Dinner @ The Dock – Kingston Foreshore

New sports bar/pub, The Dock, is the latest addition to the Kingston Foreshore whose co-owners include Brumbies and Wallabies players Scott Fardy and Ben Alexander. I headed there one weeknight to meet up with some friends, not expecting it to be so busy! All outdoor tables were full of people enjoying a drink after work underneath the bright yellow outdoor Veuve Clicquot umbrellas.
A nautical theme is displayed throughout the interior with the use of wooden paneling, wooden barrels, ropes tied around the large pillars and the hard to miss mural of Lake Burley Griffin. Staff are dressed in navy polo shirts and beige pants. I like the kitchen pass made to look like you’re seeing through a large barrel. Although there were a few empty tables, these had all been reserved. Luckily my friends scored what was the last free table by the window.
I do like the fact that they’ve brought a bit of nature indoors with plants sitting up high on a wooden deck.
There’s a mix of seating from the blue and white striped nautical banquette corner seating, regular tables, and high tables and stools.
It wouldn’t be a sports bar without several TVs throughout the bar. The Dock is also displaying portraits of Australian sports people in the bar.
The menu (on the website) provides starters such as oysters, buffalo wings, arancini balls and a prawn bucket. Then there’s a range of pizzas, nachos, pulled pork sliders, BBQ pork ribs, schnitty and a good ol sirloin steak. There are also salads to choose from and dessert. The menu indicates whether something is gluten free, can be made gluten free, with nut, vegetarian, lacto-vegetarian, or lacto-ovo vegetarian. We were a little peckish and ordered a few small items to begin with. The beer battered chips ($8.50) were a winner and we ended up ordering three of these bowls over the night. Crunchy and seasoned on the outside, while fluffy on the inside. These chips come served with a paper tub of tomato sauce. I want to quickly mention the service – I literally had just ordered the next few items at the bar, got my receipt and sat down not 2 minutes before it came out. Very impressed.
The chicken fingers ($11) came in a serve of five with honey mustard sauce. These aren’t really your typical ‘fingers’ but large strips of deep fried chicken. The chicken was succulent and the batter was nice and crunchy. You could easily fill up on this so it’s probably best to share.
I really wanted to try the pumpkin and sweet potato arancini balls (one of my favourite must-have starters) but sadly they had run out. So I ordered the salt and pepper squid ($13) which you can choose to have fried or grilled (I chose fried) with a side of roasted garlic aioli. Very lightly fried, the squid were thickly cut, soft and not too rubbery but they were a little bland after a few bites.
An hour or so later, we ordered a few mains for dinner. I ordered the beer battered barramundi ($19.50) with beer battered chips and tartare sauce. You have the option of grilled barramundi with salad for a healthier alternative. I find that most bars give you two thin pieces of fish (almost like fish fingers) so I was surprised to get a huge piece of barramundi.
The others ordered several All Meat pizzas ($22) with pulled pork, Italian sausages, spiced beef mince and bacon with tomato creole, mozzarella, prosciutto, capsicums and basil.
I was too full to have dessert but I was eyeing the Chocolate Bliss on the menu. There’s also a cheese board for you cheese lovers. We found prices a tad expensive but about right for the lake-view location. I like the fact that there are healthier options for the ‘bad’ foods like choosing grilled rather than fried, and having a side salad rather than chips. It does get loud, particularly outside, but the atmosphere is pumping and an enjoyable night was had by all. I was happy with the wait time for meals – the first lot of starters came out super fast, and I only waited about 15 minutes for my barramundi and chips to come out. There was a bit of a mix up with the lemon, lime and bitter I ordered which was mixed with soda water rather than lemonade. Bar staff were happy to give me a new one, but it was again mixed with soda water. Third time lucky when we asked specifically for lemonade. I’m told standard beers are on tap, similar to Walt and Burley on the other end of the Foreshore.
I’m changing things a little to ring in the new year. My boyfriend pointed out that my scoring system is kind of flawed. Thinking back to when I started this blog, I set it up to initially focus on the food (hence foodgasm) but over time the scores have morphed to include factors like service and price. So, I’ve decided to add these categories to future posts. Overall scores will now be out of 30.