Beer and Burger

Gilbert Street Hotel
88 Gilbert St Adelaide 5000
Ph: (08) 8231 9909

Well it was a Saturday night and the wife and I headed out to catch up with Steve and Ang. You know Steve and Ang. anyway the target for the evening was the Gilbert Street Hotel - which is strangely enough located on Gilbert Street. Once again I forgot my decent camera and I was stuck with the Nokia phone camera in dull light - so I apologise for the average pictures. We got there a few minutes early and delved into the pleasures on tap. Pint of Stella for me. Tasty and fresh; couldn’t complain at all after a hard days work mowing the lawn.
Our friends soon arrived and after 5 minutes of trying to locate someone that knew about our booking we took a seat in the funky front bar dining area. I’m not sure if its just the lights in there but I just have memories of lots of red…red walls, red seats - lots of red.
Upon being seated and handed our menus by the very friendly waitress, we were informed of their Tapas and Cheeses - a pub specialty. So … we ordered some garlic bread and some dips for starters.
The main menu was a tough choice between a typical pub meal and something a bit more fancy (they actually separate it like that on the menu). I had my eye on the Blue Vein Cheese and Pumpkin Risotto, but didn’t need to order it once I found out my lovely wife was getting it. So since I knew I’d be getting most of that I ordered the Beef Schnitzel Parma ($13.50). When we ordered our mains they told us that they would be about 25 minutes which I liked. No getting your hopes up for a quick meal that way. The best part of telling us was the meals actually came out when they said … nice work.
First impressions of my schnitzel where that it looked like it was going to be a cheesy grease ball. Lots of cheese, which I like, covered in herbs too .. herbs are good, and once I got into it I found there was substance. Yes there was a decent slab of meat under that delicious topping that got thicker as I went along. The batter itself wasn’t anything too special but the flavour from the sauce, cheese, herbs and tender meat really did it for me. The chips were a slight let down, but still hot, mostly crisp and well salted. And once again I wasted my salad … looked good though.
Onto my next meal - the second half of the Pumpkin Risotto. Being somewhat of a vegetarian dish, I was very impressed with this. Once again great flavour from the cheese (this really is a cheese pub), herbs and pumpkin. It was a very nice blend.
Our friends had the Squid and the Rump Steak. Both of them enjoyed their meals, but more than that, enjoyed the fantastic company that I offer.

The Gilbert Hotel is on a quiet street on the south side of town, but the mid 20’s to 30’s+ seem to know all about it as the place was pretty full with parties and drinkers. It has a funky atmosphere, friendly staff and more than decent meals. Well worth an evening out.

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