Dinner @ Maestral Seafood Restaurant

Maestral in Weston Creek is one of those restaurants I’ve been meaning to try for years. I have heard very good things about the place. I finally organised birthday dinner #4 there one Saturday night. Maestral specialises in Croatian dishes and seafood. As soon as I walked in, my stomach started growling after smelling some wonderful aromas. Complimentary bread came out with olive oil, balsamic and olives. Not one of us at the table actually liked olives so they were left alone.

Some of my dining companions ordered soft drinks that are served in mason jars with stripey straws. The mason jar look is popping up everywhere! #trending

For an entree, I ordered the seafood stuffed avocado with smoked trout, prawns, smoked salmon and Mediterranean sauce ($17.50 entree size). I was a little disappointed with the entree. The avocado wasn’t exactly ‘seafood stuffed’, rather it had one prawn and a piece of smoked salmon placed on top of the avocado half. The smoked trout must have been replaced with the oyster as that differed to what was stated on the menu. The oyster itself was pretty average. I think the dish definitely needs to be balanced with more seafood especially given the price.

My friends shared the Maestral cold entree of fresh prawns, smoked salmon, smoked trout, natural oysters and served with Mediterranean sauce ($18.90 for entree size). Similar to what I had minus the avocado.

Apart from the regular menu, the specials menu written up on the chalkboard on the wall provides extra options. I chose from the specials menu and ordered the fried seafood ($35) of lobster meat, bugs meat, scampi, prawns and calamari served on rocket salad with garlic lemon mayonnaise. Happy to say that everything was cooked/fried superbly with the natural seafood flavours shining through all the fried goodness. That lobster was delicious! Nothing was overly oily either. A bit more salad would have been nice but I was satisfied with this meal.

My friends shared the surf and turf after raving about it a few months earlier. The surf and turf ($35) consists of a prime eye fillet topped with prawns smothered in creamy saffron sauce. All meals under the ‘Croatian Flavours’ and ‘From the Field’ section of the menu comes with lightly fried potatoes and rice. This looked fantastic and I had major food envy. I got to try some of the saffron sauce – to die for! Definitely ordering this next time for a foodgasm moment. The eye fillet was also nice and pink inside.

Another friend ordered the Croatian mixed grill ($32.90) with cevapcici, pork, beef, chicken, veal, kransky with capsicum relish and dijon mustard. This also came with a bed of rice and fried potatoes.

And another ordered the Atlantic salmon ($27) with lemon and cous cous from the specials board.

I can almost never pass up on dessert especially after seeing something delicious go out to another table. This delicious item was the apple strudel ($12). It is stuffed with delicate and sweet apples covered in a thin flakey pastry. I was not disappointed by the strudel – generous serve and accompanied by vanilla ice cream and cherry coulis.

Some friends shared the tiramisu ($12) which looked divine.

Maestral is tiny inside. The kitchen is fairly open that you can peek into it but, as a result, the restaurant gets quite noisy.

There’s limited seating outdoors which is very popular and quickly snagged especially during summer.

Maestral is located on Trenerry Street in Weston Creek and is open for lunch Wednesday to Friday, and dinner Tuesday to Saturday. Bookings are recommended. I can’t wait to go back!

Foodgasm 7/10
Value for money 7/10
Service 7/10

FPJ score 21/30