On the weekend I headed to a part of town I don't frequent very often, St Kilda. The reason for me being in St Kilda was to see musician, Joshua Radin perform down at The Espy.
Given that there are no shortages of trendy cafes for all the St Kilda yuppies to have their skinny soy chai lattes with a shot of vanilla, whilst a snack sized dog sits patiently in their handbag; I wasn't really sure of anywhere good to dine. I whipped out the Cheap Eats guide and found the Espy Kitchen, which was at the venue we were going to.... convenient? I think so. 12 people on Urbanspoon had also voted, and with a rating of 100%, we knew where we were going for dinner.
We had tried to call up and book, but the friendly woman on the phone said the manager wanted to keep the place fairly open that night, as there was a John Farnham concert going on down the road. We wondered in, and wondered around for a few minutes and secured a table outside. Then when we went to order there was a table vacant inside, so we migrated inside.
Seafood Basket - $17.50
Battered & crumbed fish, calamari, prawns and scallops served with fries, lemon & cocktail sauce
Battered & crumbed fish, calamari, prawns and scallops served with fries, lemon & cocktail sauce
Being near the beach, sitting around in the sun; I wanted a no fuss meal. The lamb shank risotto did sound fantastic, but I went for a simple fisherman's basket instead. I hadn't had one in quite some time, and I remember always getting them when visiting my grandparents up in the country.
This fisherman's was perfect. The chips were just the way I like them; slightly bronzed. The prawns, scallops & calamari were nice and crispy, the fish was coated in a crunchy thick batter. I managed to pull the fish out of the batter really easily. Probably a good thing because I didn't want to eat all of that batter and clog my arteries too much.
Caeser Salad With Fried Egg + Chicken - $16.50
A caeser salad was ordered; this time with chicken! We learnt that lesson from being ripped off at the Coffee Club a couple of weeks back.The only complaint was that there could have been more caeser dressing on the salad. It looked impressive though. Another good portion size.
There is a great variety of food on the menu, with options for vegetarians, vegans and gluten free meals clearly marked.
With lots of nice sounding things on the menu, friendly staff, a great view; I'm rather looking forward to going back for the food.
The Joshua Radin concert was fantastic... despite the fact he started playing at 11:30pm at night... standing for 3.5 hours killed my feet.
I'm off to Tasmania tomorrow for 5 days of foodie adventures. I will try and post whilst I am away.. I hopefully have internet access. I know I have a backlog of posts for you all to see. Given that I will be away for:
- 5 dinners
- 4 breakfasts
- 4 lunches
- morning and afternoon teas
I will have ALOT to blog about when I come back!
The portion sizes look quite good for the price and there looks like a lot of chicken in the caesar salad!
Have a fabulous trip!! Looking forward to all your photos from Tassie!