Vintage Restaurant & Lounge

By Franz Scheurer

Vintage Restaurant & Lounge is a modern, stylish restaurant with views of the beach, which is just a couple of hundred metres away. There are a few tables outside as well and a long bar area on the left. The main restaurant is all hard, modern surfaces with an interesting collection of art on the pastel walls and a dark, polished wooden floor accentuating the white table linen.

The menu is a good read and entrées, mains and desserts all sound enticing. We tried the ‘Salad “Lyonnaise”’ ($14.50), a combination of green leaves, crispy bacon, croutons and a poached egg, the ‘King Prawn & Tomato Cocktail’ ($15.50), a clever combination of prawns and cocktail sauce inside a tomato, sitting on a gazpacho sauce and the ‘Sautéed Tasmanian Scallops’ ($16.95) sitting on a salad of couscous and basil pesto. Entrées presented well and were competently executed and the bottle of Pierro Chardonnay 2003 ($99) made for a lively palate companion. When I queried the fact that the wine list said 2004 and the bottle presented to me was 2003 the waitress first didn’t believe me, then told me: “OK, you’re right but vintages do change every now and then, you know”. For mains we tried the ‘Grilled Local Freshwater Yabbies’ ($35), served on a bed of mixed leaves and herbs, dressed with lemon and garlic oil. The serving was generous, all the correct implements were provided and although a bit of hard work it was worth is. A dish of ‘Roulade of Rabbit’ ($31) was beautifully presented. The rabbit was succulent and a filling of parsley, pine nuts and bacon texturally interesting, adding to the flavour of the dish with prunes and confit garlic as an accompaniment. The ‘Roast Loin of Lamb’ ($30.50), served with thyme scented fresh peas and the ‘Grilled Breast of Chicken & Seared Scallops’ ($29), served with oyster mushrooms, pomme fondant and mild curry sauce were good and well-seasoned and our dessert, the nostalgic ‘Strawberries “Romanoff”’ ($9.95) served in a tall cocktail glass, looked terrific but was a little too sweet for my taste.

Although the food was good the timing was far too slow. The service was friendly, but again, rather slow. This was especially obvious at the start of the meal when initial drinks took ages to arrive. If you’re in good company this might not matter but could be rather annoying if you’re on your own. Another moot point is that bread was never offered (although bread plates were set) and it took me a while to figure out that it had to be order separately. At these prices I don’t think this is right.

Score: 6/10

For more information or bookings:

Vintage Restaurant & Lounge

The Observatory

40 William Street

Port Macquarie NSW 2444

Tel.: 02 6583 9300