Peasantly Surprised

Photo from Peasant website

I absolutely LOOOVE tapas, but I've never yet left with the feeling that I've had value for money. I guess I compare it to yum cha, where the dishes range from $3-$6, so you can lots of variety and really enjoy the experience.

I'd heard a lot about Peasant at The Barracks. My foodie cousin Tehana raved about it and so did lots of reviews, so I was  pretty curious about it - how good could tapas really be?

My bestie Amelia was over from Dublin and she's always wanting to try new places when she's in town, so it seemed like an opportune time. Her poor hubby David caught a nasty case of gastro on the flight over, so what started out as double date ended up with just her and I on a girl's night.

Oh this place is divine!! Love the communal seating, and although it was chilly outside, it was warm inside and just dark enough to be cosy but light enough to still be able to see each other and your food. The thing that amazed me were the mix of people in there. 7pm on a Friday night and there were some super hot Gen Ys at the bar, loved up young couples in the booths, fellow Gen Xs, middle aged having a dinner party and young families with babies. Babies! It was the most bizarre mix of demographic I'd ever seen in a restaurant and yet no one batted an eyelid and it just seemed to fit?

The whole place was painted with fabulous murals, with an open kitchen giving just enough clang and clutter for that perfect atmosphere.  I've never been to Spain - is this what it's like over there? Cause I'm loving it.

The tapas dishes were $12 - $18 each...not loving that.  We started with 3. Well, I started with 3...with all the intentions of ordering more once I'd wolfed that down. I never imagined that 3 tapas dishes between 2 people would be nearly enough...especially if one of them was me.

We had:

Warm salad of cauliflower, greens, pine nuts, saffron and raisins.

Um...I can't remember what this was, I think it had sweet potato, but it was delicious!!

And chickpea & potato empanadas served with mint & cumin yoghurt

So, so good and surprisingly filling.  Didn't need anything else. Not even dessert. Sooo fabulous! Peasantly surprised ;-p. Am a tapas convert.