Food review: Dining Room’s menu simple yet diverse

The atmosphere at The Dining Room is a big draw, especially at night. There’s a certain romance to being nestled cozily inside of a lighthouse.

Head Chef Vincent Purcell just introduced his latest menu, it gets a shake up every three weeks. Saturday night — the night after the launch of the bistro-style menu — was reassuringly busy. The starter menu had lots of vegetarian options but plenty of meat and fish too, and, where the main menu lacked in veggie options, it overflowed with dishes like roasted duck, honey mustard encrusted salmon, Australian lamb chops, seafood pasta and even Shepherd’s Pie… well, Vince is a Brit. 

On the whole, the menu leans slightly towards Italian. Me and my partner Chris were offered a few extra treats for the purpose of this review so — thank the heavens above — I got to try The Dining Room Special Pizza. It’s just pizza, I know… but it is brilliant. It’s simple — not too fussy — which seems to sum up Vince’s style. People often over complicate recipes, he tells us. Arugula, prosciutto, parmesan shavings and a drizzle of a sweet, punchy balsamic reduction — that was it. The thin crust held a nice balance of warm dough and crisp. Only the base was cooked — the fresh ingredients dressed on top before serving which meant no sweaty meat or cheese. A winner. 

On to the new menu which should be in place for the next week and a half... I chose the polenta for starter as I couldn’t remember ever trying it more than once. When I ate it I remembered why. It’s not the taste — there isn’t much taste — it’s more of a texture thing. I’d take a creamy mashed potato over this any day. The real taste came when you punched into the centre to find the “molten” Taleggio and Truffle. Though the centre wasn’t molten, it was erupting with flavour — mainly the truffle — but when you got a good hit of the cheese you knew about it. The creamy centre went beautifully with the sweetness of the light whip of marinara coulis, artistically swept across the plate.

Chris chose the Grilled White Asparagus With Prosciutto, Poached Egg, Black Truffle Vinaigrette — another well-presented dish with a more moderate flavouring of truffle oil. The asparagus was well grilled giving it a good depth of flavour mixing nicely with the soft poached egg and salty meat.

For my main I chose Beef Stroganoff that uses tenderloin from New York’s Debragga farm. The tenderness gave the meat an almost pasty texture, the onions retained a little crunch and the mushrooms — just enough bite. 

Taste wise, the paprika-blushed sauce balanced creamy and tangy with the deeply rich beef. Well recommended by the staff. 

We then chose the Creamy Potato Gnocci with Gorgonzola and Walnut Sauce, for variety. It is a heavy dish so on a normal night I’d avoid the polenta or any other substantial starter. The gorgonzola and walnut complemented each other in the sauce.

For deserts, well, the Panacotta won over our Sticky Toffee Pudding. The toffee sauce was outrageously sweet but I found a way to eat almost all of it, I just kept stealing Chris’s subtle milky panacotta between bites to temper the sugar!