Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Citrus, Adelaide

"In Adelaide, you’ll find entire streets devoted to dining: each a mix of cafés, pubs and restaurants." Adelaide Tourism Marketing spills the beans. That's right. Entire streets devoted to dining. I'll bet you've never seen that before.

citrus

One of those streets is Hutt Street. And at 199 Hutt Street you will find Citrus, Tel +61 8 8224 0100, where they do breakfast with a Mediterranean twist. Just make sure you get there well before the 11.30 cut-off.

We arrived at 11.20 for an 11.15 booking. So, admittedly we were 5 minutes late. But having ignored us for a further 5 minutes, it was 11.25 by the time we were being seated. At this point, our sour-faced waitress made a song and dance about how it was almost 11.30 and our booking was 11.15, so we'd better hurry up and order if we want breakfast. Very welcoming indeed.

I couldn't resist the chili & garlic scrambled eggs, which were pretty good despite the fact that they contained onion, not garlic, and came with a half-baked tomato that I didn't order. The bacon was OK, although not sufficiently grilled for my liking. And the place was sauce-less: no HP sauce; no tomato sauce; no relish; no chutney; nothing.

The poached eggs with salmon, asparagas and hollandaise were also pretty good, except for a hard-poached egg. Ditto the poached eggs in tomato and basil.

They even do a breakfast pizza, with spinach, roast tomato, artichokes and haloumi cheese.

Citrus is a good venue, with lots of outdoor seating under a wide veranda, and stylish black linens instead of the usual white. But it had too many weak links on food and service to score high marks.

12/20 "chili scrambles"

score

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have experienced the Adelaide concept of booking for breakfast and its associated issues, Citrus is not alone here.

However, I must say that their breakfast and service was great. French toast for a very sweet tooth...blood orange curd...heaven!

13/7/06 21:52  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mmmm, unfortunately Citrus changed hands a few years ago, and the caliber of the restaurants dramatically worsened. It used to be better. I recommend you try Urban in Dulwich instead.

3/11/08 14:08  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

they make an unbelievably mega sized muffin, all choc chips, apple pieces and banana exploded onto the plate - devine !

18/11/08 11:33  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

as a chef myself i can say that citrus is rather regarded as one of adelaides best brekky venues. However i do agree that since it has changed hands it is not quite what it was. As a customer going into a busy restaurant or cafe for a booking late you can expect to wait. many places like citrus are flat out during the day and often have to turn away walk ins. If you are not there on time and there is a table of walk ins why not let them have your table it is a business after all and they cant make money if you arn't there to spend! Hospitality is a very hard industry and us hospitality workers are only human sometimes we make mistakes. I think it quite ridiculous sometimes the fact that there are many sites like this one where customers can pick apart every tiny detail of a meal or a venue. It takes away from the simple fact that eating is about enjoyment and people. Why are there no sites like this picking apart our hospitals? or general practitioners? surely a more life or death situation would require more scrutiny than whether or not your tomato was cooked the way you like it. I would recommend urban bistro for a good brekky but please just try to enjoy it next time you eat rather than picking every detail apart.i'm sure an over poached egg isnt going to ruin your whole day.

18/6/10 19:04  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

to anonoymous who is a chef - well said people get very critical in hospitality what one person likes another person doesnt. if your going to be late why not just call and let them know - abit of courtsey goes along way. It should work both ways people who work in hospitality should be treated like everyone else but unfortunately people seem to think its ok to treat them like servants.

13/8/10 16:58  

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