Atrium Restaurant

23 Ryley St, Wangaratta 3677
Date visited: 28th March 2014


One day more - another day another Wang adventure.  Finished up work and picked MerlinFan up from Wodonga, then down we headed to Wangaratta for dinner before heading home the next morning.  The restaurant of choice tonight was Atrium at the Quality Hotel Wangaratta Gateway, where I had been several times before and rather enjoyed the food.  Tonight I brought MerlinFan.

I almost didn't want to do this post because it was really dim and I only had my iPhone 5 - despite how much I love my iPhone and how good the camera already is, my photos turned out a grainy mess.  However, we had a great time, so I couldn't not write about it.  So, to counter the fugliness of my photos I just made them smaller >;P

We decided to share an entree of Salt and Szechuan pepper squid on Asian herb salad and nam jim dressing.

Salt and Szechuan pepper squid $15.50

The squid was tender and nicely done.  I loved the dipping sauce it came with, although MerlinFan was content eating the squid on its own.

Every time I'm away from home, I crave steak and dude food.  Don't ask me why.  I already knew I wanted a steak, so I chose something from the Grill.  I had the Angus Scotch Fillet 300g with truffle scented mashed potato and mixed seasonal greens.  Now, it comes with a choice of either porcini mushroom puree, red wine jus or Milawa mustard and peppercorn butter. 

Angus Scotch Fillet 300g $32.00

In case you're wondering, no, that's not a bizarre looking sausage sitting atop the steak - it was actually the mushroom puree!  The steak was delicious.  My medium was tender, juicy and meaty with lots of chargrilled flavour.  The puree was quite chunky and I ended up scraping it off in the end because the steak didn't need it.  MerlinFan and I agreed the truffle scented mash was fantastic.  Absolutely loved it.

Whenever MerlinFan's away from home, she craves cheese and fish & chips.  Yeah.  She chose one of the specials, Atlantic salmon fillet with roast root vegetables and asparagus spears, drizzled with balsamic dressing.

Atlantic salmon $31

The salmon was nicely done with salty, crispy skin.  MerlinFan enjoyed her root veges and the sweet balsamic sauce.  She said it was a dish she would happily return and order again (so hopefully they keep it on their menu, seeing that it was a special).

We can never say no to dessert, and fine, I admit that again, I actually dragged MerlinFan here because I wanted to eat their desserts LOL.  I was totally crushed when I saw the murky lighting because it meant no nice dessertporn pics.  :(

MerlinFan had this Salted peanut butter semifreddo with strawberry jelly finished off with raspberry dusted chocolate tuile.

Salted peanut butter semifreddo $14.50

Only big photo because MerlinFan decided to be a super freak and turn her iPhone torch on for "illumination" so that I could take photos because it was too pretty not to.  >:D  Ahem, the staff probably thought we were weirdos.  Anyhoo, this was just like eating cold salty peanut butter and strawberry jam :)  MerlinFan thought it was really nice.

I was intrigued by the Moroccan panna cotta, layered with pistachio and rose water with strawberry coulis, pistachio crumbs and Persian vanilla fairy floss.

Moroccan pannacotta $14.50

I was hoping the panna cotta would be sitting on a plate - I didn't expect it to be served in a glass.  It would have been lovely to see in daylight - my photo in no way did it justice.  The panna cotta was smooth and creamy, went quite nicely with the strawberry coulis and pistachio crumbs.  We didn't detect my rosewater though, which was a shame, since we love rosewater.  And yes, who doesn't love Persian fairy floss?

We left happy and satisfied - as MerlinFan put it, "that was a good feed."  Would happily revisit.