Home Dining Room - Hawthorn - review

Name: Home Dining Room

Address: 601 Burwood Rd

Hawthorn 3122 VIC

9819 5555

Food: English

Average price: Entree: $6-$15, Mains: $23-$33, Dessert: $12

Complimentary: Nothing.

We ordered:

Entrée: Zucchini and feta fritters ŵ cumin and honey yoghurt - $14

Quite a generous entrée serving.

Crunchy exterior but very wet and almost raw on the inside. The cumin yoghurt was gorgeous but there was not nearly enough of it to go around. The fritters were very salty - had Mr.M try one to see if it was just me but he found them even saltier than I did. Due to the saltiness I couldn't finish the dish despite being hungry.

Pork belly with gribiche and apple - $14

Mr.M says: the entrée was great.

Baked ricotta ŵ stuffed onion, tomato and citrus marmalade - $28

This was like two starters shoved together on a plate. The onion was stuffed with plain white rice and peas - it reminded me of nursing home food. The baked ricotta was nice and the citrus marmalade added an interesting contrast but at the end of the day, it wasn't good enough to be called a main meal.

Confit duck ŵ butternut soufflé cake, shallot puree, cherry confit - $30

Mr.M: Main was OK but it felt like the duck was not proportional to the gunk below...either needed more duck, or less gunk. The duck was nice but the duck skin was overcooked.

Eton mess: white chocolate mousse ŵ berry coulis & crushed meringue - $12

It didn't taste any better than it looked. The mousse was grainy and tasted more of cream than white chocolate yet it was very sweet. The fruit is the most shocking part, the berries were defrosted and not fresh. The blueberries' skin was wrinkled and deflated and the insides completely tasteless mush. Mr.M had a blackberry that still had icicles on it. We tried to eat a few mouthfuls out of politeness but it was not nice at all.

Mr.M: dessert was so bad it made me throw up.

Cost: $98 for two entrees, two mains & 1 dessert.

Service: OK, mains took a little long to come out otherwise the service was fine.

Atmosphere: Like an English Nanna's house. It certainly felt like an English grandmother's dining room with mismatched crockery, red and gold wallpapered walls and wooden furniture along with old-school stereos and even a record player. They served us the bill wedged in between pages of Enid Blyton's Enchanted Wood, which I thought was a cute touch. I didn't mind the quirky quaintness, except I felt the music was completely out of place, changing from gangsta rap to reggae to pop, which was bizarre. 

Parking: There is decent street parking.

Website: www.homediningroom.com.au

Hours:  Tue-Sat 7.30am-10.30pm

Sun-Mon 7.30am-3pm

Would I return: No. The food left us feeling unsatisfied to the point we almost went to have ourselves a second dinner.