Because I’ve grown up mostly eating at Asian restaurants, I’ve come to define the term restaurant as those western style restaurants with fancy decor (preferabbly with dim lighting at night….haha), fancy waiters/waitresses, fancy plating(you know, big plates, little food)….. and most importantly, a 3 course menu. But sadly, I’ve never been to one of these restaurants.
This weekend, we visited Atrium Brasserie, a small ‘restaurant’ – not quite the restaurant I was thinking of (as it lacked the …..err fanciness- and was actually just a club restuarant). It did, however, have the 3 course menu- and at the price of $15. So the main was only fish and chips. But still. It was close enough. And it had a good view!
So the reason we went to this particular ‘restaurant’? My mum had come here once with her friends, and apparently they had a really good soup that she wanted us to try. Unfortunately, when we got there, we realised that there was no soup on the menu- only the soup of the day. The service was slow, but we eventually got taken to a seat and given a menu- to order, you tick off the boxes on a sheet of paper and pay at a counter. Going for the cheaper option, we chose the 3 course meal, along with the salad bar and steak .
We weren’t going to get the salad but then we were scared there wasn’t enough to eat. Besides- it looked fun! Because of $7, they give you a small bowl, and you can fill it up with as much salad as you like (but only once). There was a wide range of choices- some pre made salads and some vegetables with a variety of salad dressings you could add yourself. I quite liked the salads, but I haven’t had many salads before so I wouldn’t know if they’re good compared to other places. However, I’m sure it would have tasted better if the salads were separate rather than all mixed together though. We tried to pack as much in as possible, but we still had to take it back to the table so this is how much we got- there were others who stacked it much higher than ours!
The cauliflower soup came shortly- which was the soup of the day (it came with our meal) . It was just your ordinary creamy soup lumps of cauliflower, which looked like potatoes (it took a while for us to figure out that it was actually cauliflower) and a slight cauliflower taste.
The mains took a while to come- being freshly fried, the chips and the fish were very crispy. They weren’t the best fish and chips I’ve ever had though…..


14 Magdala Rd
North Ryde NSW 2113
6 Comments
Hi Von, I've given you a blog award. Stop by my blog to pick it up!
November 14, 2009 at 6:16 AMYou know that salad looks really appetizing! I should go there one day!
November 15, 2009 at 6:12 AMWHOAAAAAAAAAAAA that salad looks bigger than my head! worth the money.
Good thing about not going to fancy restaurants means you have a pocket with a lot more cash. Its expensive eating at fancy restaurants. Us foodies know its such an expensive hobbie to do =(.
Personally i prefer something with good cheap price and value for money – god dayem i love a bargain. Every now and then its nice to go somewhere nice it makes you appreciate the experience more.
Its my first time visiting your site and you have a really cute blog.
November 15, 2009 at 9:12 AMHi Jacq! Thanks for the award! I've never gotten a blog award before =]
Hi Eloise! Thanks! The salad's pretty good, and lots of fun to play with too!
Hi Leona! Thanks! We usually dine at really cheap asian restaurants, which makes everything else seem so expensive in comparison! I'd still like to go to a fancy restaurant once, just for the experience 😀
November 16, 2009 at 10:36 AMI've heard a lot of things about this place, in particular the slow service. However, it looks good and reliable in terms of food quality, but it's so far away from me. 🙁
November 17, 2009 at 6:45 AMHi Joey! I'd actually never heard of it before…haha
November 26, 2009 at 9:24 AM