We visited Grasshopper for dinner on the weekend. Afterwards I was definitely left with mixed feelings, which I understood more when I came home and after reading comments on Urbanspoon, realised that the restaurant has changed ownership recently. I felt like I had missed out on something terrific. We still had an okay meal but I was expecting more.
When we arrived, there was only one other table of diners there. Perusing the menu, there was a few differences to the menu I had read online. Most of the same dishes were there, however there were additions of mostly boring sounding stirfry type meals.
I had a big lunch so just ordered some edamame (dashi flavoured $5) to munch on, whilst L ordered Seared Japanese scallops with butternut puree, lemongrass coriander foam and macadamia crumble ($16) for his entree.
L was disappointed with his entree, which I tasted and realised why. The scallops weren’t golden coloured, the puree was bland and watery, the foam didn’t taste of anything, and the whole thing needed seasoning.
Hoping our mains were going to be better, we found that they thankfully were.
I ordered the slow braised beef cheeks in Vietnamese style aromatic stock with lotus root, shimeji and broccolini ($29). The meat was certainly delicious, it fell apart and the fatty bits were jellified, yummmm. I felt the broth should have been more subtle, it was really concentrated and sweet. Also, the broccolini were actually broccoli pieces.... which I hate. Its weird, but I always prefer broccolini, and if you advertise that on the menu, thats what you should dish up!
L’s dish was a honey glazed pork belly with soft shell crab, corn puree and cress ($27). Pork belly and soft shell crab seems to be a common pairing. L liked his dish very much, the pork belly was super sweet and very sticky, however there was no crunchy crackling on top which was expected.
We weren’t offered dessert after our meal (we sat there and chatted for a long time after we ate as well, so there was plenty of time there to offer it!), so ended up going next door to Passione Gelateria!
As I said above, I was expecting more from our meal. Now that we’ve tried it, we likely won’t be heading back for more.
Love,
C
Dear C,
ReplyDeleteI'm so disappointed that you had such a bad meal. I used to be the chef at Grasshopper and created all this food, but I have since moved on when the business was sold. My team showed the new guys how to make everything properly but they have cut corners and not followed any advice. It takes a fair amount of work to make the food stand out. Such a shame to see all our hard work building a reputation thrown away. I would rather they scrapped this menu and wrote their own than turn my ideas into such abominations. Just looking at your photos I can see how lazy the new chefs are.
Regards
D
Hi Doug
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments, its sad to hear that has happened to your beautiful menu. I can see that the food would have been great at some time but isnt anymore, it must be very disappointing for you.
That is a real shame- we had a fantastic bloggers dinner at Grasshopper a while ago- and everything was just lovely- hopefully this is just a temporary glitch and they get it back to good soon!
ReplyDeleteDoug, we miss Grasshopper as it was, are you working in a new restaurant now? we would like to come for dinner!! All the best in your new ventures, Clare
ReplyDelete