This is... something. It ain't too bad, and upon a first glance looks like another one of these Italian eateries. Recently it has been gaining traction in attention, so what is about it? Being named from something so long ago, architect Claude Chambers designing the Corbett Chambers building. That is the link to it, making old-style dining for a modern audience. As a whole, it stands up okay and definitely has a place with meeting people. It is not one of my favourites, but I do see its appeal to others.
New year, and the website Dimmi feels in the giving mood. No matter which day of the month was chosen, there were several offers at various restaurants up for grabs. This included a certain percent off the bill, a set meal for a set price, and free parking as some examples. I went through the upcoming weeks with my house mate for what looked the best. Lo and behold, with three separate locations for Corbett and Claude all giving the same deal, the Garden City location was locked in for one night the following week. I have heard this and that about the place, and I guess the fairest way to tout it is that it is popular enough. There is a sense of communal dining and it is post-modern in the sense of being cashless - by that, payment is by card. Overall, this place is decent enough and I have few complaints.
It might differ at the other locations with the aesthetic, the Garden City location of Corbett and Claude is akin to a big spacious warehouse. Semi-industrial in appearance, most of it is done to make a big lot of space and have the idea of communal dining right there. Each table is given salt and pepper, along with a container which has the cutlery. We will see how this goes, maybe it will be suitable if the restaurant is a success.
With the service, it was not awful. I can't be too mean on such a young waitress, especially one who is well-meaning and wishing to do her job to a decent degree. It was probably that she was fairly new, and might have lacked the experience. There was nothing surly from her, things were done in a well-timed manner, and some of the intricacies - note the cashless payments - were explained and walked through when the two of us sat down. This is not a complaint coming, but just an observation, it was strange the order of the foods placed on the table.
Primarily, the menu looks a lot like it has taken influence from Italian cuisine in a few ways - and that is definitely not deniable - however, after a bit more observation, the best way to describe it pub grub. The Italian just adds a bit of twist to the norm. To get that out of the way, the main aspect of the food looks to be pizza in which there is a good range of toppings. Also for Italian, they have gnocchi with several available sauces, and meats to add in if you so wish.
In addition to those, there are the usual burgers at the pub, a meat and cheese board which can be selected to your own preferences, salads, and some sweets. When we get to the drinks, there are the cocktails and coffee among a lot of other drinks. They keep it relatively simple here.
So getting onto the important business first, the drinks. No surprises here, it is all about the coffee. And that beverage was none other than a doppio for me. It was going to be coffee regardless of the blend, but when I do see the one that they were using - Fonzie-Abbott - something inside of me gets that bit more excitable than usual. As much as I have touted Fonzie-Abbott to many people, many times beforehand, it is a safe bet that I got a jolt of excitement from seeing that they use it for their coffees. This time around, while okay, something seemed a little off with it. The flavour was alright, however the usual bold strength was missing in the coffee. For once, it was a tad disappointing.
Getting onto ordering the food, it is a bit of a mish-mash of items it might look like, and that sometimes gets the best experience overall. And also injects the sense of fun into eating. Plus, that is what it is like at a general pub. First there were some hiccups with ordering with items unavailable; ultimately, it was some chicken tenders, a burger, and a pizza to share.
Starting off with something simple, it is the crispy chicken bites. These were served with a a chipotle aioli, and there were a few in there, great, big pieces. Fried chicken is something that is getting harder to stuff up, and it was apparent right here. The coating might have been a little thick, though it stuck quite well and there was a good flavour and seasoning among it. The meat of the chicken was tender, soft and pulled apart easily. With its oblong shape, it is certainly apparent here that this is real bits of chicken and nothing artificially done. The sauce on the side was also good, creamy and spicy which makes for an oddly suited combination. So we are off to a good start.
It is no understatement to say that my dining buddy is a fan of burgers. Whether that means a burger place, or that a burger happens to be on the menu, it will capture his eye. This was the case here. When it comes to a burger, I am guessing it is all about the traditional beef one as that was what he got, otherwise called the Consultant. As well as a beef patty, this one had a home-style hash brown, some bacon, cheese, lettuce, and a combination of mayonnaise and relish. At first he was pondering about getting anything on the side, but eventually did buck and ordered the burger with a side of fries. That one would have been a good call, especially since the fries were fantastic. There was the usual needed aspect of them being hot and crispy, but also was the addition of Parmesan cheese among the seasoning that created a great flavour. The Parmesan was like dust, so it did not become "cheese fries" per se.
As for the burger, I have had better and I have had worse. It is skewing towards the more positive end of the spectrum. What I liked was the beef patty - that was cooked well - the cheese, and mayonnaise-relish combination was interesting enough, and the bread roll was solid. The bacon might have benefited from a bit more cooking, and the hash brown thing was really a bit strange. For the cost of it, the portion size was decent and it would make for a satisfying bite to eat at any time.
From the instant that I was reading the menu, or knew about this place ages before going here, it was going to have to include a pizza somewhere in there. Being at the realm, the one that I chose was the chief. This had bits of beef, meatballs, salami, and caramlised onions on it, and what a combination that is. The pizza was thin crust, thus it could well be folded in half and eaten. All the items were spread around the place evenly, some a bit thicker than others, and were all really tasty. This wouldn't be a variety you could get in Italy, but it certainly resembled the Italian style of pizza well. Each bit of meat had a slightly different texture and flavour, and they were all complimented with the sweet onion. Not bad, and worth a try.
After those three good pieces of grub, the next question was going to be whether or not to order dessert. While, if I had to write that one down, then the answer should definitely be an obvious one by now. The sweets that I got were the Nutella calzones. These were like little samosas, and came with a small tub of ice cream. The ice cream was a nice touch, especially with the mixture of caramel sauce in it. The pastries themselves were also good, baked well, and the crunch was a combination of soft and hard - slightly hard shell, with a soft middle. Nutella is Nutella, so that doesn't change opinion to much. For something a little different, it was a good finish to the meal.
Corbett and Claude is adequate. From the food here, I reckon it ought to perhaps be a bit better than it was, with something I can't quite point to overall. It was done fairly right, with service and everything and the improvements that are apparent can easily be implemented, and definitely will be. This is likely more of a situational perspective, so it is probably dependent on who you go with, how many there are and other aspects. When all is said and done, still - the best of luck to here.
TL;DR: It was not bad at all, had a few good spots to recommend about it, and the food itself was decent. I am not going to kid and say that it is one to return to time and again, but it does have an edge of reliability going for it. While it is not quite the gasto-pub that is commonplace now, it takes a small step away from the traditional pub of old and has a slightly Italian feel to it, or that is possibly from how Italian cuisine influences a lot of Australian food. The food is tasty, and in the end is what it is. Overall, it is adequate with a few notable strengths and characteristics.
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