Feathers’ Greenhouse Restaurant, looks smart but the menu has some catching up to do
The upmarket diner of a revamped eastern suburbs pub looks smart — but it doesn’t always deliver on its promise.
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Amid the constant discussion about our planet’s climate crisis, the word “Greenhouse” has an image problem. Rather than evoking images of thriving plants and abundant blooms, it now seems permanently associated to talk of “gas”.
So, it’s a brave choice for the name of a restaurant that has opened in the revamped Feathers Hotel, the sprawling pub that sits beside the roundabout where Glynburn runs into Greenhill, just before the latter road snakes into the hills.
Being from the other side of town, I’d never paid it much attention, beyond forming a loose impression that it was past its use-by date. That changed earlier this year when the Feathers threw an almighty bash to show off more than a million bucks worth of renovations, including impressive outdoor terraces and a lounge bar.
The Greenhouse is the pub’s upmarket eating option, the website spruiking “a lofty, chic atrium akin to a NYC rooftop” and food that “dances along the spice trails”. How could anyone resist that?
A Claire Kneebone design lives up to the first part of the promise, minus the Manhattan skyline at least. Walls are clad in pale timber batons, with clever arched alcoves on one side holding planter boxes. The pitched ceiling climbs high up to a skylight so the room feels spacious, even if its footprint isn’t really that big.
While we have an online booking for the restaurant, we’re told on arrival that the space has been taken over for a Christmas function, so we are shunted out to the other side of a set of sliding doors to a table near the bar. It is much quieter here, thankfully, and the ultra-enthusiastic young bloke managing the place tries his darndest to make sure everyone is having a good night.
The menu he hands us seems more inclined to be traipsing through Italy and France than dancing along any spice trails. A Thai duck curry is the sole remnant of the initial focus on South-East Asia. In its place is a vaguely Mediterranean, vaguely seasonal collection of dishes, some of which, in isolation at least, read well. Delivery is another matter.
Coffin Bay oysters with a yuzu granita, for instance, turns up without a trace of ice or citrus of any kind. The oysters themselves are just OK. This isn’t the only time elements promised on the menu mysteriously disappear. An $18 starter of kingfish brings a stingy serve of five thumb-sized fillets of fish doused in ponzu sauce and hidden from view beneath a few discs of radish, shredded red cabbage and some form of pickled onion with searing acidity. A blob of salmon roe adds some eye candy but there is no sign of a “bonito cream”.
The main plates, fortunately, are much better value. Two decent pieces of King George whiting are coated in a crackly, crunchy golden batter that breaks apart to reveal perfect, steaming-hot fish, while the little dish of chunky tartare on the side appears to be house-made.
From their pale and podgy appearance, I suspect the “pan-fried gnocchi” have just been boiled, but lolling about in a pool of rich tomato sugo, basil and molten stracciatella they are wolfed down in record time. The crab linguine is a happy dish of well-cooked pasta, plentiful nuggets of blue swimmer meat, cherry tomato halves, parsley and chilli. The “spring peas”, however, are so shrivelled and soft it’s hard to believe they have been freshly podded.
There are more peas mixed in with pearl barley, salted ricotta and artichoke, a combination that needs extra lemon to bring it to life. It accompanies a “spring chicken” that has all the golden-skinned joy of a good roast chook, but on a smaller scale.
Dessert gets confusing. After being told the “Lenswood pink lady” apple pies (as well as the panna cotta) are unavailable, two extras are found somewhere. But while the filling is nicely spiced, they have been pulled from the oven too early and the pastry on the sides and base is still raw.
The Feathers has put great energy and investment into its design and building work but the kitchen has some catching up to do. As it turns out, changes are already afoot. Ben Sommariva (Kitchen Door, Fino) has taken over as head chef and early next year will introduce his own modern Australian menu. Based on his past form, this will be one to watch.
GREENHOUSE RESTAURANT
Feathers Hotel, 516 Glynburn Rd, Burnside
8249 7700; feathershotel.com.au
OWNER Matthews Hospitality
CHEF Ben Sommariva
FOOD Contemporary
SMALL $10-$22
MAIN $26-$58 (to share)
DESSERT $12-$14
DRINKS Surprise, surprise… a good list by the glass backed by a knockout cellar collection.
OPEN LUNCH Mon-Sun, DINNER Mon-Sat
SCORE 12/20