I purchased 3 such coupons for Flare Contemporary Grill in St Kilda for $59.95 each. Each provided a 3 course meal for 2 people and a glass of white or red Wild Oats wine. Newly opened late last year, the executive chef, Chris Wade, has worked with the likes of Gordon Ramsay and George Calombaris. Bringing his own 'flare' to the St Kilda region.
One issue with having a restaurant in such a busy area is parking availability, pretty much the only things available are paid parking. This poses an issue, the time taken to eat. I paid for 2 hours of parking thinking, 2 hours is plenty for dinner. Right? Frankly not.
We were seated in a very 'red' area directly under several huge red lights (red is an understatement) but I really did like the atmosphere. The dark, modern interior provided a somewhat private feel where we could talk amongst our table without being 'in your face', even my dad liked it which is a big deal. This is the reason why all my photos had red tinges to them.
The service was reasonably good at the beginning. Our orders were taken quickly, water and wine were served without any issues and we were happily settled and chitchatting amongst ourselves. As we had a group of 8 people with only 3 coupons, 2 people ordered a la carte. Yuye and Jeff ordered their own dishes while we took our picks from the special coupon menu.
For entrees we had a choice between Spiced Calamari, Sauce Thai & Coconut or the Duck & Truffle Parfait, Madeira Bubbles, Charred Sourdough. I ordered the Duck and Truffle Parfait, which was quite nice although small. The duck parfait was fragrant and delicious but sadly lacked the lovely truffle flavour that was suggested which I only found a tiny hint of. The sourdough was a bit hard and crunchy for my liking and tasted a tiny bit burnt (but maybe that was deliberate?) although it did go well with the parfait. It came with a balsamic sauce and some sort of green sauce which I believe may have been pea with butter. Yuye said it just tasted like butter… What I really didn't understand was the madeira bubbles. I know that Madeira is meant to be a wine but I have never tried it before so I had no idea what to expect. It didn't really taste like much to me. In my opinion, its existence was only good for entertainment purposes. Taste wise, the dish would have done fine without it.
The greatest thing about being a blogger is the 'right' to taste everyone's dishes. Yes, it's for a good cause! The spiced calamari was surprisingly very good. This dish was well received by everyone who tried it. The calamari was tender and juicy, the sauce was just the right consistency and tasted fantastic. I regretted not ordering it instead!
Yuye ordered the Grilled Quail Legs with Roquette, Tomato & Saltana Burnt Butter for $14. He just ended up passing them around the table as he got quite a few on the plate. I enjoyed them, although there was nothing that stood out about this dish.
