Greenhouse – it’ll grow on you
The setting is cool, the food good, and the service, well...
- Exploring the wine cellar at Greenhouse
- Prizes, discounts, freebies: Check out the latest subscriber rewards
First impressions are great, then so-so, at the Greenhouse, a swish new sister to the diverse dining spaces at the Feathers Hotel.
The setting is cool, the food good, and the service, well, that eventually turns friendly.
With a third of the tables to spare, a booking mix-up is quickly overcome, and we’re seated in the quiet atrium end.
The lofty, glass-ceilinged section is adjacent to a smart formal area with more buzz, loosely connected by a mod two-way fireplace to cosy bar-side dining in armchairs at low tables.
There’s a cruisy, elegant feel in smart colours mixed with white and blond timbers, indoor plants and walls of greenery, and back-in-fashion cane chairs that lend old-fashioned comfort.
It reminds me of a big old late-’70s lakeside date-night restaurant we used to love.
Then, at 7.30pm midweek, we’re warned there’ll be a wait because the kitchen is “backed up”. Really?
That rush apparently dissipates fast, and the food flows just fine. Why the fuss? In fact, kitchen finesse makes up for service glitches, including just about every plate being set down in front of the wrong person on our table of four.
Tuna tartare is pretty and refreshing, with lively pops of ponzu jelly, puffed rice and pork scratchings.
Just as good are plump scallops with cauli, pancetta and hints of blood orange under a canopy of snow pea shoots.
The steaks are perfect, the boys even raving about their vegetables, also winners alongside hearty beef-cheek bourguignon.
For me, a different sort of bouillabaisse. In this rendition of crisp-skinned barramundi plus mussels aplenty, there’s bread (usually for mopping up) under the fish, in the soup. It has turned to moosh and, a shame, has soaked up most of the lovely flavour.
Of our simple desserts, a Lenswood pink lady apple pie upstages a choc fondant pud with cinnamon ice cream.
Things have gone from so-so to so much better that we leave satisfied, with memories of big flavours, and, the jovial t’other and his mate bidding the young staff fervent farewells.