After making a booking at Australian restaurant, Coast Bistro & Bar, I began to ask myself, what is Australian cuisine? As a food writer and an Australian surely this would be easy to answer, it wasn't. A quick Facebook quiz revealed comments such as "meat pies", "hamburgers with beetroot", "beer battered fish and chips", and "I didn't know we had a cuisine!". All fair-dinkum responses, but at the level of contemporary Australian cuisine, which the restaurant claims to serve, I had hoped for something more.  

My thoughts were taking me along the lines of excellent produce, fresh, clean flavours, and lots of grilled meats and seafood. All this is true but this could be said of the cuisines of many countries. Perhaps I would be clearer about the topic after my dinner I thought. I was, but in a time-warp kind of way.

Expected More

Looking at the menu I immediately became confused, this seemed more like an all-day dining menu from a cafe serving international cuisine, for example its share plates (Asian, Mezze, Ploughman's), and not the menu of a restaurant with a clear identity. And what is Australian about pizza? Trying to look for dishes that were more obviously Australian we ordered the Mini Kangaroo and Pork Pies, and I had wanted to order the Prosciutto Wrapped Tiger Prawns but acquiesced to the wishes of my dining companion who wanted the Smoked Mackerel Pate, served with baguette and marinated green olives. 

The pie starter consists of three small pies, served with tomato sauce (ketchup). The pastry of two of the pies was overcooked which left the filling also overcooked, making it hard to distinguish between the pork and the 'Roo' (kangaroo), the pastry of the third was just cooked and the meat was more tender but still not much flavour in the meat itself. The runny gravy and the tomato sauce straight from the bottle reminded me of a cheap cafe in a country town. In fairness it was the perfect and straight-up (an Australian characteristic) accompaniment, but at a restaurant level I had hoped for a homemade tomato jam or chutney.

Our first thought about the pate was that it was under-seasoned, becoming much better with the addition of pepper. The fish was suitably smoky, with a hint of spice and did pair well with the olives, but overall we found it a little bland.

No Finesse

We hoped that the meal would improve with the arrival of the decadent sounding Wagyu Pizza. Unfortunately the pieces of wagyu were so small that the intense heat required to cook the thin-crust pizza had overcooked the steak, which was tough and largely tasteless. It did have a good spice level from the pepperoni (also had bacon, onion, mushroom). It reminded me of pizza I used to eat in my early 20's in a suburban pizzeria at around 3am on my way home from clubbing. To be blunt, it's the kind of pizza that satisfies when you are drunk, but falls flat when you are sober.

Things did not improve with the arrival of the Smoked Chicken salad described on the menu as smoked chicken with blue cheese, walnuts, pear, grapes, smoky bacon, greens, manuka honey and dijon mustard. The walnuts, fruit and bacon were so minimal that this salad reminded me of one that would be thrown together at home from leftovers. Take a packet of mesclun mix, add cooked chicken and blue cheese, and voila! It was nothing special and lacked the finesse that was its potential.

The Beer Battered Barramundi served with mushy peas, rosemary and garlic fries, and homemade tartare sauce was our other main choice. On a positive note the peas were the best mushy peas I have ever had. Instead of greyish green tasteless mush this was fresh and vibrant with pea skin adding a textural contrast. Sadly the batter on the fish was too thick and was not fully cooked on the interior so it lacked that crispiness and lightness that I associate with good fish and chips. The fish was overcooked and so the wonderful flavour that barramundi has was completely lost as was the texture.

Lost in the Past

Desserts change daily. We had the Chocolate Mudcake and that classic Australian dessert Pavlova. The cake was not chocolate-y enough for us, a little too sweet. On the other-hand, the Pavlova was the highlight of the night, excellent meringue and a good balance of sweet and tart from the mango and berries.

Coast is a restaurant that has captured the vibe and energy of a Sydney restaurant, and it did bring back many memories of food I have eaten in Australia growing up. But, for me the food is Sydney 10 years ago, at least. It is serving food I would expect to find at a roadside petrol-station cafe along the highway, to at its best, a pub in the countryside. The restaurant fails to live up to its claim of bringing "the very best that Australia has to offer", the food at Coast is far from Australia at its best. 

Ambience, Service, Price

I love the interior, it has a fresh feel that combined with the variety in wall and furnishing textures, and sandstone colour palette, has the essence of the coast. The copper lighting adds warmth and the restaurant has a buzz when busy (which it was the night we had dinner). The smells wafting from the open kitchen stimulate the appetite. The friendly Australian staff with their true-blue accents adds to the personality of the interior.

There is good wine list, featuring mostly New World wines, and some superb by-the-glass offerings; my favourite was the Feral Fox Pinot Noir. The bar area with its open feel has quickly become a drinking hotspot in the area.

Our starters were $90 and $70, pizza $100 (large $160), and mains $120 and $130.