Palinka Bar and Kitchen

It was such a wet night and the rain just kept on pouring. Steve and I sought refuge and warm comfort with Eastern European cuisine which is a relatively new restaurant on Brunswick Street and a stone's throw from home. The initial welcome was warm and I was shown to a corner table. It wasn't particularly busy; maybe 3 or 4 tables. I did have to wait a while before water and menus arrived.

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Inside it reminds me of a little place in Prague so it feels pretty authentic. There are a lot of things to choose both food and drink and the range of European beers is pretty impressive including one of Steve's favourites; Bitburger.

It was a shame that our drinks stayed on the bar counter for quite a while before a member of the wait staff could bring them over. It wasn't busy but for a moment, no one was working on the floor! So the drinks just stayed there. Finally they came over and we placed our order.

We ordered the crumbed Camembert with beetroot dip to share and 4 little golden pyramids came out. The oozy cheese was creamy and gooey with a crunchy crumb and the fruitiness of the beetroot went well. We did think it was pricey at $12 for 4 little nuggets though.

Steve had the Hungarian schnitzel stuffed with sausage and cheese and I had the Transylvanian veal shnitzel which was topped with ham, cheese and a tomato sauce. It was pretty impressive when it came out and looked huge. It was actually battered very thin though so in spite of the surface area the proportion of veal probably wasn't as much as one would think. It was tasty enough but more about the tomato sauce, ham and cheese than the schnitzel. 

Steve and I found the dollop of mash, or peasant potatoes as they were called was gluey and not really to our liking. 

In all, this was hearty food which was pleasant against the downpour but we felt that it was over priced as the local pub does a good parma for half or a third of the price.