Martin FrimetBy Basia
June 4th 2008 06:03
It must be rare to want to go back to a place where the food was moderate at best but, if I am ever passing through Hawthorn around lunchtime, I feel almost certain I would not be able to resist popping in to By Basia, on Burwood Road, again. Considering just how uninspired I was by my meal, it is a strange statement to make.
Unable to decide between a plate of cous cous served with mediterranean vegetables and a pasta salad with pesto and chicken, my waitress offered to give me half-serves of both for the price of one. Thus a large, pristine white bowl came packed with carbs and dotted with spots of colour by way of grainy-green pesto and a sunshine assortment of vegetables.
However good it looked there was much here that had gone awry. In the cous cous dish, coriander was little more than a garnish when it should have been integral; a paucity of olive oil left the grain disappointingly dry, while hospital-cut cubes of vegetables meant it lacked something in both flavour and texture.
Similarly, though there was plenty of chicken in my pasta portion, the pesto I was most keenly anticipating was not nearly dense enough to make much impression on my taste buds. Instead, this dish came to be more coloured with the deep-green of fresh spinach, an odd, flat addition, which gave little of note in either taste or touch.
Though these were hearty portions of modern lunch classics, here they seemed to have been translated from paper to plate with little attention to rendering any of the definite contrasts and flavours that can make both dishes so enduring in the right hands. The cous cous was dry, crumbly and dull and the pasta far too plain. Why then, would I ever go back to somewhere with such simple food?
The reason for such apparently misplaced loyalty is twofold.
First, the coffee at By Basia was sensational. My flat white came served with an artful, exuberant fan pattern etched onto its frothy top which was crying out for attention. Underneath, the rich coffee came with a sweet-but-subtle chestnut flavour, which meant I could give my attention to little else. It was a coffee that wouldn't have felt out-of-place with tasting notes and a spittoon.
And what made By Basia even more delectable was service that was truly joyful. Smiles and greetings were abundant without being sickly; water and cutlery delivered cleanly and on time and every other request catered for. My young waitress not only helped by suggesting I combine the two options I was dithering interminably over, but was also keen enough to remember me after I had initially asked for more time to make my choice, and in spite of the swamp of business people who had then deluged her.
Thus, despite somewhat insipid food, there was something about both the caffeine and the culture of By Basia that could make you notice the sun in the sky and the glow in your stomach all the more brightly, and will thus keep me warm to the idea of a return visit.
By Basia
460 Burwood Road
Hawthorn
Unable to decide between a plate of cous cous served with mediterranean vegetables and a pasta salad with pesto and chicken, my waitress offered to give me half-serves of both for the price of one. Thus a large, pristine white bowl came packed with carbs and dotted with spots of colour by way of grainy-green pesto and a sunshine assortment of vegetables.
However good it looked there was much here that had gone awry. In the cous cous dish, coriander was little more than a garnish when it should have been integral; a paucity of olive oil left the grain disappointingly dry, while hospital-cut cubes of vegetables meant it lacked something in both flavour and texture.
Similarly, though there was plenty of chicken in my pasta portion, the pesto I was most keenly anticipating was not nearly dense enough to make much impression on my taste buds. Instead, this dish came to be more coloured with the deep-green of fresh spinach, an odd, flat addition, which gave little of note in either taste or touch.
Though these were hearty portions of modern lunch classics, here they seemed to have been translated from paper to plate with little attention to rendering any of the definite contrasts and flavours that can make both dishes so enduring in the right hands. The cous cous was dry, crumbly and dull and the pasta far too plain. Why then, would I ever go back to somewhere with such simple food?
The reason for such apparently misplaced loyalty is twofold.
First, the coffee at By Basia was sensational. My flat white came served with an artful, exuberant fan pattern etched onto its frothy top which was crying out for attention. Underneath, the rich coffee came with a sweet-but-subtle chestnut flavour, which meant I could give my attention to little else. It was a coffee that wouldn't have felt out-of-place with tasting notes and a spittoon.
And what made By Basia even more delectable was service that was truly joyful. Smiles and greetings were abundant without being sickly; water and cutlery delivered cleanly and on time and every other request catered for. My young waitress not only helped by suggesting I combine the two options I was dithering interminably over, but was also keen enough to remember me after I had initially asked for more time to make my choice, and in spite of the swamp of business people who had then deluged her.
Thus, despite somewhat insipid food, there was something about both the caffeine and the culture of By Basia that could make you notice the sun in the sky and the glow in your stomach all the more brightly, and will thus keep me warm to the idea of a return visit.
By Basia
460 Burwood Road
Hawthorn
| 39 |
| Vote |
Comments (1)
Add Comments
Read More
