Sunday, August 13, 2006

VAT 107, Margaret River, WA

Having had some excellent food here a couple of times a few years ago, VAT 107 was definitely on the list again this time.

The cheese souffle entree we had was quite tasty. It was soft, fluffy but yet possessed a texture that did not yield so easily. It was also filled with shrimp as well which provided the occasional crunchy morsel with almost every bite.

Being a rather cool winter afternoon, we were tempted enough to order a steaming bowl of smoked sausage soup. I was quite disappointed that there was too much filler such as carrots, pasta, beans and all in my soup. I would have preferred if there were more smoked sausages and definitely if it was not so bland.

The pasta of the day had the same smoked sausage that was in the soup. Perhaps they bulk bought their sausages so they had enough to include it in both specials of the day but if they did, they could have still added more into the soup! The pasta was quite uneventful actually, nothing I could not churn up at home myself with some pesto and smoked chorizo.

The best starter we had during this lunch were these oysters. Normally, I would prefer to eat my oysters au naturale but the description of these being coated by white maize crusted with corn and birdseye salsa was just too intruguing to miss. The oysters were only just cooked so they maintained all their juciness and the flavors from the maize crusted with corn and birdseye salsa balanced the sweetness of the oyster perfectly.

Probably the only main worth mentioned was the catch of the day which was barramundi (surprise, not smoked sausage...). It was wrapped in some prosciutto ham which helped prevent the fish from drying out when cooked. It also sort of cured the fish and imparted some of its saltiness into it therefore not requiring addition seasonings when being eaten. The other mains of tempura whiting and calamari were just your typical run-of-the-mill cafe foods.















If there was only one thing that gave me a clinging faith to VAT 107, it would be their desserts. Their pavlova was as excellent as I remembered being so light that it does not leave you filling stuffed or anything. Their winter dessert of steamed banana and toffee pudding (their variant of the sticky date pudding I reckon) was also another good way to finish off the meal.

In the end, I was actually rather disappointed with VAT 107 this time. Maybe my expectations were too high or this was the first time I dined in for lunch instead of dinner but I felt the servings had shrunk heaps (a la Xanadu) and the food wasn't too flash either. Maybe their little brother VAT 2 at Bunbury has finally become better? I'm not sure but I wasn't too eager to try another VAT anytime too soon.

D

4 comments:

Sebastian Ng said...

Oysters must have rocked >.< man still yet to grab a whole lot of oysters... and just sit and eat in utter bliss :P hahaha

D said...

They were uber tasty.

Seb said...

yo wyd my brudda g

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