the austral hotel

i hadn't been to the austral to eat in a while so we went to see how the food was. iorderedthe roast pumpkin salad and it was amazing! the ambience is really nice in winter as they have an open fire place in the restaurant, menu is good and has healthy options. i recommend if you want a well priced great sized value for money dish.

i went for a quiz night with work (which we nearly dominated btw) to the perpetually busy austral hotel.  the front bar & outside seating nearly always full at most times of the year, i did expect it to be busy, but it was incredible for a wednesday night.

luckily we had booked because there was no where free to sit, but people still did. personally, that is not my favourite thing, i like my space!  we were eating while we dominated our quiz game, and iorderedthe osso bucco.

the service felt really rushed (obvs because it was so busy) but weorderedand sat down.  service was fairly quick for how busy it was & the osso bucco was as tender as it should be, but the sauce was pretty bland. i also lucked out on getting any bone or marrow.   it was nice, but just a bit bland (salt that baby up!)

the atmosphere is pretty energetic, but that's not always 100% my game.  i'm a bit of a premature granny tbh.

went to the austral with work friends on a wednesday for a quiz night. it was super busy, but this made for a lively atmosphere.

iorderedthe osso bucco after being chastised by my friends for not knowing what it was. i was told there would be succulent meat falling off the bone and something about delicious bone marrow. the meals came fast, considering how many people were there, and it looked delicious. the meat was both tender and falling off the bone - perfectly cooked. it tasted nice too, but i felt like there was something missing in the taste. it wasn't bland, but it wasn't full of flavour either. nevertheless, i enjoyed my first experience with osso bucco.

the quiz night itself was a blast. i loved the atmosphere and look forward to returning again.

after late night shopping today we went to one of the rundle street pub called austral hotel for dinner. it is quite a popular bar close to the two universities and is quite packed with university students and young professionals who gather there after work. the austral usually has a local band playing during weekends and the place can get quite rowdy inside. it was our first time eating in the pub and it sure was noisy from the band and people yelling over each other. the eating area looks very plain with bits of paint peeling. in some ways it looks a bit like an old bar from the outback but i believe the bar intends to go for that kind of appeal. the usual pub scene on a friday night. after a short while we flagged a staff down and after he took our order at the bar, he showed us to our reserved table. the eating area was packed out and we were given a table at the centre of the rowdy room. everyone around us were chatting away with a beer in their hands and eating pub meals such as schnitzels and nachos. too loud to chat, just play on our phones. our meals came quite promptly and we were pleasantly surprised that they looked very appetising. weorderedthe marinated kangaroo salad. the salad was quite big in portion with a generous amount of char-grilled kangaroo fillet.

rip off. went to the austral for a bite to eat around 6pm. iorderedthe bruschetta which cost $14 for one piece of bread, some goats cheese and a few pieces of rocket. couldn't believe it :(

a little bit good and a little bit bad. went to the austral on monday for lunch with friends. there weren't very many people there as it was a monday so i assume most people need to be at work, so, retrospectively the service was great! the pub was very clean and, i've been there in the past for drinks with friends and the atmosphere is always good. iorderedthe entree size calamari, another one of my friendsorderedthe vegetarian club sandwich and the other 2 got the chicken salad. the calamari i hadwasn't very nice, i don't think they were fresh as i couldn't actually bite through some of them and i know it's not a problem with my teeth. the chips were good though, can't complain about the chips. my friends all had good experiences though with their meals so i think it was just my bad luck. i would definitely go there again but perhaps hold off on the calamari, or ask how fresh they are if i'm tempted to go down the seafood path again.

they water down the spirits. iordereda vodka neat and it was definitely watered down and not smirnoff but something nasty. had a foul taste in my mouth the next day.

tonight, iorderedthe 300g porterhouse steak. the meal came out after a 15 minute wait and all meals arrived at the same time.

pub atmosphere. casual, loud, with good atmosphere. good variety on menu. we had the onion rings to start - great crunchy batter. weorderedthe veggie sandwich (very good), the kangaroo island garfish (a little fishy tasting) and the grilled kangaroo (delicious).

service was quick and friendly.

iordereda schnitzel and when it came it was really overlooked, like leather to cut. i showed the waitress and she said it would take half an hour to make me another one, the chef didn't think it was "too bad", and they offered me a free drink instead of my meal (soft drink). thanks for nothing. i asked for a refund and it took ages for the manager to "approve" it. never coming here again.