Rubyos Restaurant, Newtown

Rubyos is another one of those Newtown restaurants that I've been walking past for years, but have never been to.  If you know Newtown at all you'll understand why this is the case. There are literally hundreds of restaurants in this suburb with new ones popping up on a regular basis.

So many restaurants, so little tummy room.

I've heard great things about this restaurant and have been wanting to go to Rubyos to try their Grazing Menu for quite some time.  I love the idea of sharing food with a group and getting to try a little bit of everything.  I usually suffer from food envy, so a Grazing Menu ensures I don't leave the table disappointed.

As I organise the team's Christmas lunch I thought this would be a good time to finally check this place out.  See how the admin staff of the world really hold all the power {insert evil laugh here}!

I actually thought I wouldn't get to take many photos of our lunch.  I didn't want to team to turf me out on the sidewalk for making them wait to eat - a hungry bunch of office workers at Christmas time are not to be kept from their food.  That said, the teamsters I was sharing the grazing plates with were uber patient as I snapped away...thanks guys!

Rubyos has two options of Grazing Menus for large groups.  I opted for the more expensive menu...seeing as work was paying!  But seriously, I went with "Menu 2" ($48.00 per person) as it had so many yummy tasting things on it that it was a no brainier really.

Enough talk, lets start eating...

Ocean trout pate with dilled champagne jelly, celery and horseradish remoulade and olive bread wafers.

Peking duck with rice flour pancakes, hoi sin sauce and traditional garnish.

Salad of slow cooked pork belly with baby spinach, shaved beetroot, green apple, and a raspberry vinaigrette.

Grilled tiger prawns infused with curry leaf and turmeric, with a jicama slaw, fragrant herbs, and a crunchy peanut and coriander pesto.

Malaysian style black pepper soft shell crab on a sweet and spicy pineapple chutney.

Crunchy carrot, chickpea and apricot felafel with a lemon, garlic and parsley pistou.

Seared kangaroo fillet sprinkled with macadamia dukkah, with a caramelised onion and potato cake and spiced black cherry relish.

Szechuan spiced lamb rump with wilted Chinese greens, a gingered soy glaze and wonton chip.

Crispy new york style crushed chats tossed through fresh herbs and seasoned salt.

Dishes that made me go "wow" were the Ocean Trout Pate; the Grilled Tiger Prawns and the Crispy New York Style Crushed Chats.

All of these dishes were bursting with flavour and were really something special. The crushed chats were deliciously salty (not good for the guy on our team with high blood pressure) and crisped to perfection. I suspect the tatters were deep fried at the end of the cooking process to make them so crunchy and delicious (not that I would know - I can barely cook a potato).

All of the team LOVED the prawns and Beati3 says the lamb was her absolute favourite as it was "cooked to perfection". I quite liked the Kangaroo as it wasn't as rare as Kangaroo I've encountered before (if you know me, you'll know that I like my meat charred to a crisp so I know for sure that it is D.O.A).

The only dish that really made me go “meh” was the crunchy carrot, chickpea and apricot felafel. The felafel was just too dry and as such needed much more of the pistou to help it go down easily. Possibly the odd croquette shape of the felafel didn't help the surface crunch : fluffy innards ratio (an equation we all know is vital to a great felafel).

General sentiments from the team were that we really needed to end the meal on a sweet note. For an extra $15 would could have added dessert and tea/coffee, but work wasn't going to come to the (Christmas) party on that as we would've been well over budget. Perhaps one less savoury dish on Menu 2 and a little something sweet at the end would be a good idea?

I think the staff at Rubyos deserve a special mention.

Liz, who I made the reservation with, was incredibly helpful and accommodating regarding the special dietary requirements of some of my teamsters. Out of all of the places I booked work functions with (over the 17 years I've been working in admin) this is possibly the only venue where I didn't have any issues with special meal requirements (though I did forget to tell them about "no sodium guy" - my bad). Usually I end up in the loos crying as they've served a vegan creamy curry with prawns and sandwiches to gluten-freers. Oh the stress!

Thanks Rubyos - you made my Christmas lunch totally stress free!

Rubyos Restaurant is at 18-20 King Street, Newtown.