Armory Wharf Café – Newington

Bianca: Dining options in the Home-bush/Newington area, generally leave a lot to be desired. Being the recent purchaser of an apartment in the neighbouring Wentworth point, I wanted to scope the area out for any potential local café to be my new ‘haunt’.

Rocking up this rainy Saturday afternoon the place was incredibly busy indoors, I had reserved a table prior, knowing that it is quite popular. It’s such a shame they don’t have adequate coverings for their outdoor seating, seems a bit silly not to capitalise on the extra tables. I saw a number of parties being turned away because there just wasn’t any room indoors yet there were 10 or so wet empty tables outside.

The café itself is nestled right on the Parramatta River in Blaxland Riverside park – my GPS virtually abandoned me on my quest to find it, something along the lines of “We cannot provide accurate directions but head to the red dot on the screen” mighty helpful whilst driving and navigating.

Now, for those that don’t know me, I don’t visit a restaurant/café without checking out the menu first. So I knew what I was going to get before I even arrived.

Alas it wasn’t to be, the menu was slightly different and by slightly different the only thing that had changed was the ONE thing I was planning on ordering. The three sliders. I hate surprises.

Whilst settling on what to order,  my friend and I shared the ‘Garlic, oregano and parmesan sour dough slices (4 pieces” $6.50). All in all, a fancy way of saying ‘garlic bread’. No complaints here, it was very tasty. I could have happily eaten all four slices myself.

I finally settled on the ‘Crispy battered flathead fillets’ – w/ chunky chips & a side of lemon, caper & garlic aioli with a small salad on the side. $23.50. I LURVE a good fish and chips, I hardly order it when I go out because it is sooo bad for you. But now and then I do like to reward my fabulousness with a greasy treat. Unfortunately this was a let-down. The fish was crispy, that was about the highlight. The batter had absorbed an exorbitant amount of oil making the fish very heavy to eat. Not even a ¼ of the way in, I was feeling a little sickly. The chips were soggy, I’m assuming from the run off oil from the garnish salad. The entire dish, including the side salad needed a pretty big whack of salt and I never add salt to anything I eat.

My friend also indecisive, went with the ‘Armory Pie Floater’ – Lamb shank pie w/ shortcrust pastry and topped w/ smashed peas and red wine jus. $25.  The first thing we were struck by was the odd presentation, the ‘floater’ alludes to the pastry precariously balancing on top of the pie filling. With the shank bone, unceremoniously dangling out of the corner of the plate. Looks aside, this was also disappointing. The lamb was tender but the sauce marrying all the ingredients was very thin and the whole dish, again, lacked seasoning.

Not the greatest start to my ‘new local’ hunting. Such a shame considering the view and its location.

I plan to come back again and check out the breakfast offerings. Fingers crossed.

Bianca

V.B.A