A friend introduced me to the Botany View Hotel for a meal a few weeks back, and I found the experience so fun, we thought we’d do another pub dinner in Enmore (the bottom end of King Street, Newtown).
The Union Hotel has been around for yonks, though I think they change the menu and chefs every few years. On a Wednesday night, it was nicely buzzing; it’s what I liked about the feel of the other pub. Friends and couples and families out for a treat, a nice meal in a relaxed and casual atmosphere.
The food was good. I’ve been kind of interested in the concept of a ‘chopped salad’ and how I don’t think I had really understood it, and I don’t think it’s a ‘thing’ in Australia, but in the USA, it seems to be a long-established food trend, where you simply chop a salad into small pieces and coat it with the right amount of dressing.
Sometimes called a Cobb Salad, it’s said to date back to the 40s, but seems to have had a resurgence in recent years. It’s all about getting a perfectly well-distributed biteful of a good mixture of taste and crunch. More complicated than it might seem, but I could definitely see the appeal, in the Southern Fried Chicken chopped salad that I had, which was basically a delicious mixture and combo (in fact, if you’re at all interested, this NYT article, is a pretty good review of the chopped salad).
My pal had a haloumi salad and also enjoyed it; we also had a side of slightly sad garlic bread, and inexpensive house wine and lemon, lime and bitters. All in all, a fun night out, and I have to say that I liked the kooky decor too.
