Rubicon
6a Barker St
GRIFFITH ACT 2603
http://www.rubiconrestaurant.com.au/
The Good
A very nice, quiet venue in Griffith featuring perfectly cooked meats. The barramundi, gnocchi and pork assiette were divine. The offer to replace our BYO slightly-warm bottle of Moet with a chilled bottle from their cellar was a very nice touch from our server.
The Bad
Some of the dishes lacked creativity or genuine flavour – I am fairly confident the sauces with the barramundi and the steak were substantially identical or deceptively similar, to borrow from trade mark parlance. The confit duck was not very exciting.
Service-wise, there were some very, very long waits between courses. While it may be the case that this was due to the difficulty of a custom degustation for a group of six people, it is also the case that a restaurant should not encourage said custom degustation menus if it will result in serving difficulties. The delays also resulted in the wine pairings appearing stingy. Last, but not least, by the time the meal ended I had to walk up to the front of the restaurant and ask for the bill as everyone was packing up and there was no one in the back area to serve us.
The Meal
Amuse Bouche
WA red claw yabbies with leek and gorgonzola gratin, flying fish roe
Crisp skin Barramundi with crab, chive and potato dumplings, roasted tomato and fennel sauce
Roasted chive and potato gnocchi (flourless), confit tomato, basil, tallegio cheese
Intermezzo
Berkshire pork assiette – belly with chilli lime caramel; rolled shin and boudin noir with a crispy ear and herb salad
Confit duck, spiced plum salsa, pickled carrot, St Maure d’Poitiu goats cheese
Roasted lamb shoulder and grilled lamb loin, speck lardons, peas and mint
Chargrilled beef fillet in bacon, beef jus, sauce béarnaise, confit tomato, thyme roasted kipflers
Sorbet
Ginger and lime crème brûlée, crème fraîche sorbet, roasted passionfruit
fat man, thin wallet 