Cafe Martini

87 Murphy Street, Wangaratta 3677
Date visited: 24th April 2013

This is actually my second time at Cafe Martini.

Now, MerlinFan enjoyed 'camping out' in Wangaratta with me so much last week that she decided to come up all the way on train from Melbourne just to join me for dinner and drive home with me for Anzac Day.  Crazy or what, LOL.  I decided to take her to one of the restaurants I'd gone to in my first week here for dinner with workshop mates - I hadn't blogged about it because the meal was paid for in a group by my seniors.

I went straight from work to pick MerlinFan from the station and off we zipped down to Cafe Martini.

It was a homey, somewhat rustic restaurant.  The downstairs had a slightly dated feel; upstairs you could dine on the balcony and the last time we dined as a group in one of their bigger private rooms.  BTW lighting was rather dim hence the somewhat grainy pics - oh well, at least it fits the old-fashioned theme LOL.

Signboard of desserts.
Also had a specials boards but it was around the corner.

I had a Lemon Lime Bitter and guess who just wanted water but ended up drinking most of my drink.  LOL.

Lemon lime bitter

Service I have to admit is not the speediest and somewhat erratic.  A couple ordered less than five minutes before us (one of them had the same thing MerlinFan ordered) and they got their meal really quickly.  We waited, expecting ours to be served next.  We waited some more.  Another table who ordered after us got their meal.  Over half an hour passed.  The first table finished their meal and left.  I was hungry and getting a bit cranky.

Finally, after eons, we got our meals.  Crankiness dissipated.

Because I had enjoyed it so much, I reordered what I had last time, which was one of the specials, the Ribeye steak with wedges.  You could choose to have it with veges or salad - I had veges last time so I chose the salad.

Ribeye steak 

The ribeye was huge.  I remember I had given some to a friend the first time and still couldn't finish it.  I had my steak medium done and it was nicely pink in the middle.  I enjoyed the smoky flavour from the grill, although tonight I thought the steak and the mushroom sauce lacked a little in the seasoning department.  Nothing a little salt from the table couldn't fix, though.  The wedges were a nice accompaniment and the salad refreshing.

MerlinFan had the Chicken Risotto.  It had chicken, roquette, mushrooms and leek topped off with parmesan cheese.  She said it was one of the best risottos she had had.  The risotto still had a little bit of a bite, and all the flavours and rich cheesiness were perfectly balanced.  MerlinFan also pointed out that they were incredibly generous with the chicken.  

Chicken risotto

We stayed for a coffee and dessert.  Plan A was to order one each but after that massive steak, I didn't think I could polish off one on my own so we decided to share.

Latte

We liked the latte.  It was really strong and bitter.  No coffee for MerlinFan because she gets insomnia even from guzzling Pepsi WTF.

Not all the desserts listed on the board were available, so we chose the Sticky Date Pudding with Caramel Sauce.

Sticky date pudding

Despite its understated appearance, it was really yum!  We loved the sticky date pudding and the molten toffee caramel sauce, with vanilla ice cream to break up the richness.  It was heaven for a few moments.  I could have eaten four portions of them puddings - my only complaint would be how tiny the slice was for $8.

Overall, we both enjoyed our dinner at Cafe Martini.  Although service is on the slow side, there are heaps of delicious sounding choices and portion sizes of the mains I daresay are good value for your money.  Likely will visit here again as long as I'm in the area.




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