he loved it and wanted to share the experience.
when we were about to leave, my girlfriend remarked on how even though we had a three course meal here, she would be just as comfortable coming here for a drink, a cocktail, or some oysters or starters. when i asked her what her favourite part of the night was, she said "the oysters. and the service".
as we left i noticed that despite the collared shirt and crisp black apron on our waiter, hidden behind the bar he was wearing black skinnies and some sneakers. which, to be honest, perfectly sums up the place. will definitely return.