Alfred B.
Yelp
On our way to an early show recently Lady FWO and I ventured down to Roe Street and the Standard to have a meal and drink before checking out what turned out to be one of the best shows we have seen so far, Sweet Dreams.
The Standard has an excellent garden area at the back, and a quite delightful little hide-a-way above the container that serves as the outside bar. From it you can look across the roofs of surrounding buildings and over to cranes outlined against the city skyline, or down on the diners and drinkers at the garden tables below. But on this occasion, the heat a little extreme at the time we went, we decided to sit inside and take advantage of the air conditioning.
The wine list is not overly large but extremely well put together with an excellent selection by the glass - one of its major attractions the 5 rosés available. And so we set our sights on one of those - 2015 Rusden Loco Poco - peach coloured, grapefruit and strawberry fruit on the nose, a crisp and elegant palate full of citrus and raspberry flavours that finishes dry and long.
The menu is built around small shared plates and we decided on four of these small dishes - it turns out they aren't quite so small and we struggled to get through them, in fact we didn't. The price points are very good indeed - and that probably misled us - two or at the most three plates were ample - but as the food was excellent it did no real harm to try a range.
We started with a bowl of fava chips, deep fried cubes of fava bean mash, crispy skinned, inside mellow and smooth came with creamy aioli and earthy, velvety mushroom ketchup. A large serve, and would be an outstanding beer or drinks snack for another visit.
White anchovies draped on paper-thin fried slices of snappy sourdough, dollops of smoked tomato and buffalo yoghurt providing brilliant contrasting flavours to the briny lusciousness of the fish. Beautifully presented and great taste and texture.
Next up a board of fist sized clumps of cauliflower which had been smeared with salty, zesty, sour kimchi and fried with in light, airy tempura batter, sitting on a dab of mango chutney, coriander leaves and segments of sharp acidic lime.
This was a wonderful dish of juxtaposed elements which really worked - kimchi with its range of flavours and aroma, cauliflower vegetal and crunchy, fragrant coriander, sweet and sour mango and a fillip supplied by the juicy lime. Another generous serving.
Finally the highlight among many highlights - chicken prepared with Malaysian spices and served with prawn and tamarind sambal - beautifully cooked, the chicken was unctuously tender, while the spices - there seemed to be cloves, ginger, turmeric, star anise among them - supplied lifted aromatic notes to complement the zip from chilli; tamarind added a subtle sourness while the prawns gave up saltiness, sweetness - umami I guess; it was a lovely dish - and once again a substantial serve.
Service is always friendly, welcoming and make the Standard a stand out place on the once neglected Roe Street. We went away very impressed, very happy that we decided to go there and set us up perfectly for the show ahead. Highly recommended.