Who: Zigfrids
Where: 65 Pakington Street, Geelong West
When: 7 days a week for breakfast, lunch & dinner!
Geelong West’s newest eatery and bar!
On our morning walks to and from our local caffeine dealer, Andrew & I have been coveting a particular red brick warehouse on Pakington Street and imagining the things we could do to it if it belonged to us! As it turns out, the real owners, two very experienced Geelong locals (Beav & Donna), had a vision far beyond ours!
When I discovered that they had finally opened last Friday night, I decided that we needed a night out for a family dinner and to see what had been going on behind closed doors all these months!
Sorry Jen; we’ll have a girls night there when you get back from LA!
Slick industrial inspired fit-out designed by Donna!
The first thing that had me gobsmacked was the slick fit-out, which compliments the buildings original features – clearly Donna has a natural talent, as she designed it herself!
While we were there, an elderly couple arrived and spent quite some time soaking up the interior. They were once the owners of the property and used to run it as a mechanics workshop. They were so impressed that the old building had been brought back to life with the use of polished concrete floors, exposed bricks and spectacular handcrafted and locally made dining tables. I don’t know about you, but I love the increasing trend of new owners of old buildings in Geelong, re-purposing them for all of us to enjoy!
So we sat for a couple of hours and were fed by Zigfrids incredibly talented chef; Alex McIntosh, who hails from Canada and has now, made Geelong his home.
We started with a tuna titaki that literally melted in our mouths and some oysters from St. Helens in TAS and Coffin Bay in SA. The Tassie ones are my absolute favourite as they are small and sweet (Don’t gag Laura; I’ll make an oyster connoisseur out of you one day!).
They don’t have a specific “kids menu”, but there are plenty of kid-friendly options (think Pork Sliders, Chicken wings, Lamb ribs) and the kitchen was happy to make them something simple, if we wanted. Our kids are pretty adventurous eaters and will try anything put in front of them, so it was definitely not needed!
Miss 9 and Master 6 had the prawn cocktail, which was absolutely NOT the 1980’s version; this one had yummy fat prawns, amazing Asian-style dressing and killer chilli! Not sure how many kids would cope with that much chilli, but it was pretty easy to avoid!
The pork sliders were perfect! Miss 7 managed to down all 3 of them without having to share! I did have to ask her very nicely if I could have a bite so I could write about it!
Melt-in-your-mouth Tuna Titaki, Perfect Pork Sliders & Killer Prawn Cocktail!
For main course, Andrew had the HUGE pork loin, with smoked apple puree and toasted oats; which he described as a pork apple crumble! I wanted to save room for dessert so I had the perfectly cooked salmon. (Unfortunately the soft shell crab wasn’t available last night, so I had a super-sneaky lunch there today and can HIGHLY recommend it). We couldn’t decide if we wanted the coconut panna cotta for dessert, but I’m a sucker for chocolate & cherries, so we went for the very naughty ice-cream sandwich!
Moriac Pork, Tasmanian Salmon and a naughty ice-cream sandwich!
What we sampled on Monday night was just the tip of the iceberg! Zigfrids is open 7 days a week from 8am – 11pm and bookings are recommended. Whether you’re after breakfast, lunch or dinner, they’ve definitely got you covered and there is a casual outdoor area if you just want a snack and a drink. Their extensive list of Australian wines, as well as local and imported beers & ciders, are all served by staff that were both friendly and super-efficient!
I loved everything about Zigfrids and I’m so happy to see Pakington Street continue to evolve into a real destination for eating, drinking and shopping!
Very much looking forward to my next visit!
xx
(photo’s courtesy of Andrew Cirillo)
