Windy Point Cafe – Beef With Lemon Butter

Decadence, pure decadence. Fancy going to Windy Point Cafe and ordering a schnitzel! Well, they don’t call it a schnitzel, it appears on the menu as “almond & marjoram crumbed beef fillet with greens, mash & lemon butter” and it was washed down with a couple of glasses the finest sparkling. In reality the dish was a schnitzel stack as there were three crumbed, thin pieces of beef stacked on top of each other served with the mash, a rather think stalk of what looked like broccolini and lemon butter. No chips or salad in site. As a side note, we did order a bowl of fries on the side which were needlessly plentiful, cooked well and seasoned sweetly.
On first inspection I thought that the lemon butter would make the schnitzel (“crumbed beef fillet”) soggy, but as I took my first bite I was in heaven. The taste explosion in my mouth from the almond and marjoram crumbing was sensational and the beef was pure molten goodness as it just melted delicately and deliciously whilst I masticated gracefully trying to stifle an audible groan of delight. Bonus star! As for the rest of the meal, I was glad that the lemon butter didn’t detract or over power the tastiness of the beef crumbing and mashed potato has always been on my last meal plate so it is hard to get that wrong for me. The green stalk however was far from satisfying or inspiring (half a star off) and was akin to an undressed salad of lettuce leaves and a solitary cherry tomato.
How much for this decadent meal you ask overlooking the fine city of Adelaide from the woody slopes of Belair? $25.50 (1 star off) At least five dollars more then I would have valued the meal at. I guess you are paying a premium for the view (which was excellent sitting next to a floor to ceiling window overlooking Adelaide) and the service (which was faultless...my glass was never empty).

Summary: The perfect place for a romantic schnitzel dinner.
Price: $25.50
Rating: 4.5 stars

Where:
Windy Point Cafe
Windy Point Lookout, Belair Rd, Belair 5052

General Havelock - Dirty Gringo Chicken

Schnitzel Lover had a rather successful visit to the Havey earlier this year, managing to award their Two Pints, Two Parmi's deal a full five stars. Since then the meal has jumped up two bucks in cost... but I'm not reviewing it today.

Looking for something new to try I spotted the Dirty Gringo. No, I wasn't checking out the dirty bloke in the corner, I was checking out the schnitzel!

I was equally impressed and disturbed with the meal as it arrived. The dish looked great but it didn't look like a schnitzel!

 

 

So as not to dwell on the unimportant, the salad and chips were both tasty, plentiful and above standard pub fare.

The chicken schnitzel was covered in a delicious mix of toasted corn chips, salsa, guacamole and sour cream. There was plenty of of this topping as well, easily covering the schnitzel. The taste itself is hard to describe but I can say for sure that it is fantastic!

So what prevents this from being a perfect meal? Well I honestly don't know, I guess there is just something in my mind telling me not to give it the full five stars. Regardless, you can't go wrong with a Dirty Gringo... well... maybe you can.

Price: $17.40

Rating: 4.5 stars

The Orient - Beef with Mushroom

There is no substitute for quality meat when it comes to a schnitzel and at the Oriental they use quality meat. The beef schnitzel down the road at the Alma seems like paper thin cardboard in comparison. Despite a mix up with the order I still received my "moo" schnitzel with mushroom sauce in reasonable time and when I saw the thickness of the schnitzel I was glad I didn't order the 500g "Sumo" schnitzel for $6 dollars more. It was unequivocally the best schnitzel I have had and although cooked to with-in a second of being overcooked the meat was still tender while the breading was a shade darker than perfection.

So what let the meal down...well it wasn't the chips, they were stock standard what we have come to expect from real Schnitzel contenders, or the mushroom sauce, which was tasty and well portioned but still out of it's depth when compared to the Daniel O'Connell. It was the salad. Some places seem to not put too much stock in delivering a good side of salad. The Orient tries to add an asian flavour to its meals (obviously derived from the name) but its orient inspired salad was un-attractive and not fun to eat (half a star off). I ended up leaving half of it behind, which was mostly grated carrot.

A final note: the meal was very nicely proportioned and I left satisfied and uncaring that a few seagulls around poached a chip or two from my plate.

Cost: $16

Rating: 4.5 stars

The Wellington - Beef Parmigiana with Mushroom

Schnitzel Lover gets many recommendations for the best schnitzel or new twists on the humble schnitzel. One suggestion that came through was that a Parmi with Gravy was awesome...needless to say I had to investigate.

The Wellington seemed like a reasonable place to try this Parmi experiment as I am extremely familiar with their Schnitzel quality. The theory behind the Parmi and Gravy combination is that it makes the schnitzel juicier, so I ordered a Beef Parmi and asked for Mushroom Sauce on the side.

After pouring the Mushroom Sauce over the Parmi I tuckered in and boy was it good. The taste was unique and can only be described as the Skittles of the Schnitzel World...a party in your mouth and everyone is invited! I can only describe it as layered goodness of the finest beef schnitzel, ham, tomato sauce, cheese and mushroom sauce...mmmmmmmm. *Drool*

The chips (much has all ready been written about them) as per usual were excellent and my only complaint was the pile of been sprouts on the salad...I hate been sprouts, half a star off.

The first place to put this Schnitzel on the menu will surely be onto a winner...so if you are bored of the old, plain Schnitzels then you surely need to try the parmigiana with gravy!

Price: $18.95

Rating: 4.5 stars

Ed Castle Hotel - Chicken Parmigiana

The Ed is located on the west end of town. The front bar is fairly old school yet the dining area whilst the dining area appears to be more modern.

I hit the Ed on a Friday night, looking forward to a few brews and some live tunes when low and behold a 10 buck menu, with schnitzel, appeared! Although I had eaten a Hawaiian schnitzel for lunch earlier in the day, I could not ignore the call of a 10 buck meal.

After ordering in the restaurant, I returned to the front bar with a plastic beeper that would flash when the meal was ready for collection. After staring at the beeper for what felt like an hour it went off and returned to collect the meal. Initial impressions were good.

The salad looked fresh, was dressed and tasted quite good. The chips were okay but the serving size was small and their placement under the schnitzel was pointless given the available plate space.

I quickly moved onto the schnitzel and was pleasantly surprised. The schnitzel was reasonably thick without being over crumbed. The meat itself was good quality and the crumbing was crisp without being burnt. The tasty topping was nicely spaced over the entire schnitzel and at the same time avoided the problem of over saucing the schnitzel.

At 10 bucks this is a fantastic meal but doesn't quite reach the perfect score. Chip placement under a schnitzel when plate space is available should incur a slight penalty, plus there are a few slightly better deals out there which I've eaten but not yet reviewed.

Price: $10

Rating: 4.5 stars