By Franz Scheurer
Off the beaten track, hidden in a small side street
in East Maitland, the Old George & Dragon has a long history of good food
and a reputation for a fabulous cellar. Inside an 1837 coach-house, renovated
in a style that would be at ease in Europe with heavy brocade curtains, dark
green walls with wooden trim, high ceilings, old-worldly artefacts, pictures of
hunting scenes, this is a step back to a more voluptuous, gentler time. Sitting
down you sink into chairs that are a little too low and a bit too soft to be
comfortable and the air is hot and quite stuffy adding to that old-world feel.
Table-, and glass-, ware are excellent, however the stainless steel Japanese
cutlery isn’t in keeping with the rest of the décor. The menu is classic a mix
of traditional fare, embracing French and English favourites with the odd
Kangaroo thrown in for local colour.
The food is just as old-worldly, overworked and
stuffy. The ‘Quail and chanterelles mushroom pie’ is rich and exceptionally
gamey and the best savoury dish on the night. A main course of ‘Roast lamb loin
with a white bean casserole’ looked huge with the loin finely cut and fanned
out. The meat, of questionable quality, was perfectly seared but obviously not
rested, making it tough and chewy with the juices leaking out into the flood of
over-reduced, slightly bitter jus that covered the plate. The beans were
undercooked and chalky. A main of ‘Pan fried ocean trout fillet with leek
confit, baby spinach and cider butter sauce’ was better, with a good-sized
piece of fish, still moist inside, sitting on top of excellent English spinach
and fondue of leeks, however the sauce let it down. A butter emulsion does not
need starch to keep it, it will invariable ‘set’ on the plate.
Our dessert, a ‘Rhubarb and apple crumble and
vanilla bean ice cream’ the star of the night, showing off a crisp, crunchy
crust, soft but well-textured fruit and a superb ice cream to go with it.
Excellent indeed.
Service is very friendly and the least stuffy thing
about this place. It is positively cheerful! The wine list is indeed lengthy
and worthy of a couple of ‘oohs and aahs’, however, I can’t help feeling that
although this would have been a definitive wine list 20 years ago, it is not
today. The city guys have caught up and gone way beyond, using purchasing power
to stock their cellars with wine that simply time and passion can’t rival any
more.
All in all the Old George & Dragon is still a
very good restaurant and worthy of your patronage, but I do feel they need to
look at their food and make some changes. Today’s patrons are a far more
knowledgeable lot than the patrons of twenty years ago and with knowledge comes
demand for better technique and fewer shortcuts.
Score: 6/10
For more information or bookings:
The Old George & Dragon
48 Melbourne Street
East Maitland NSW 2323
Tel.: 02 4933 7272