http://www.bankhotel.com.au
Tonight my first casual meetup with The Sydney Weblogger Meetup Group and 'Ratatouille' the mascot brings me to the Bank Hotel for conversation, drinks and bar food. I've heard many stories of the Bank Hotel in it's former glory and the amazing thai food lots of people raved about. But it seems after the beautiful renovations I've heard so many people complaining about how expensive it is now and the food not being as good as it used to be. I've never been before but the reviews on Eatability are very mixed with lots of people complaining about the price and food while others seeming to love the food.
I start my night off with the El Banko Royale cocktail which is very similiar to a Cosmopolitan. We stick to the bar menu tonight and there's a Mon-Thurs Mussels Deal of $10 including tap beer or house wine. Pretty good value considering a glass of wine is $6.50 although you only get a small bucket of them. By the time I decided to order the mussels the kitchen had run out but luckily I managed to sample one from someone else at our table and thought they were very large and yummy in the tomato and garlic sauce. I changed my order to the coconut prawns but service seemed to have forgotten my order and after waiting over 40 minutes and reminding them I managed to get them — unfortunately I thought the coconut batter overpowered the prawn and they didn't quite look like the ones you see in the menu. The wedges were crunchy and tasty though and didn't disappoint.
El Banko Royale: Absolut Mandarin, Triple Sec, Peach Schnapps, shaken well with ice and strained into a martini glass $9 (Menu didn't mention cranberry juice but I assume it's in it)
Mussels including tap beer or house wine $10
Potato wedges $7
Salt and pepper squid served with chips $15
Coconut prawns with dipping sauce $18
7 course Thai degustation with matching wines for $50 on tuesdays might be better value? My prawns didn't quite look like this ones though.
Ground floor bar and dining area
