PALOOKAVILLE, Brunswick St

Last night our party of four successfully managed to achieve my goal of eating amazing food on a budget, thanks to a friend who recommended this amazing establishment.

Palookaville's belief is that too many restaurants waste food by having serving sizes that are much too large, and too much filler food. The statistics on their website (check it out- http://www.palookaville.com.au/) about the amount of food America wastes every day are simply astounding. So comes their motto- you pay less, because they only give you what you can eat. In addition to this, kind of like their name, they offer an eclectic, quirky menu with lots of Asian influences (which I loved, of course) in a funky, pub-like setting. The restaurant is ambient, with cool tunes playing, but despite the huge amount of people it seats we could still hear our conversations.

It is really easy to work out the bill at Palookaville, as every meal is a flat $14, bar the steak which is $16. You order your meals and your drinks at the bar, which would make it a fab situation for a big group as working out a big bill is always confusing, especially if you failed Maths like me.

Our party of four started with the trio of dips and the Moroccan lamb cigars. Both were enjoyable, but the cinnamon sprinkled filo cigars stuffed with yummy lamb mince served with a mint yogurt definitely stood out more than the dips. Our mains were thoroughly enjoyable. Bestie ordered fish and chips, which I would usually not salvitate over, but hers looked fab with a crunchy rice batter and real hand cut chips and Asian salad (which I picked at considering she doesn't eat salad... a perk of our friendship ;) )

Her man ordered the same as me, and we were both impressed with a generous serving of Pork Belly (I told you I just can't say no to it) cooked in a rich Masterstock with bok choy and rice. The pork was a great balance between the chewy rind/crackling and melt in your mouth pork meat.

 My boy couldn't go past the chicken parma, which was a more fashionable version of the normal parmy with pancetta, parmesan and yummy hand cut chips. He raved about the quality of his favourite pub meal, although did admit the serving size didn't satisfy him- mind you, he had knocked off work at 3.30 and hit the pub, so probably needed something more to soak up all that beer!

I, of course, after such a cheap meal, couldn't say no to dessert! The raspberry pavlova with white chocolate was divine, the tartness of the raspberry really complimenting with sweet meringue. My only criticism would be that the cream to meringue ratio was waaaaay off, and I had to spoon lots of the cream off before eating. Still very enjoyable though.

Overall, it was very satisfying to find a funky restaurant that caters to all tastes and budgets. Our friendship group seem to always be saving for rent, houses, holidays etc so its a great find to have somewhere virtually anyone could eat for a swift $20! Especially when the food is the standard of Palookaville. Try it!
L x


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