Sometimes things are better left as good memories rather than reliving it.
We found ourselves at FINS again last wednesday night, driving from Broadbeach as we are staying at Meriton for the school holidays.
The restaurant was quiet when we arrived and only three tables were occupied the entire night. I would have thought it would be busier as it was school holidays. They actually started packing up the bar at eight when we were halfway through our meal.
New menu was introduced but some favourites stayed on so we ordered two different mains from last time. Desserts options remain as last time, still unexciting.
Princess ordered the same fish and chips (no photo) as last time. When it arrived, I can tell the fish had been overcooked from the (deep) colour of the batter, sure enough they were. The chips fared worse. The tempura coating was sparsely clinging on and the inside is chewy, reminding me of frozen McCains chips.
Not a good start.
Big King ordered Fins Fish $41.90.
Fish of the day (jewfish) glazed in dashi and green tea with black sesame tossed pumpkin, cauliflower puree and finger lime pearls
The fish was moist and succulent but a tad overcooked and flavour wise it was weak. I can't taste any dashi or green tea, it could have been plain pan fried fish I was tasting.
And I wonder what sesame tossed pumpkin actually meant. Steamed pumpkin and then tossed. Pan fried and then tossed? Toasted black sesame? I couldn't see any black sesame anywhere on the plate. But we did see broadbean which is a better substitute I think. I had a taste of one of the pumpkin. God, it has so much fibre my face grimaced. At $41.90 a dish, I think it was unforgiveable. I didn't touch the dish after the pumpkin.
I ordered basque barbeque, $49.
Chargrilled fish, octopus, prawn, scallop, cuttlefish and mussels with red wine braised cabbage, asparagus and handcut heirloom potato chips.
It was quite a sight when my dish came. I am pleased with the looks of it. Upon tasting, all the elements on the plate was lukewarm which quickly turned cold as the restaurant was freezing. I was less than happy but everything on the plate was cooked nicely except the fish which was chewy and overcooked. The best part of the dish is the vegetables, the sweet and sour cabbage complements those grilled seafood beautifully. The chips were sweet (yes, sweet, think oven roasted dutch cream potatoes, yum) and I like the smokiness of it as you can tell from the picture the way they were cooked. The star of the seafood is still the prawns. Juicy, sweet and succulent, a joy to eat, eventhough they are cold.
The same desserts were orded as last time. This time I was less than happy with the ice-cream that came with the chocolate torte as it had big chunks of dark cocoa. Ewww, I don't take to bitter ANYTHING. The torte is still bitter, arghh, only guys who don't eat sweets will like it. What's sweets without being sweet? Waste of time.
The panna cotta is still as good as before, I even rate it higher than the very sexy and wobbly lavender panna cotta from Rocksalt Modern Dining (Broadbeach). It has the same giving texture as Fins version but mouth feel wise Fins' was better, silkier.
I don't know where to place the restaurant after the second visit. It has dropped from my MUST visit to borderly-go if you have nothing better to do.
Perhaps the chef is having a bad day? Or Mr Snow was not in and the kitchen has gone slack? I mean overcooking fish is not acceptable in a restaurant specialising in just that. Has the Chef Hat Award judges ever visited the restaurant when Mr Snow is not in, overseeing his kitchen?
We found ourselves at FINS again last wednesday night, driving from Broadbeach as we are staying at Meriton for the school holidays.
The restaurant was quiet when we arrived and only three tables were occupied the entire night. I would have thought it would be busier as it was school holidays. They actually started packing up the bar at eight when we were halfway through our meal.
New menu was introduced but some favourites stayed on so we ordered two different mains from last time. Desserts options remain as last time, still unexciting.
Princess ordered the same fish and chips (no photo) as last time. When it arrived, I can tell the fish had been overcooked from the (deep) colour of the batter, sure enough they were. The chips fared worse. The tempura coating was sparsely clinging on and the inside is chewy, reminding me of frozen McCains chips.
Not a good start.
Big King ordered Fins Fish $41.90.
Fish of the day (jewfish) glazed in dashi and green tea with black sesame tossed pumpkin, cauliflower puree and finger lime pearls
The fish was moist and succulent but a tad overcooked and flavour wise it was weak. I can't taste any dashi or green tea, it could have been plain pan fried fish I was tasting.
And I wonder what sesame tossed pumpkin actually meant. Steamed pumpkin and then tossed. Pan fried and then tossed? Toasted black sesame? I couldn't see any black sesame anywhere on the plate. But we did see broadbean which is a better substitute I think. I had a taste of one of the pumpkin. God, it has so much fibre my face grimaced. At $41.90 a dish, I think it was unforgiveable. I didn't touch the dish after the pumpkin.
I ordered basque barbeque, $49.
Chargrilled fish, octopus, prawn, scallop, cuttlefish and mussels with red wine braised cabbage, asparagus and handcut heirloom potato chips.
It was quite a sight when my dish came. I am pleased with the looks of it. Upon tasting, all the elements on the plate was lukewarm which quickly turned cold as the restaurant was freezing. I was less than happy but everything on the plate was cooked nicely except the fish which was chewy and overcooked. The best part of the dish is the vegetables, the sweet and sour cabbage complements those grilled seafood beautifully. The chips were sweet (yes, sweet, think oven roasted dutch cream potatoes, yum) and I like the smokiness of it as you can tell from the picture the way they were cooked. The star of the seafood is still the prawns. Juicy, sweet and succulent, a joy to eat, eventhough they are cold.
The same desserts were orded as last time. This time I was less than happy with the ice-cream that came with the chocolate torte as it had big chunks of dark cocoa. Ewww, I don't take to bitter ANYTHING. The torte is still bitter, arghh, only guys who don't eat sweets will like it. What's sweets without being sweet? Waste of time.
The panna cotta is still as good as before, I even rate it higher than the very sexy and wobbly lavender panna cotta from Rocksalt Modern Dining (Broadbeach). It has the same giving texture as Fins version but mouth feel wise Fins' was better, silkier.
I don't know where to place the restaurant after the second visit. It has dropped from my MUST visit to borderly-go if you have nothing better to do.
Perhaps the chef is having a bad day? Or Mr Snow was not in and the kitchen has gone slack? I mean overcooking fish is not acceptable in a restaurant specialising in just that. Has the Chef Hat Award judges ever visited the restaurant when Mr Snow is not in, overseeing his kitchen?
Very disappointing after driven a long way to get there and been served mediocre food.
Don't even make me start on the burnt bread and runny capsicum jam. Orz..........
