I’ve been meaning to go to Corella Bar in Braddon for what feels like ages. Opening hours don’t seem to fit my schedule with work and a toddler in tow. So I am very excited when my friend has her birthday dinner there and I have the night off.
Corella Bar’s indoor space is small, probably fitting about 30 people maximum. There are clothing hooks by the front door where I can hang my winter jacket. There’s dim mood lighting and the place soon fills up with more people than I expected for a Thursday evening.
Our waitress tells us we can order the set menu ($95 per person) or try the a la carte. We opt for both, adding two extra items to the set menu.
Corella Bar offers a small non-alcoholic drinks menu. I try the #3 of muntries, hibiscus, lime, mint and soda ($15). I have to ask the waitress what muntries are, and she asks the kitchen staff (it’s a small native fruit similar to blueberries). The others choose the #2 of mandarin, finger lime, pineapple, lemon and orange bitters.
The appetisers soon arrive. The scallops with lemon myrtle ponzu and pickled chilli are served chilled on a bed of ice. There’s nothing bad about it, but it seems like your average scallop dish served cold. I much prefer the Appellation oyster with lemon myrtle vinegar and finger lime which surprisingly had a sweeter hit to it than I would expect from the description.
The gnocco fritto with rosella ricotta, prosciutto and sun dried tomatoes is another cold canapé. I feel like it’s another okay dish but nothing memorable, though I do like the tomato chutney and generous amount of prosciutto.
The spanner crab toast (additional $18 each) with lime mayo is topped heavily with the goods. It’s very light and not heavily seasoned and I can taste the subtle flavour of crab. The toast starts to become a little soggy from the volume of the topping. Before ordering, we do ask the waitress about the size of this one and she says it’s small enough that it feeds one per person. But I think we could have gotten away with ordering just the one and having a couple of bites each.
If I had seen BBQ leeks on the menu, I would have briskly looked over it in favour of something else. So it’s to my surprise to find that this is the highlight of the small dishes. The dish contains stracciatella, chilli oil, sandalwood nuts and mixed seeds. The leeks are soft but have a deeper flavour from the char, the stracciatella provides the whole dish with creaminess, the chilli oil gives a dash of heat. It’s soft and crunchy at the same time. I haven’t had a good inventive vegetarian dish in a long time so this one blew my mind.
The chilli mussels contain kangaroo nduja and comes with a serve of saltbush focaccia on the side. I love that the sauce actually has chilli in it. There’s definitely heat to this but I break it up with a few bites of the other small dishes.
The focaccia with buttermite is okay, just a more buttery vegemite as the name suggests.
The Murray cod with native curry broth, pickled guindilla peppers and finger lime is a really unexpected flavour profile. The curry broth in my mind is more of an Indian curry. But this broth reminds me of Vietnamese cuisine, with more of a punchy fish sauce, lemon and nuoc cham flavouring. Sweet and tangy. Very interesting.
The 250g of wagyu flank with a stroganoff sauce and native thyme looks glorious served medium rare. The wagyu is so soft and comes in generously thick slices. We all love the stroganoff sauce with mushrooms and it reminds me I should try to cook it at home one day. Absolutely delicious and I can’t get enough sauce on the beef.
The roast potatoes are so very moreish and crispy with the perfect amount of salt, and tastes too good with crème fraiche, chive oil and dill.
The bitter leaf slaw with fried onion, bush tomato balsamic, apple, feta and almond is another dish I probably would have avoided if I was dining a la carte, but it turned out to be one of the best salads I’ve had in a long time. The slaw actually isn’t that bitter. The slivers of apple gives me my sweet hit, and there are plenty of other elements in there including some creamy fetta to keep it interesting, fresh and crunchy. It all works beautifully together and the bowl is massive. I had fourth helpings of this! Great to see another creative vegetarian dish.
Dessert is the Geraldton wax pannacotta with corn ice cream and corn praline. Not going to lie, this is a strange one for me. The pannacotta does have floral notes and there’s a herbaceous sauce on top giving it a native touch. The corn elements aren’t too sweet and I appreciate the crunchy praline. However dessert just doesn’t hit the spot for me so I am sad to end on this.
Although I am not overly impressed with the entrees or dessert at Corella Bar, I do love the small plates and mains. The BBQ leeks and chilli mussels, Wagyu flank, potatoes and bitter slaw are all stand out dishes for me. Put this one on the list for a date night or a night with the your foodie friends.
Here’s the reel of my experience:
Corella Bar
14 Lonsdale St, Braddon
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