In the neighbourhood

We went to Pickle for dinner last night with Charlie's mum, and to be totally honest I have mixed feelings about the place. The atmosphere was great; I love the ceiling of pickle jars, the flower arrangements and miss-matched chairs. The drinks menu was also great; we had Six Barrel Soda and Rekorderlig cider. To start we ordered barbeque fries with aoli, and sliders which were delicious and affordable (3 pulled pork with tomato salsa and 3 ham, cheese and pineapple for $20). We were off to a good start, with fries wrapped in a newspaper cone and presented in block of wood, and the sliders on smaller slabs of wood.

But we each chose a large plate to share for dinner (smoked salmon, potato and chive salad; roast chicken, basil pesto and tomato salad; 57°c skirt steak, iceberg salad and condensed milk dressing) and I found them rather lacklustre - no outstanding flavours that Charlie and I would struggle to recreate at home (that's saying something) and little attention to presentation. I'd heard a lot of great things about their quirky dishes, so perhaps we were too conservative with our choices. The staff were friendly, but a little disorganised - we were served by several different people throughout the meal, and asked for our initial drinks order twice.

Overall, it was a nice evening out. I'd definitely go there again for a cider and sliders (and wouldn't mind trying the sausages and something from the sweets menu) but we probably wouldn't bother again for a dinner.

Now, when is Mt Vic Chippery opening?