UTS Haberfield Club – Haberfield

Bianca: Having undergone a recent swish renovation the UTS Haberfield Rower Club was our chosen restaurant to celebrate our Nonna’s 78^th birthday late last year. With breathtaking floor to ceiling window overlooking Iron Cove bay, every corner of this restaurant offers a gorgeous view. It’s certainly a big improvement over the club that was here prior, which was worn down and rather haggard.

It’s almost twice the size of its former inhabitant, with a huge outdoor balcony and an equally large indoor dining area. It’s a very casual affair, food and drinks are ordered at the bar, cutlery is mostly self-serve from a designated area. Food, however is brought out to the tables – no buzzers here.

There was a slight communication issue with my grandma (as in, no-one told the birthday girl about our lunch date) so dad and my older brother had to wait while she got ready. Nothing like a surprise party/meal! Minus that little teething problem we all settled in and ordered our food and drinks.

For the table we got two servings of the ‘Caramelised garlic bread’ – w/balsamic & extra virgin olive oil. $8. Not sure what we were expecting when this came out but it was definitely welcome, we were a little unsure if there were some caramelised onions in the bread as well because it was quite sweet. I haven’t come across a caramelised garlic bread in to many places so it was nice to have something a little different. Bread/oil/butter is always a welcome addition in my books. I could live off the stuff.

We bypassed the entrée’s as there really wasn’t that much that appealed to us and dove straight into the mains. We’ll start with the birthday girl, Nonna tends to gravitate towards a grilled fish dish whenever we eat out and this was again the case. She went with the ‘Pan Fried Barramundi Fillet’ w/eggplant relish, asparagus & minted yoghurt. $31. I didn’t get to try this one but Nonna can be a little picky when it comes to her fish dishes but she thoroughly enjoyed this one and for a tiny lady she can really put it away.

A few people on the table opted for the ‘Rowers Fish & Chips’ w/Herb Mayonnaise. $25. A very generous serve and perfect for a hot summer’s day, comments were positive, with the batter being light and airy. Chips were great as well.

Between our visit and at the time of writing the menu has been updated so the following can no longer be found at the Rowing Club.

Madre had a Chicken dish, consisting of the leg quarter, a sweet potato mash and a jus. She wasn’t particularly blown away.

Alex had the ‘Slow Cooked Pork Ribs’ with Coleslaw $26. The ribs were beautifully tender and pulled away easily from the bone, the chips had absorbed a lot of the run off juices and sauce from the ribs which made them a little soggy but trade-off ….the sauce was great. The coleslaw was nothing to write home about.

And for myself, a ‘Taco platter’ which makes me sound like a beast. It was a DIY assembly plate with four provided soft flour tortillas, pulled pork & beans and on the side assorted condiments – cheese, jalapenos, salsa, guacamole and sour cream. I can’t say I was too impressed, flavour wise the pork was delicious, I enjoyed eating it on its own with a little bit of the guacamole but assembling the taco’s myself and eating it as a ‘package’ I found it all a little underwhelming.

We also got a serving each of the ‘Steakhouse Fries w/aoili’ $8 because CHIPPIES!!! And a serving of ‘Onion Rings’ which they no longer offer, which is a shame because they were damn tasty.

There’s no denying this is a great place for a casual get together, food is your general ‘club’ standard and perhaps with a view that the UTS rowers club offers maybe quality of food isn’t peoples main concern.

Bianca

Photos by Alex