Roxanne Restaurant & Bar, Glebe Point Road, Glebe

Roxanne Restaurant & Bar, Glebe Point Road, Glebe
Monday 24 April, 2006

The opening night of a restaurant can be an exciting affair or a disaster waiting to happen. Tonight's experience was a blend of the two.

Roxanne is the 'fine dining' sister of Well Connected (a little further down Glebe Point Road) and has a plush red velvet interior, groovy chandeliers & green leather lounges. The look is Moulin Rouge. When we asked about the origin of the name, our waiter admitted he thought it might be from the Sting song and he laughed as he relayed the experience of standing out on the street corner with the red lights of the restaurant behind him - how ironic.

The menu has an asian influence and we decided to share seafood spring rolls with chilli sauce and sea salt king prawns and squid for starters. This was served promptly however they forgot to provide us with cutlery and side plates. After tucking in with our hands they finally delivered the cutlery but no plates. Despite this, the entrees were great, in particular the seafood spring rolls and the chilli sauce was more like chilli jam - thick, spicy and delicious.

Our mains took a lot longer to arrive and I ordered the pork belly and scallop with purple basil and coriander salad. My Glebe buddies ordered the King prawn and scallop risotto with slow roasted tomato and spicy napoli sauce; Duck curry with chestnut, capsicum, and dry lychee served on rice; and Crab meat omlette with XO sauce with green vegetables on rice. No complaints with the food, we all enjoyed our mains, the duck curry had a serious kick to it, the prawn and scallop risotto was delicious and the crab omlette was very tasty and didn't need so much rice served with it. Even though the Pork Belly was the smallest portion and looked very small in comparison to the other dishes, it was more than substantial.

The restaurant filled to about 75% capacity over the course of the evening and the owner made an effort to speak with each table, which was a nice touch. We all decided to splurge and try dessert which were displayed in a glass cabinet at the bar. I tried the tiramisu cheesecake and my Glebe buddies chose the Whisky truffle; Lemon & lime tart and Sticky date pudding. By far the best choice was the Whisky truffle.

The staff were well meaning on this opening night but have a long way to go - there were lots of teething issues and I'm sure these will be addressed over time e.g. our main meals were served at 5 minute intervals, we waited far too long for our mains, our dessert and the bill, and our waiter seemed very overwhelmed with the task of serving restaurant patrons and at one point walked away from the table mid sentence as he had been called to the kitchen.

Roxanne offers good food at reasonable prices - none of the mains were over $20 and all of the desserts were $7 each. Very, very good prices and I'll definitely be going back to try some of the other menu options.

Roxanne restaurant & bar - 39 Glebe Point Road, Glebe - (02) 9552 6087