Barca

Name: Barca Food & Wine

Location: 1007 High St
Armadale 3143 VIC
Phone: (03) 9822 8515

Website: http://www.barca.com.au/

We dined on a Saturday night at 6:30pm. The street was extremely quiet and there was plenty of street parking.

Atmosphere: 4/5. The style of the restaurant was contemporary and a mixture of browns with gold furnishings. Very clean and well spaced. We sat at a table for two - I had the booth and Ryan had the chair. Both were comfortable. The room was dimly lit with a few lamps and 1 tea light per table. We were the first to arrive, but by 7/7:30 2/3 of the restaurant tables were full - there was an additional dining space upstairs with a fireplace.

Service: 4/5. Very attentive - we were served by 4 different waiters and there was little waiting time between being seated, orders being taken and plates being cleared.

Food: 3/5. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't memorable either - no dish really stood out to me.
Bill: $127 - 2 entrees, 2 mains and 1 dessert platter.
We were given freshly bakes rolls with butter and lemon oil. They were nice.

Entree: Soupe de Jour (mushroom soup with truffle oil) - $12 (3/5)
ROQUEFORT SOUFFLÉ – Twice baked served with a waldorf salad - $16(3/5)

The soup was halfway between a smooth puree and whole mushrooms, so the texture was thick as it was also quite heavy. I could barely taste the truffle oil and have made nicer mushroom soups myself. The portion size though was quite large and I only consumed half before feeling full
Ryan somewhat enjoyed the souffle, I however only had one bite as the souffle was more like a soggy custard/bread - not much flavour either.

Main: BEEF WELLINGTON – Tender beef eye fillet pieces with chopped mushrooms, chick liver pate, wrapped in pastry and served with blackened silverbeet & a red currant jus - $31 (4/5) FISH OF THE DAY - Blue eye fillet with fennel & pea rissotto - $34 (3/5)

Once again the portion size was HUGE. Ryan really enjoyed his beef wellington -the e meat was cut up into chunks and then wrapped in the pastry. There was a tiny amount of silverbeet put on the top.
I originally ordered an eye fillet by accident which they nicely returned and then gave me the Blue eye fillet 10mins later. The waiter did not mention that the risotto had bits of bacon in it - so I was unable to eat much of it. The fish was nicely done - nicely seared on the outside, and soft on the inside. However, due to being unable to eat much of the risotto, there wasn't much flavour.

We also ordered a side of Patata Bravas with Aioli, but they did not bring it or charge for it - which was a blessing as we were too full.

Dessert: DESSERT– a selection of lemon tart, chocolate fondant, steamed rhubarb sponge pudding , mocha brulee, and a Barca bomb $34 (2.5/5)

I shall start with the Barca bomb - it came in a shot glass and consisted of a Redbull sorbet with Jagermeister in the bottom. The sorbet was refreshing and lovely, however the Jagermeister was too strong for me. Ryan downed it in one go and enjoyed it - it was both of our favourites of all the desserts - 3.5/5.

Mocha Brulee: came in a small ramekin with muscat icecream and a cherry on top. It cracked well but the brulee was very grainy. I could not taste the muscat in the icecream. I give it a 3/5.

Rhubarb Sponge Pudding: it consisted of a sponge pudding served with vanilla icecream, custard and rhubarb sauce. This was absolutely putrid to me, I actually gagged. The ice cream was nice though - 1/5.

Chocolate Fondant: served with blackberry coulis and vanilla bean icecream (same as above). This wasn't bad, very cocoa-y, but it wasn't as good as the chocolate pudding being served at McDonald's - that one is better by far - 2.5/5.

Lemon Tart: served with clotted cream. A very average lemon tart, had two small spoonfuls - 2/5.

Overall score: 3.5/5. Whilst the atmosphere, location and service are great, the food was only average compared to its price. I will not be returning to this restaurant again.