Disappointment at Dempsey

A few of our friends had been to Barracks and said how much they had enjoyed it so myself and Mr Greedy Glutton decided to give it a whirl for a Friday night ‘date’.

First impressions weren’t great as we started off in ‘Camp’, the bar area. The restaurant and bar are housed in the former mess of the British army barracks up at Dempsey, hence the name and the rather over-the-top theming of the establishment. Whilst the location of the bar with views over the rainforest should have been perfect for an alfresco pre-dinner tipple, the desire to carry the army theme throughout meant utilitarian furnishings which are just uncomfortable.

We tried to take one of the canvas covered sofas made from tent poles which suggested they might be slightly more comfortable than the steel upright chairs, but were told that they were fully booked (nobody sat in any of them in the hour that we were there – in fact there were only 2 other tables full). Despite there being next to nobody in the bar, flagging down a waiter wasn’t the easiest task, but we did finally manage to order some cocktails.

Camp boasts that its cocktail menu has been put together by a group of global mixologists and claim to be ‘here to help you discover a better standard of drinking’, so we thought perhaps things were about to look up. They also claim that their Madagascan Mojito (“a vanilla twist on the classic Cuban refresher”) was voted Best Mojito by I-S magazine.

Well I’m guessing the people at I-S magazine didn’t try any others, because this was the worst mojito I have ever had the misfortune to try. I’m all for a good serving of mint, but this was taking it to extremes – between the mint and the ice, there was no room left for any liquid and after two sips it was gone – at $17.00 ++ that’s two expensive sips of cocktail! Thankfully the Latin Fling was more successful – with Freshly Muddle.d Pineapple and Lime, Brown Sugar, Cachaca 51, Havana Club Anejo Reserva Rum, this was refreshing and unique.

Unfortunately the service in the restaurant, Barracks, wasn’t much better – there was much confusion over our booking despite them phoning me earlier that afternoon to confirm, and us confirming with them on our way to the bar an hour earlier. We sat for ages waiting for the menu and wine list; the water we asked for on sitting down didn’t appear until half way through the meal and even then only because we had to ask again; when we ordered a bottle of wine the waiter walked off without even acknowledging our order only to return ten minutes later to tell us it was out of stock; when we eventually ordered the wine it appeared about 20 minutes later, just before our starters…

I could go on, but writing this is depressing me as much as sitting there did on the night. Focusing on the positives – the wine list was fun and quirky (even if half the bottles were out of stock!) presented like a Pantone reference guide

and, thankfully and most importantly, the food was good. We started off with the Sweet Corn Soft Shell Crab, which were lovely and crisp, served with baby herb salad, a creamy sweet corn puree and ‘Mojo’ sauce, and topped with a novel addition - curry popcorn.

I then moved on to the Slow-cooked Crispy Pork Belly, which they claim is slow-cooked for 7-9 hours. Of course I don’t know if this is true but it was fantastic, with delicately crispy crackling and the crunchy sweet pickled vegetables complemented it perfectly.

Mr Greedy Glutton’s option of Cod Fish and Chips a la Indian was slightly less successful. Despite being described as being ‘curry and coriander cod fish’ it just tasted like, well – fish and chips… they weren’t bad fish and chips, but certainly not as interesting as the menu suggested.

I have to say that their desserts sounded fantastic – Mango Marshmallow Melt anyone? Or how about Hazelnut & Raspberry Chocolate Cake Crunch? Sounds tempting… but to be honest we had just had enough by then (bad service can be terribly exhausting!)… and we decided instead just to get the rock out of there…

Camp/Barracks - http://www.dempseyhouse.com/

(be careful, the website keeps crashing my internet browser!)