Giorgios
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Giorgios
1235 High Street
Armadale, VIC 3143
(61) 03 98224558
Long time no update... And finally I have something to share with my (slightly) more frequent place for a (familiar) culinary experience - Giorgios - located just at the corner of High Street and Glenferrie Road. It is a very convenient restaurant/cafe, and a place with a name so sound that everyone in the vicinity know about it, and even those who are not from the area have also heard about the place. Shows how popular the place is.
Giorgios has a pretty wide variety of food from their menu to choose from, ranging from pastas, pizza, different kinds of salad, starters, soup, bagels & sandwiches, mains, desserts and so on. They also have a breakfast menu, which I will probably never get to try, given the times I get to pass by the place (needless to say, to patron) is always after breakfast hours. On top of that, they also have a wide variety of wines, beers, cocktails, shooters, tea and coffee. From the point of enterance you see the coffee bar. Further on, it is connected with the 'desserts' bar, where different yummy cakes are displayed before your very eyes.
The ambience there makes you feel like the place is pretty classy, however, the place is almost always bustling. The service there will defeat their slight classy feel because even though their service staff are friendly, but they are all fast-paced and informal. Food is served at large portions, but their price is not very cheap either. You must admit that the place is a good gathering place, especially if your activity area is around the Armadale/Toorak/Malvern/Glen Iris/Prahran (you get the gist) area.
Oh, and they are open til late too! You can sit til 12AM and they will not kick you out.
Really fresh natural oysters
Eggplant dip served with wood fire sesame bread
Smoked salmon croquette crumbed with potato & spring onions, served with mayonnaise.
Minestrone soup with side serve of bread
Caesar salad with grilled chicken
Prawn gyoza with a sesame and soy dipping sauce
The taste of this wasn't too bad, however it was only a miserable FOUR pieces of gyoza, costing $10.90! Too expensive!!
Nicoise salad
A mixture of tuna, potato, cherry tomatoes, peas, spinach, boiled egg, anchovies with a seeded mustard dressing and extra virgin olive oil.
A pretty good tasting salad.
Chicken and corn soup
Wait til I get a better quality photo of this - Chef platter with a mixture of spring rolls, calamari rings, croquette, pita bread with dipping sauces.
Very unhealthy assortment of food, and too big (or too much fried stuff) for one person, so it's recommended to share even though it's a 'mini platter'.
Another bad quality photo awaiting a better quality one if there's a chance - Apple crumble
Giorgios has pretty good apple crumbles. They don't have it all the time though.
Creme brulee - brown sugar, mascapone cheese served with vanilla ice-cream.
Very sinful, sweet, yet very nice. I like the sugary crust on top best!
Toblerone cheese cake
Very sweet and rich. It is probably even recommend that 3-4 people share this slice of cake, unless, of course, you have a very sweet tooth.
Cocktail #1 - Passionfruit addiction - vodka, creme de cacao, passionfruit pulp, grapefruit juice. Nice blend, and not too strong.
Cocktail #2 - Lemon Meringue - vodka, cointreau, lemon juice. Moderate strength (to me, at least). Lemon was refreshing. Vodka and cointreau makes you happy, but not drunk. I'll say it's a good drink after a hard day at work.
Cocktail #3 - Cryptonite Blazer - wild turkey bourbon, creme de cacao, orange rind and lemon juice.
Pretty strong drink. Every sip seems like a full shot. First sip might be a shock, however, it is a satisfying drink for people who loves their shooters and/or an 'amateur' alcoholic.
Overall (out of 5 stars per category):
Food: Taste: ***1/2 Fragrance: ***1/2 Appearance: ****
They serve pretty decent food in all aspects of taste, fragrance and appearance. Definitely worth its popularity. But then of course, if you want to compare it to some other places, they are probably still a notch behind. You won't be disappointed nonetheless.
Service: **1/2
Service staff were reasonably friendly, but a little more attention to customers will probably do the trick. Furthermore, stacking up tables and chairs after last orders is a big NO-NO because customers are still sitting there, eating.
Price: ***
For a place like Armadale, it definitely makes sense to cost this much - i.e. not cheap. Each person can easily fork out $50 for one meal. Whilst most of their food are pretty big portioned and costing over $20 for a dish, some of them (e.g. the prawn gyoza) are too expensive for their little quantity.
Ambience: ****
Food: Taste: ***1/2 Fragrance: ***1/2 Appearance: ****
They serve pretty decent food in all aspects of taste, fragrance and appearance. Definitely worth its popularity. But then of course, if you want to compare it to some other places, they are probably still a notch behind. You won't be disappointed nonetheless.
Service: **1/2
Service staff were reasonably friendly, but a little more attention to customers will probably do the trick. Furthermore, stacking up tables and chairs after last orders is a big NO-NO because customers are still sitting there, eating.
Price: ***
For a place like Armadale, it definitely makes sense to cost this much - i.e. not cheap. Each person can easily fork out $50 for one meal. Whilst most of their food are pretty big portioned and costing over $20 for a dish, some of them (e.g. the prawn gyoza) are too expensive for their little quantity.
Ambience: ****
Looks like a pretty 'formal' dining area if only it's not always bustling. It's busy, but it doesn't make the place any less uncomfortable to be in anyway. Choice of indoor or outdoor dining. Upbeat but not overlooked in terms of service.
Accessibility: ****
Accessibility: ****
This is pretty subjective because it depends on where you are coming from. I will say it is very accessible as long as you are willing to hop onto a tram and travel probably 20 minutes minimum from the city into Armadale. The place is very easy to find since it's at the crossroads of High street and Glenferrie Road, opposite Malvern Town Hall, and 2 really big, obscure looking 'monuments'. You definitely can't miss it. Tram number 6 runs from the city and down High Street is probably the best way you can get there. Another alternative will be tram number 16, and it will eventually run down Glenferrie Road via St. Kilda. It is a much longer route and will probably take about 30-45 minutes to get there from the city.
