L has finished his uni practical rotation, and so we joined his prac group friends for a meal and a few beers at Archive Beer Boutique (a fancy name for a pub??) at West End.
Archive offers 2-4-1 meals on a Wednesday evening. L and I have been here for this deal once before. I had a steak on this previous occasion and although I ordered it medium-rare it had come out almost well-done. As such I was a bit apprehensive about eating here again, although who can pass up 2-4-1 meals?
Archives main claim to fame is their awesome craft beer menu. They have a few on tap as well as offering a huge list of bottled beers. They also have gluten free beer for those intolerant ones amongst us.
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| A few of the beers on offer |
When we got there, the place was bustling with students and locals of the West End area. There are a few large tables surrounding the kitchen and main bar, indoors are couch areas and pool tables.
We grabbed a beer first, I got a White Rabbit white ale on tap ($4 for a pot) and L had a Pepperjack handcrafted ale ($7). I’ve tried the White Rabbit before and find it crisp and easy to drink. L said the Pepperjack had a strong flavour but was tasty and he would have ordered it again if there weren’t so many other beers to try on the list.
Next we ordered our food. We were told they had a new menu that was just starting that evening.... great...... that means they haven’t had any feedback or chance to tweak it right??
L ordered the Signature Plate (usually $32); featuring a ginger beer roasted pork belly, lager battered soft shell crab and chilli beer caramel, wasabi mash and a microherb salad. The pork belly was melt-in-your-mouth and sweet, the wasabi mash was smooth with occasional tangs, and L couldn’t fault the soft shell crab.
I ordered the chicken dish (usually $24), consisting of a roasted chicken piece with tomato spicy relish, atop a fetta and herbed polenta cake with asparagus and roasted trellis tomatoes. The chicken was juicy and moist, and I loved the tomato relish. The polenta cake was just... weird. It had a really strange flavour I just couldn’t put my finger on and I ended up just picking out the fetta from it as it made me feel a bit queasy. Hmmmm.
Most of the others also ordered the chicken dish, but there was a pork rib dish ordered as well that was especially great value at the 2-4-1 price coming with 4-5 pieces of pork rib as well as a salad and beer battered chips.
We washed our meals down with another beer, this time I ordered a pot of draught Burleigh pale ale and L grabbed a Dogbolter dark lager.
The Burleigh ale was amazing, having a distinct fruity aroma (sounds weird for a beer but I found it quite delightful). L’s Dogbolter was supposed to have chocolate and toffee flavours but it tasted distinctly of coffee to us. L says it is now in the running for his favourite beer.
Overall, I would gladly head back to Archive for a drink, as I think their beer menu is amazing. Would I go there and pay full price for a meal? Probably not. The 2-4-1 deal is fairly good value though! Maybe I need to give the steak another go...
Love,
C
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