Pancake Parlour
Centerpoint, Bourke Street Mall, City.
(next to the famous downstairs Hungry Jacks).
After a hard days rocking at the Big Day Out concert, my friend Chris and I where feeling hungry (and no, neither of us where stoned or drunk, we where just hungry). We tried to find someplace to eat on our w journey from Princes Park to Flinders Street Station. That in itself isn't a terrible issue as it is Melbourne and there is alot of places, but when it is 10 o'clock at night on a Sunday, there is a serious crimp in terms of what is open.
Luckily for us the Pancake Parlour (going down the escalator at Centerpoint - right next to the downstairs Hungry Jacks) was open - its welcoming sign promising it was open until late.
On that front it didn't disapoint, even though at first we where not sure since the waiting staff looked to be cleaning up. Luckily what we failed to see was an entire wing of the resturant around the corner from the entrance where several customers where eating.
The Order:
Robert: Mexican Beef Crepes, Cottage Fries (Small Serving) & Orange Juice
Chris: Potato Pancake and Rootbeer Float.
Also it should be noted Chris ended up eating most of Robert's Cottage Fries.
The Food and Drink:
For the cost (it was relative expensive - total cost ended up being just shy of $50) it wasn't terrible impressive food. Then again we where not expecting a five star resturant late on Sunday night.
The Mexican Beef Crepes where not bad, though they where rather tasteless. It was sad that the lettuce had more flavour in them then the beef or the crepe. At least the beef, crepe and lettuce where plentiful on the plate and one could easily mix it up.
It suprisingly wasn't filling for the amount I got and I was done eating relatively fast. Normally with pancakes and crepes you tend to get filled up pretty fast but I was still rather hungry at the end. I did get a couple of cottage fries in the end - which are estentially cut and fried baby potatos with sour cream topping. They where nice but again proberly not particular worth the price I paid for them.
I orange juice was fresh and pulpy, though it was served in a shockingly small glass and it had a couple of black flecks in it.
Chris described his Potato Pancake and Rootbeer as an Atlantic Delight. Clearly Chris is full of shit. On the other hand the rootbeer was extremely large and looked nice. I proberly should've ordered that instead of my pookey little orange juice.
The Service:
Our waitress was very blonde and perky. She was also very good and coming back to us to see if everything is okay which is not something one gets to see often in Australia. The waitress mixed up the names of the drinks at one point given us a comedic few seconds when we all thought she brought the wrong drinks to the table. It wasn't anything significant though and we got a decent laugh out of it.
The food was actually served relatively fast, though I do have to admit I wasn't keen to have my starter (The Cottage Fries) served at the same time as my main.
The Surroundings:
The Pancake Parlour is located in a unique place - at the front entrance of Centerpoint Plaza on Bourke Street there is a set of escalators that take you down directly to a basement level where you run smack into literally a Hungry Jacks out in the open with its serving/ordering counters literally a few feet from the bottom of the escalator (Hungry Jacks is the Australian name for Burger King). On the left of the escalators there is a long thin set of rooms with an open air design and alot of glass windows which is the Pancake Parlour. The resturant, while obviously wedged between alot of other basement level shops - almost to the point of looking like leftover space, managed to make itself look much larger and airier then it really is.
Miscellaneous:
Avoid the booths if you are eating with more then two people. The two person booths are rather tiny and your bum is half of the seat and the four people booths would be lucky to seat four stick insects. If you go with young children or family try and get an ordinary table in the main section of the resturant that is opened facing the Hungry Jacks and the escalators.
Overall Rating:
I am not completely impressed with the place. I understand it is a part of a small chain of resturants but it isn't like it is fast food either. The food was a little too expensive and the selection was extremely limiting. The service though was good and the atmosphere enjoyable.
Two stars out of five.
Centerpoint, Bourke Street Mall, City.
(next to the famous downstairs Hungry Jacks).
After a hard days rocking at the Big Day Out concert, my friend Chris and I where feeling hungry (and no, neither of us where stoned or drunk, we where just hungry). We tried to find someplace to eat on our w journey from Princes Park to Flinders Street Station. That in itself isn't a terrible issue as it is Melbourne and there is alot of places, but when it is 10 o'clock at night on a Sunday, there is a serious crimp in terms of what is open.
Luckily for us the Pancake Parlour (going down the escalator at Centerpoint - right next to the downstairs Hungry Jacks) was open - its welcoming sign promising it was open until late.
On that front it didn't disapoint, even though at first we where not sure since the waiting staff looked to be cleaning up. Luckily what we failed to see was an entire wing of the resturant around the corner from the entrance where several customers where eating.
The Order:
Robert: Mexican Beef Crepes, Cottage Fries (Small Serving) & Orange Juice
Chris: Potato Pancake and Rootbeer Float.
Also it should be noted Chris ended up eating most of Robert's Cottage Fries.
The Food and Drink:
For the cost (it was relative expensive - total cost ended up being just shy of $50) it wasn't terrible impressive food. Then again we where not expecting a five star resturant late on Sunday night.
The Mexican Beef Crepes where not bad, though they where rather tasteless. It was sad that the lettuce had more flavour in them then the beef or the crepe. At least the beef, crepe and lettuce where plentiful on the plate and one could easily mix it up.
It suprisingly wasn't filling for the amount I got and I was done eating relatively fast. Normally with pancakes and crepes you tend to get filled up pretty fast but I was still rather hungry at the end. I did get a couple of cottage fries in the end - which are estentially cut and fried baby potatos with sour cream topping. They where nice but again proberly not particular worth the price I paid for them.
I orange juice was fresh and pulpy, though it was served in a shockingly small glass and it had a couple of black flecks in it.
Chris described his Potato Pancake and Rootbeer as an Atlantic Delight. Clearly Chris is full of shit. On the other hand the rootbeer was extremely large and looked nice. I proberly should've ordered that instead of my pookey little orange juice.
The Service:
Our waitress was very blonde and perky. She was also very good and coming back to us to see if everything is okay which is not something one gets to see often in Australia. The waitress mixed up the names of the drinks at one point given us a comedic few seconds when we all thought she brought the wrong drinks to the table. It wasn't anything significant though and we got a decent laugh out of it.
The food was actually served relatively fast, though I do have to admit I wasn't keen to have my starter (The Cottage Fries) served at the same time as my main.
The Surroundings:
The Pancake Parlour is located in a unique place - at the front entrance of Centerpoint Plaza on Bourke Street there is a set of escalators that take you down directly to a basement level where you run smack into literally a Hungry Jacks out in the open with its serving/ordering counters literally a few feet from the bottom of the escalator (Hungry Jacks is the Australian name for Burger King). On the left of the escalators there is a long thin set of rooms with an open air design and alot of glass windows which is the Pancake Parlour. The resturant, while obviously wedged between alot of other basement level shops - almost to the point of looking like leftover space, managed to make itself look much larger and airier then it really is.
Miscellaneous:
Avoid the booths if you are eating with more then two people. The two person booths are rather tiny and your bum is half of the seat and the four people booths would be lucky to seat four stick insects. If you go with young children or family try and get an ordinary table in the main section of the resturant that is opened facing the Hungry Jacks and the escalators.
Overall Rating:
I am not completely impressed with the place. I understand it is a part of a small chain of resturants but it isn't like it is fast food either. The food was a little too expensive and the selection was extremely limiting. The service though was good and the atmosphere enjoyable.
Two stars out of five.
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