Review - The Precinct Restaurant

On Saturdays I write a review on goods or services, today I'm reviewing The Precinct Restaurant in East Victoria Park. We went to The Precinct before it had a liquor license and found it over priced and unappetising, if I had written the review then it would have been scathing. Every time I walk past it looks busy, so I thought it might be worth another visit. Aside from a very forgetful, vague waiter our second visit was a much better experience than the first.

The menu is small, but I prefer that in a restaurant. What I don't get is why the menu is so Americanised with a "sliders trio" (mini hamburgers) and "pork schrunchions with pickled eggs", "turkey wings" and "ketchup". The starters are designed to share and the highlight for me was the charcuterie plate, the scrunchions tasted like they had opened a packet of pork crackle from a petrol station and put them on a plate.

The first time I went I had the skirt steak with fries, vegies and cola jus. I asked for my steak rare and was told that it was a cheap cut of meat and therefore served medium. Seriously, who puts a cheap cut of steak on a menu? Most steak lovers I know would rather pay an extra $10 for a decent cut of steak. The vegies were brussels sprouts, which I like, but I think this is a strange choice as I know that this is not a popular vegetable. The 'fries', which could only be described as deep fried potato gratings, were inedible.

When we went this week we ordered the skirt steak again, Riley loves steak and I wanted to see if the meal had improved any. The presentation was an improvement and Riley did enjoy the meal, but again there was a pile of deep fried potato gratings masquerading as chips.

All of the adults had the lamb duo with walnut spatzle which was well presented and cooked to perfection. The vague, forgetful waiter agreed that this was their best dish.

Being the gluttonious sweet-tooth that I am I had the pavlova roll with lemon curd, which I had the previous visit. It was lovely, but if you like crunchy merange you will be disappointed, I don't, so it was perfect for me.

The weird thing about The Precinct with its strangely Americanised menu is that most of the wines are French or Italian. Australia has brilliant wines and I think our restaurants should stock these over European ones, its just a bit pretentious.

I'm glad I went back to The Precinct as it has improved greatly, but I think there is still a long way to go before it becomes a competitive restaurant in Perth.

Footnote: My husband just read this and thinks I have been way too generous in my review