Will and I frequent the Victoria Park cafe strip regularly. It's a stone's throw away from where we are and it has a fantastic array of cafes and restaurants. Parking is not always easy, but it is mostly free and you will always be able to find one if you don't mind walking 5 minutes.
So much to our delight we now have another restaurant to add to our favourite list. Also much to our delight, it is a new cuisine to add to our current list of Vietnamese, Japanese, Italian, Indian and Chinese cuisines. We are now loving Spanish tapas from the Imp.
A quick introduction on tapas for those who have yet to experience it. Traditionally this is the name of a wide variety of appetisers or snacks in Spanish cuisine which may be cold e.g. olives, cheese or warm e.g. battered fried squid. In Australia tapas has evolved into a more sophisticated cuisine and can comprise of many different tapas to make up a whole meal (definition extracted from Wikipedia). For me, it's a little like the equivalent of Spanish dim sum.
On the Imp
Service and Ambience
It was only by chance that Will and I stumbled across this restaurant as from the outside, the simple and humble outlook of the restaurant was easy to miss. Once inside the restaurant was small and even a little crampy, however, the clever use of wooden and brick walls, tender lighting, cushions and bar-stools created a cosy, comfortable ambience. It also meant that you could always get the attention of a friendly waiter or waitress when required.
Because of the above reason we were lucky to have the last table without a reservation but would highly recommend making a booking if you are thinking of dining there for dinner.
Note mentioning here as well was the washroom. Took me a few seconds to read the instructions and understood that the way to open and lock the door was not through a knob, but via a couple of red and green buttons on the wall. Very un-conventional.
The restaurant is a BYO and there is a liquor store just two doors away.
Food
Of the 6 dishes + 1 dessert we ordered, the standard was good on average with a couple being outstanding. Dishes were quick to be served, sauces were well-flavoured, the roasted potato cubes were crunchy and tasty and the warmed sticky date muffin with ice-cream did not disappoint.
The star of the night was definitely the Crispy Pork Belly with Apple Sauce. Whilst the skin was thin, crispy and roasted to perfection, the meat and fatty layer beneath the skin managed to stay soft and tender to the point that it melted in the mouth. The sweet and tangy apple cubes and sauce was a delicious and clever way to balance out the "heaviness" of the dish. Being fans of pork bellies (and we 've tried many variations) Will and I both unanimously agreed it was one of the best we've had and ordered the dish twice.
We understand that the menu changes from time to time so the delectable pork belly may no longer be there when we next visit the Imp, but we look forward to other future surprises that the restaurant has to offer.
Value for money
I have to mention that dinner at the Imp was pricier than our average Saturday night restaurant as an afterthought before you read my blog and decide that you would immediately have to make a dinner booking. We paid close to $50 per person last night, and that was excluding the $20 bottle of wine which I bought from the shop next door. All up I believe that the experience was worth the value and although we will not be making it our regular dining spot we would definitely be going back.
Picture courtesy of theimp.com.au
